Assemble Performance Podcast

Justin Jones
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Fitness
  • Updated Weekly

The Assemble Performance Podcast dives deep into what it takes to perform well both in sports and in life. Hosted by Justin Jones, a passionate trail runner, strength athlete, and CEO & head coach of Assemble Performance. This podcast is for everyone, from the serious endurance, strength, or hybrid athlete to the outdoor enthusiast who wants to live life to the fullest. We believe that peak performance is an assembly of physical training, mental fortitude, emotional health, and social support. Whether you're training for a sport, or viewing life itself as the ultimate athletic event, join us in redefining limits and living a life full of challenges and adventure.

  1. 12h ago

    What Body Fat Should Hybrid Athletes Actually Aim For?

    You can train for performance and still work on your body composition. They're not opposites. But the internet has most hybrid athletes either obsessing over a specific body fat number or ignoring body composition entirely.  In this episode, I break down what the research actually says about body fat ranges for performance, share the numbers from my own 15-week cut (including what happened to my strength, my runs, and my blood pressure), and explain why your ideal body fat percentage is more individual than any chart can tell you. In this episode: Why working on body composition is training for performance, not training for aesthetics, and where that line gets blurry for hybrid athletesThe research-backed body fat ranges for men and women across tactical, OCR, HYROX, and concurrent training populationsWhy even a DEXA scan has an error rate, and what that means for how seriously you should take any single numberWhat happened when I dropped 15 pounds over 15 weeks while keeping my strength and improving my run performanceThe real reason chasing a lower body fat percentage might be making your performance worse, not betterHow body dysmorphia and edited influencer photos distort what "lean enough" looks like for people who train in a hybrid styleWhen to stop cutting and why the answer has more to do with how you feel and perform than what any percentage saysListen to the last episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2099903/episodes/19325357 Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    10 min

  2. Jun 18

    Why You Need a Performance Coach (Even Without a Race)

    If you think performance training is only about racing and hitting PRs, you're leaving almost everything on the table. This episode breaks down why training for performance changes how you think, how you handle stress, and how you show up in every part of your life, whether you have a race on the calendar or not. In this episode: Why most people operate from a mindset of lack and reactivity, and how performance training shifts you toward building real capacity over timeThe "if-then planning" approach that stops your week from falling apart every time something unexpected hitsHow performance training forces you to get honest about where your time actually goes and what's really replenishing you versus draining youWhy people overestimate what they can do in 12 weeks and underestimate what they can do in 12 years, and how training rewires that thinkingThe difference between a coach who just writes your program and a coach who cares about the human underneath the athleteWhy all lasting performance improvement starts with an improved human, and what that actually looks like in practiceSign up for the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    20 min

  3. Jun 11

    Hybrid Training: Will Cardio Kill Your Gains?

    You've read the articles. Too much cardio kills your gains. Lift heavy and your running falls apart. Pick one, or get on gear. It's mostly nonsense, and the people  building real strength and endurance at the same time are the proof. This episode unpacks where the "interference effect" actually came from, why it almost never applies to you, and the real reasons your progress has stalled. In this episode: Where the "interference effect" myth actually came from What two modern meta-analyses (43 studies in the newest one) really found about training strength and endurance at the same timeThe only two situations where interference is real The four things  killing your progressWhy type A "shiny object syndrome" keeps you stuckDELOAD CALCULATOR: https://assembleperformance.com/deload-quiz-page FREE WEEK OF HYBRID TRAINING: https://assembleperformance.com/6-days-hybrid-training Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    15 min

  4. Jun 4

    Should You Deload? A Hybrid Athlete's Guide

    You hit week five of a brutal training block, you're fried, and you freeze: should I deload? Then the guilt creeps in... taking it easy feels like throwing away everything you've built.  Here's what nobody tells you: the deload was invented for single sport athletes. Run it the old way on a hybrid program and your progress stalls. In this episode: Why deloads were never designed for hybrid, concurrent, or tactical athletesThe one question I ask every client before I touch their deloadSymmetric vs. asymmetric deloads Exactly how I'd deload three different athletes: HYROX prep, half-marathon + strength, and the powerlifter chasing a 5KThe 3 deload mistakes stalling hybrid athletes right now Why a deload is NOT a rest week "Earn the deload, respect the deload"Not sure what your deload should look like? Grab the free Deload Calculator! Answer a few quick questions and get a personalized guide so you know exactly what to do this week.  Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    20 min

  5. May 28

    Why You Can't Out-Discipline a Broken Relationship With Food with Jared Hamilton

    You can hit your macros, stack your steps, train five days a week, and still binge every Saturday night. That's not a discipline problem, and Jared Hamilton has 15 years of coaching data to prove it. In this episode, we get into why high-achievers are often the worst at losing weight, the "be → do → have" order most people run backwards, and why working out can quietly become just another way to suppress what you're feeling. Jared is the founder of Dieting From the Inside Out, a coaching program built around the idea that you have to fix your relationship with food, your emotional regulation, and your subconscious patterns before a calorie deficit will ever stick. He's coached thousands of clients (mostly career-driven, high-achieving women), just gave a TED talk on his philosophy, and has a book on the way. If you've ever wondered why all the "right" actions still don't add up to results, this conversation is going to land. In this episode: Why the more performance focused you are, the more important inner work becomes (and why bodybuilders keep walking off stage with eating disorders)The "house-building" analogy Jared uses to reframe weight loss for clients who don't think they need inner workWhy "I'm an all-or-nothing person" is almost always a self-told lie — and the simple cracked-phone test that proves itThe "be → do → have" order of operations, and why most people get it backwardsWhat separates emotional regulation from identity work, and how to actually feel your feelings (not just journal about them)The "knowledge trap", why listening to 400 podcast episodes can make you worse, not betterWhen the line between coaching and therapy actually matters, and the "no man's land" most people are stuck inJared's nuanced take on GLP-1s: why he's not anti-shot, but is anti-ignorance Links & resources mentioned:  Jared's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jaredhamilton IG: https://www.instagram.com/realjaredhamilton/ Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    58 min

  6. May 21

    Why The Basics Beat Optimization Every Time with Aram Grigorian

    Most people in fitness are sprinting toward peptides, red light masks, and $200 lab panels while skipping the $15 food scale that would actually fix the problem. Aram Grigorian has been calling this out on Instagram for years, and in this conversation he gets specific about why "you can't optimize until you stabilize," what he charges his clients to not track when they don't need to, and why he keeps losing money on an event he refuses to stop running. Aram is a fitness and nutrition coach based in San Diego, founder of the Real Coaches Summit, and the guy behind @4weekstothebeach on Instagram. He came up training $175/hour clients at Equinox in Greenwich, walked away from a six-figure finance career to do it, and now runs a 130-client coaching business while putting on the only industry event a lot of us actually look forward to every year. In this episode: Why the "basics vs. optimization" debate is settled, and what 99 out of 100 clients actually needAram's foundational protocol every adult should hit before touching anything fancyThe "North Star calorie number" framework, and why it's the same idea as finding your income numberWhen tracking food is a tool vs. when it's a prison, and the test he uses to tell clients they can stopWhy most people don't have a calorie-out problem, they have a calorie-in problem (even endurance athletes)How Aram dropped 5 lbs in April just by following his own 3,500-calorie budgetThe real story behind Real Coaches Summit: why he started it, why he lost ~$25K on it, and why 140 people already bought tickets for next yearWhy he doesn't pay speakers, won't tolerate "rah-rah business" content on his stage, and what makes a "real" coach Links & resources mentioned: Arams IG: https://www.instagram.com/4weeks2thebeach/ Real Coaches Summit: https://www.instagram.com/real.coaches.summit/ Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    1h 5m

  7. Feb 5

    Overcoming Fear And Taking Risks: Lessons from Skydiving and Extreme Sports

    In this episode I kick off 2026 by diving into the topic of risk-taking, especially through the lens of extreme sports. I share my personal experiences, including the journey of obtaining my skydiving license, to illustrate the importance of overcoming fear and embracing uncertainty. The episode also covers how these lessons apply to broader aspects of life, from training and coaching to everyday challenges. Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    28 min

  8. 12/02/2025

    What It Takes To Run A 50k | Client Interview

    In this episode of the Assemble Performance Podcast, we chat with Justin McCartney about his preparation and experience running a 50K. Over the past six months, Justin and I worked closely to prepare him for this challenging race in Austin. We'll discuss his background as a coach, the mental and physical hurdles he faced during training, and the strategies that got him through the race. This episode is packed with insights for anyone interested in endurance training, coaching, and mental toughness. Join the email list: https://assembleperformance.com/mailing-list-join Contact Me  IG: https://www.instagram.com/justinsjones/ Email: justin@assembleperformance.com Website: https://assembleperformance.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinjonesfitness

    35 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

The Assemble Performance Podcast dives deep into what it takes to perform well both in sports and in life. Hosted by Justin Jones, a passionate trail runner, strength athlete, and CEO & head coach of Assemble Performance. This podcast is for everyone, from the serious endurance, strength, or hybrid athlete to the outdoor enthusiast who wants to live life to the fullest. We believe that peak performance is an assembly of physical training, mental fortitude, emotional health, and social support. Whether you're training for a sport, or viewing life itself as the ultimate athletic event, join us in redefining limits and living a life full of challenges and adventure.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Jones
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    63
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Assemble Performance Podcast
  • Show Website
    Assemble Performance Podcast