Chasing Excellence

Cole Sager joins us as he’s preparing for his 10th straight CrossFit Games appearance to answer listener questions about how to know if you’re competing too much, how to stop hijacking conversations, what it looks like to live on autopilot, and much more. ========= EXPECT TO LEARN:  =========  📍 How and why Cole and Ben first started working together 📍 When competing too much might do more damage than good 📍 What parasympathetic lash-back is, and why you want to be careful of it 📍 What Cole’s training looked like after Semifinals 📍 Why it’s important to be the most curious person in a conversation ========= GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE: =========  Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  =========  ABOUT US:  =========  📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter & podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ben recently announced that this will be his last year coaching elite athletes to pursue success at the CrossFit Games. We talk this week about why, the future of CompTrain, the three elements of resilience, and much more. ========= EXPECT TO LEARN: =========  📍 How to build an equipment-free, CrossFit-inspired workout program 📍 What to do when you realize you’ve been triggered but can’t get past it 📍 Whether CrossFit’s original nutrition prescription is still relevant 📍 Why the most important thing in the gym is to ensure you never take steps back 📍 How to get buy-in and make smart decisions as a leader =========  GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:  =========  Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  =========  ABOUT US:  =========  📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter & podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chasing objective, easy-to-measure goals are one thing. But chasing subjective, hard-to-measure ones are another thing altogether. So, how do we get started making progress on things like improving our empathy or being a better spouse? That’s what we’re diving into this week. ========= EXPECT TO LEARN:========= 📍 How to training when your CrossFit gym cancels your favorite class 📍 Why the goal of mindset shouldn’t be indifference, but a lack of judgment 📍 How to wrangle life admin tasks that can feel endless 📍 Why trust is so important to build as a leader 📍 Who we would add to our apocalypse team ========= OUR SPONSORS:========= 🔗 BetterHelp ========= GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:========= Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  ========= ABOUT US:========= 📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter, podcaster, and creator of Functional Branding. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’re taking a listener question about helping our kids avoid some of the adversities of life and talking broadly about stimulus and response, being generation breakers, and why “what we do around here” is such a powerful force. =========== EXPECT TO LEARN: ===========  📍 How to improve our aerobic capacity 📍 Why your gym community can serve as a useful decisional filter 📍 How defaulting to simplicity is a powerful communication strategy 📍 The importance of awareness in rebuilding a relationship 📍 Why it’s essential to give our phones a job and a place =========== OUR SPONSORS:  =========== 🔗 Caldera + Lab 🔗 Timeline Nutrition ===========  GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:  ===========  🔗 Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  =========== ABOUT US: =========== 📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter and podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’re answering a listener question about whether CrossFit affiliates are offering a “watered down” version of CrossFit, and whether that’s a good thing if so. We’re talking about the CrossFit Games, standardization across gyms, Hyrox, and more. =========== EXPECT TO LEARN: ===========  📍 Whether our mobility work should be consistent or varied 📍 How to stop comparing yourself to your gym buddies 📍 Ben’s recommendations for bloodwork 📍 How to make time for yourself with young kids 📍 A strategy for leaders to work with folks who are resistant to coaching =========== OUR SPONSORS:  =========== 🔗 LMNT 🔗 Ice Barrel 🔗 Eight Sleep ===========  GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:  ===========  🔗 Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions! ===========  ABOUT US:  ===========  📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter and podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Should we sacrifice now for security later, forgo security later and enjoy now, or find a balance between the two? Friend-of-the-show Julie Foucher joins us to talk through that and listener questions about why she’s training now, how to handle rep shavers, and more. =========== EXPECT TO LEARN: ===========   📍 How hard it was for Julie to transition out of being a CrossFit Games athlete 📍 Why “feeling” fitter might be more important than chasing specific numbers 📍 What parasympathetic lash-back is and why performers need to be wary of it 📍 How to deal with rep shavers and workout cheaters 📍 Our experience trying to cut our social media use by 50% ===========  OUR SPONSORS:   =========== 🔗 Landkind 🔗 Timeline Nutrition ===========  GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:  ===========  🔗 Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions! ===========  ABOUT US:  =========== 📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter and podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In February of 2021, we released an episode called “Overcoming Excellence Fatigue.” It started with a question about how to exist inside the gap between where we are and where we want to be. Here’s a clip about how Ben thinks about that gap. ==========SUBSCRIBE ========== Apple Pods: tinyurl.com/3nu78tsh Spotify: tinyurl.com/ekhp3cce YouTube: tinyurl.com/9uktjdfs  [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We talk about the five factors of health all the time, but what are the books, movies, and people we turn to to learn more about them? We’re giving you our list this week. ========== EXPECT TO LEARN: ==========  📍 The question to ask yourself before (or while) you’re watching the news 📍 How to combine CrossFit with seasonal outdoor pursuits 📍 Some strategies for eating clean when you’re days are packed 📍 How to recover, train, and eat while breastfeeding 📍 A surprising revelation Ben had recently while in Sweden ==========  GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE:  ==========  Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  ==========  ABOUT US:  ==========  📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter, podcaster, and creator of Functional Branding. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Way back in October of 2020, the writer James Clear (author of the wildly successful “Atomic Habits”) joined us on the show. In this clip from that episode, we talk about the patience required to build the kinds of habits that have real impact. Watch the full episode here. =========== Subscribe:  =========== Apple Pods: tinyurl.com/3nu78tsh Spotify: tinyurl.com/ekhp3cce YouTube: tinyurl.com/9uktjdfs [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Life, business, and sport continually give us setbacks. How do we know when those setbacks mean we should quit or that we should put our head down and keep working? That’s the listener question we’re talking about this week. =========== EXPECT TO LEARN:  =========== 📍 How often Ben uses chalk in the gym 📍 Fueling strategies for a 24-hour burpee challenge 📍 Tips for getting over performance anxiety 📍 Why the ultimate success might be peace of mind 📍 A strategy to fall asleep faster =========== OUR SPONSORS:  =========== 🔗 LMNT  🔗 Ice Barrel  =========== GET A QUESTION IN THE QUEUE: =========== 🔗 Send Patrick a DM with your Five Factors questions!  =========== ABOUT US:  =========== 📍 Ben Bergeron is a best-selling author, coach to 7 CrossFit Games champions, and founder of CompTrain. Find him on Instagram. 📍 Patrick Cummings is a long-time CrossFitter and podcaster. Find him on Instagram. [[]---[]] Chasing Excellence is an audience-supported project. To go deeper & to help us do even more, consider:· Subscribing to our newsletter to get our free posts and upgrading to our Chase Club to receive exclusive content.· Grabbing one of our books: Chasing Excellence, Unlocking Potential, or The ABCs of Being Happy & Healthy.· Supporting one of our fantastic show sponsors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.