Fitness and Thinking

Jack Mann
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Health & Fitness
  • Weekly

There's more to fitness than lifting weights, and if you've achieved your sports or body goals – or you're on you way to them – you'll likely have found yourself wondering alternately: is this it or what's next? Some of you might even self-sabotage before you get to this point because not knowing is a scary place to be. F&T tackles the big and small, the fat and the skinny and the completely delulu, and is hosted by a PT and online coach with a masters in Psychology, who's sick of fitness being reduced to: do you have a six pack?

  1. 1d ago

    Johnny Wilson - Stop Ignoring This Relationship! - F&T73

    Johnny Wilson, founder and director of Nottingham Physio, returns to Fitness & Thinking to explain what running gait analysis is, what it really tells us and whether there is such a thing as perfect form. What does it mean to run well? When I first spoke to Johnny the thought of completing a marathon with a specific time goal was no where near my mind. Three months later and I thought I'd sussed what it meant to be a marathoner...and then struggled to even walk... In this episode, Johnny challenges the idea that there is a perfect running style, he explains why pronation and heel striking aren't necessarily problems, and we explore what a clinical running gait analysis should actually involve. We discuss tissue tolerance, ambitious runners outpacing their bodies' ability to adapt, and how changing training load and running technique can work together to improve performance. Johnny and I also consider the limits of running data, what we can learn from elite athletes, whether claims based on nature and nurture are outrageous, and why the best advice starts with the individual rather than a template. More from Johnny: https://nottinghamphysio.com/ https://instagram.com/notts_physio 📩 Newsletter every Wednesday morning 📺 New episodes every Wednesday on YouTube 🎧 Available Thursdays on Spotify & Apple Podcasts Follow along: Instagram: https://instagram.com/@fitnessandthinking Coaching: coachjackmann@gmail.com Podcast enquiries: fitnessandthinking@gmail.com KEEP EXPLORING FITNESS & THINKING F&T53 – You Didn’t Go Bankrupt Overnight – Johnny #1 Why problems often develop long before they become obvious. Johnny and I explore how we interpret changes in our bodies, why we shouldn't wait for a crisis to pay attention, and what it means to recognise the warning signs early. F&T39 – James Sidebottom – If Hyrox is an A-level in fitness is CrossFit a PhD? Injury is part of fitness, and fitness is part of living. This was a conversation that started with HYROX and soon centred on the wider experience of being human. Support F&T with STUBBLE & CO I use their Hybrid 30L backpack every day and love it. They've given me this link so you can get 15% off their entire range and support the channel: http://stubbleandco.com/JACKSBACKPACK If you're a runner, I'd be interested to know: have you ever changed your running technique, training load or shoes because someone told you something was wrong? Did it help? Let me know in the comments.

  2. Oct 22

    Sabina Storberg - Sword Yoga & The Audacity to Begin - F&T72

    Sabina Storberg spent two years training in Chinese martial arts in the mountains of China, learning Shaolin Kung Fu, Wudang Tai Chi and Bagua. She went on to study yoga in India, build a career with UNICEF, and eventually leave it all behind to create WeaponUP: a fusion of sword movement, martial arts and yoga. In this conversation, we explore what happens when you stop trying to fit the mould and create something of your own. We discuss: - Why Sabina travelled to China at 19 in search of discipline – and what she found there - The contrast between monastic training and a career at the United Nations - Why combining martial arts and yoga attracted criticism from traditionalists - The sword as a symbol of power, confidence and taking up space - Why grace is an overlooked quality in modern fitness Sabina's idea of the "graceful warrior" offers an alternative to the usual picture of strength. You can be powerful without being aggressive, disciplined without being rigid, and graceful without making yourself smaller. Find Sabina and WeaponUP: Website: https://weaponup.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theweaponup/ Things I use: Stubble & Co backpack: stubbleandco.com/JACKSBACKPACK Click the link or copy and paste to get 15% off your next purchase and support Fitness & Thinking. Keep exploring: F&T8 – What on Earth is a "best" life? – Maddie, Journey On F&T56 – Comics That Changed How I Think About Life More from Fitness & Thinking: Newsletter: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/p/how-much-would-you-give-to-know Work with me: https://whojackmann.com/coaching Fitness & Thinking explores six pillars of wellbeing: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial. Each conversation looks beyond the obvious to ask what it means to build a life worth living. If you enjoyed this conversation, please like the video, subscribe, and share it with someone who might need/enjoy/want permission for a little more audacity in their life.

  3. Oct 15

    What If Looking For Answers Is The Problem? - Jack Mann - F&T71

    What happens when we stop demanding that everything makes sense? In this solo episode of Fitness & Thinking, I spring from John Keats’s idea of negative capability and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot to consider why we’re so uncomfortable not knowing, how quickly we turn experiences into stories, and what we might discover if we let a question remain unanswered for a little longer. This isn’t an argument for passivity or indecision. It’s an invitation to consider whether we can live well without needing everything to make sense first. READ THE NEWSLETTER https://substack.com/home/post/p-220158445 KEEP EXPLORING FITNESS & THINKING F&T31 – 10 Painful Lessons From 2025 What can we learn from setbacks, community, purpose and the people around us? A reflection on the lessons that emerged from the first 30 episodes. F&T56 – Comics That Changed How I Think About Life What can fictional characters teach us about freedom, avoidance, mortality, identity and staying present when life gets difficult? WORK WITH ME whojackmann.com/coaching STUBBLE & CO I use their hybrid 30l backpack every day and love it. They've given me this link so you can get 15% off their entire range and support the channel: http://stubbleandco.com/JACKSBACKPACK If something in this episode stays with you, you don’t have to resolve it straight away. Sit with it, see where it takes you, and let me know what you think in the comments.

  4. Oct 8

    Eloise Skinner - Are Your Options Holding You Back? - F&T70

    Eloise Skinner worked as a corporate lawyer before spending time in a monastic community and becoming an author, model, yoga and fitness instructor, entrepreneur and existential psychotherapist. In this conversation, we talk about purpose, religion, monasticism, the body, fitness, spirituality and building a life that might only "make sense" in retrospect. We talk about the freedom that can come from narrowing your options, the importance of being present rather than living entirely in the future or the past, and why the path that feels authentic to you may be more important than finding the objectively “correct” one. Eloise's current work brings together meaning, purpose, education and wellbeing, and she is currently completing an MSc in Existential Analysis. More from Eloise: eloiseskinner.com instagram.com/eloiseallexia/ More from Fitness & Thinking: Read the Fitness & Thinking newsletter on Substack Follow @coachjackmann and @fitnessandthinking on Instagram If you enjoyed this conversation, there's plenty more to come and in the archive about meaning, identity, practice, purpose and what it means to build a good life.

  5. Oct 1

    Alexa Ryan - You Don't Need Another Health Hack - F&T69

    Alexa Ryan is a neurotherapist, functional medicine practitioner, nutritionist and founder of It Comes Naturally. Alexa's own journey into this work began with becoming her own patient. After years of unexplained health problems, she eventually found herself using what she had learned to understand her own brain and body — and later, after a severe spinal injury, to explore the relationship between physical pain, emotion and recovery. We talk about the gut-brain connection, whether we should look to food before supplements, the problem with constantly searching for the next biohack, and why Alexa believes the foundations of health matter more than endlessly adding new interventions. We also get into neurofeedback, brainwaves, binaural beats, screens, nature, attention, the vagus nerve, HRV and the increasingly popular world of nervous-system regulation. More from Alexa: Website: https://www.itcomesnaturally.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexa_ryan/ Keep exploring Fitness & Thinking: F&T31 | 10 Painful Lessons From 2025 F&T40 | Why Perfect Diets Usually Fail | Amy Stephens F&T61 | Your Relationships Will Struggle Without This Fitness & Thinking explores the physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual and financial sides of what it means to live well. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Fitness & Thinking, leave a comment with the idea that got you thinking, and send the episode to someone who might enjoy it. New episodes every week. Follow F&T: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/ Newsletter: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/ Want to work with Jack on your own physical and wider wellbeing? coachjackmann@gmail.com Guest ideas, collaborations or questions: fitnessandthinking@gmail.com

  6. Sep 24

    Dr. Justin Anderson - How You Can Perform When Everything Is Going Wrong - F&T68

    What happens when the thing standing between you and a good performance isn't your ability, but where you've placed your attention? Dr Justin Anderson is a high-performance psychologist, former collegiate quarterback and author of Intentional Attention. Inspired by his time with athletes and leaders, Justin's work could help all of us to become more deliberate about what we notice, what we respond to and who we choose to be. We begin with pressure: what it feels like to stand in the pocket, to have the physiological warning lights going off, and to perform anyway. And then the conversation quickly moves beyond sport. We explore why we tend to focus on what's wrong, how fear and insecurity pull our attention away from what matters, and why the goal under pressure might not be to perform better than our best but to avoid falling too far below what we're capable of. Justin introduces his Intentional Attention Framework, including awareness, intention, execution, reflection and renewal. We discuss the difference between thoughts, emotions, physiology, attention and behaviour, and how recognising patterns can give us more agency over our lives. We discuss sleep, nature, screens, circadian rhythms and the possibility that even rest can become another thing we try to optimise. We explore mindfulness, why Justin chose not to use the word in his book, and whether a more practical and performance-focused language can make these ideas more accessible – or lose something along the way. More from Justin: Intentional Attention: https://intentionalattention.com/ Premier Sports Psychology: https://premiersportspsychology.com/ Fitness & Thinking explores the relationship between physical fitness and the way we think, feel and live. Conversations about movement, psychology, philosophy, health, identity and what it means to live well. Like and subscribe for more.

  7. Sep 17

    Harry Donoghue - Nothing Has Changed: What Ancient Literature Reveals About Human Nature - F&T67

    Harry Donoghue is an Oxford and Cambridge educated Classicist, writer, public speaker and teacher. What can ancient poetry, Greek tragedy and classical literature teach us about being human today? In this episode of Fitness & Thinking, I catch up with Harry to explore the enduring relevance of the classics, from Ovid and Virgil to Medea, The Odyssey and The Aeneid. We discuss why human nature may have changed less than we think, how language shapes what we are able to understand, and why great art continues to speak to experiences across thousands of years. We also explore the value of boredom, the dangers of constant stimulation, why difficult books deserve our attention, and the relationship between art, entertainment and the attention economy. Along the way, we discuss the reinterpretation of classic stories, the depiction of women and violence in ancient literature, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and the idea that we cannot create something genuinely new without engaging with what came before. Harry brings together classics, philosophy, poetry, music and popular culture in a way that makes old ideas feel immediate – and often surprisingly relevant. If you enjoy this episode, leave a like, subscribe to Fitness & Thinking and share it with someone who enjoys thoughtful conversations about how we live. More from Harry: https://www.harrydonoghue.com/ https://www.instagram.com/harryspoetryy/ Explore more from Fitness & Thinking: F&T61 – Your Relationships Will Struggle Without This F&T43 – Moving In, Moving On and Moving Out: Relationships, Space and Honest Conversations F&T31 – 10 Painful Lessons from 2025 New episodes every week. Work with Jack on your own physical and wider wellbeing: Email: coachjackmann@gmail.com Guest ideas, collaborations or questions: Email: fitnessandthinking@gmail.com

  8. Sep 10

    Mila Smith - Dating Apps Aren't The Enemy - F&T66

    Mila Smith is a certified relationship and dating coach with more than 25 years' experience in relationship management, helping people understand themselves, choose better partners and build healthier, lasting relationships. What happens when AI starts filling the spaces that used to belong to other people? In F&T66, Mila and I talk about AI companions, dating apps and the loneliness epidemic — but the conversation quickly becomes much bigger than technology. We get into what human relationships give us that AI can't, why connection and community matter for wellbeing, and whether becoming increasingly self-sufficient has actually made us less connected to one another. Mila explains the six key life values that can shape long-term compatibility, why shared hobbies and interests may matter less than we assume, and why trust and constructive conflict are much more important. We also talk about attachment styles, confirmation bias, first impressions, dating intentionally, how dating apps can be better used (and understood), as well as how to build a life that doesn't depend on one person to fulfil every need.And perhaps the simplest question underneath all of this is: if we're surrounded by people, why are so many of us still lonely? More from Mila https://www.single-to-couple.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mila-smith-relationship-dating-coach/ Keep exploring Fitness & Thinking If this conversation got you thinking about relationships, connection and what actually makes a good life, there are a few places to go next: F&T61 | Your Relationships Will Struggle Without This A reflection on relationships through the lens of everything we've discussed across the F&T archive — including connection, identity, expectations and the ways our physical and emotional lives overlap. F&T43 | Beth Kirkbride — Moving In, Moving On & Moving Out A much more personal conversation about relationships, breakups, space, boundaries and what it actually takes to move on when a relationship changes. F&T31 | 10 Painful Lessons From 2025 A solo reflection on community, purpose, the people around us and some of the lessons that emerged from the first 30 episodes of F&T. Fitness & Thinking explores the physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual and financial sides of what it means to live well — and the strange territory between achieving what you thought you wanted and figuring out what comes next. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Fitness & Thinking on YouTube and leave a comment with the relationship, idea or question that got you thinking. New episodes every week. Follow F&T https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/ https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/ Want to work with Jack on your own physical and wider wellbeing? Email: coachjackmann@gmail.com Guest ideas, collaborations or questions? Email: fitnessandthinking@gmail.com

See All (101)

About

There's more to fitness than lifting weights, and if you've achieved your sports or body goals – or you're on you way to them – you'll likely have found yourself wondering alternately: is this it or what's next? Some of you might even self-sabotage before you get to this point because not knowing is a scary place to be. F&T tackles the big and small, the fat and the skinny and the completely delulu, and is hosted by a PT and online coach with a masters in Psychology, who's sick of fitness being reduced to: do you have a six pack?

Information

  • Creator
    Jack Mann
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    101
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jack Mann
  • Show Website
    Fitness and Thinking