The Colosseum | Health & Performance

Tyler and Jayden
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Health & Fitness

The Colosseum is a weekly show built on a simple idea: modern science has answered a lot of questions about how to train, eat, recover, and live well — and most people are still left guessing. Each episode, hosts Tyler and Jayden break down the latest news across health, wellness, and fitness. Exercise science. Endurance sports. Health tech. Performance nutrition. Recovery and longevity. It's the kind of honest, curious conversation you'd have with a friend who reads the research so you don't have to. Expect deep dives on science, research, and training for IRONMAN, HYROX, and ultra-endurance events. Conversations with or about athletes, coaches, founders, and researchers pushing the field forward. And honest conversations about the wellness trends shaping how people train, eat, and recover. New episodes weekly. Part of The Colosseum — a modern health movement.

  1. 2d ago

    Google Health Guardian, Apple Loop & the Future of Fitness Wearables

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. Google is taking direct aim at Garmin with the Pixel Watch 5. The company claims its new GPS system can provide twice the route accuracy of the Pixel Watch 4 in difficult environments and outperform devices like the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra 3 in internal urban testing. But instead of relying entirely on a stronger GPS receiver, Google appears to be using its knowledge of roads, buildings, and maps to correct routes after a workout. We break down whether software-assisted GPS can genuinely compete with Garmin’s dedicated fitness hardware and what happens when your watch starts interpreting your run instead of simply recording it. From there, we look at Google’s new Health Guardian features, which aim to identify longer-term wellness trends involving blood pressure, insulin resistance, sleep breathing, and dangerous drops in blood oxygen — without crossing the line into clinical diagnosis. Then we get into Project Seven, Matt Johnson’s attempt to complete seven full Ironman-distance triathlons in seven consecutive days to raise money for ValorFit and support military veterans. We discuss the physical and logistical demands of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a marathon every day for an entire week, why endurance challenges like this are often decided by recovery and nutrition, and what makes the mission behind the event more important than the finish times. We also cover Courtney Dauwalter’s surprise return to UTMB and whether one of ultrarunning’s greatest athletes can reclaim her title after a disappointing result — especially in a race where 108 miles, nearly 10,000 meters of climbing, weather, nutrition, and a single mistake can change everything. Next, a new avocado oil study raises serious questions about what consumers are actually buying. Researchers tested 54 processed foods marketed as containing avocado oil and found that 48 of them — roughly 89% — had oil profiles inconsistent with authentic avocado oil. We break down what the testing can and cannot prove, why products like chips, mayonnaise, and salad dressings are difficult for consumers to evaluate, and how premium health claims can become powerful marketing tools even when the underlying ingredients may not match expectations. That leads into a broader conversation about acquisitions in the health and wellness industry, what happens when trusted brands are bought by larger companies, and whether consumers can rely on a brand’s reputation after its ownership and priorities begin to change. Finally, Spotify is moving deeper into fitness with a new Running Mode designed to build personalized playlists around the type of run, desired tempo, and musical preferences of the user. We discuss whether Spotify can compete with guided running platforms by using the listening data it already has and why automatically matching music to the intensity of a workout could be more useful than another generic training plan. We close with reports that Apple is exploring a screenless fitness band that could compete with Whoop and other recovery-focused wearables. We break down why Apple may want a device designed for continuous health tracking rather than notifications, how artificial intelligence could turn years of Apple Health data into practical recommendations, and the privacy trade-offs that come with allowing technology to understand more about your body than ever before.

  2. Aug 10

    Nike Enters HYROX, P&G Buys Thorne, and the Science of Getting Stronger

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. The HYROX gold rush is officially underway. Nike entered the hybrid-racing arms race with an entire two-shoe system built specifically around the demands of running fast while still being stable enough for sleds, lunges, and wall balls. The Hybridfly brings ZoomX, a carbon Flyplate, and Zoom Air into a race-day model, while the Hybrid RN serves as the training counterpart. We break down whether Nike has actually solved the hybrid-shoe problem, why Puma's early investment in HYROX may have given it a massive head start, and how Adidas is entering the same fight as nearly every major footwear company tries to claim a piece of one of fitness's fastest-growing categories. From there, we look at UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan completing his first HYROX less than 24 hours after winning a grappling match, teaming up with former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin to finish in 1:06:39 — another example of just how transferable the conditioning of elite combat athletes can be. Then we get into a new eight-week bench press study asking a surprisingly practical question: how much should the bar actually slow down before you end a set? Researchers compared different training loads and velocity-loss thresholds in 158 trained men and found that heavier training with more moderate fatigue produced the largest average strength gains, while pushing sets deeper into fatigue produced more muscle growth — but required substantially more repetitions. We break down what bar-speed loss actually means, why grinding every set may be counterproductive if strength is the goal, and how lifters can apply the idea even without expensive velocity-tracking equipment. Finally, P&G agreed to acquire supplement company Thorne in a $3.8 billion cash deal, raising a bigger question than the price tag: what happens when a brand built largely on practitioner trust, testing standards, and credibility gets absorbed by one of the world's largest consumer-goods companies? We discuss why the acquisition makes sense for P&G, why longtime Thorne customers may be skeptical, and what could happen to that trust if the brand's priorities begin to change. We close by breaking down a viral post linking low-calorie sweeteners with faster cognitive decline, what the underlying observational research can and can't actually prove, and why the headline is much scarier than the conclusion deserves.

  3. Aug 3

    Badwater History, a New PCT FKT & Red Bull Gym Clash

    Two course records fell at the 2026 Badwater 135—and Max Jolliffe became the first athlete to finish the legendary race in under 21 hours. In Episode 15, We break down Jolliffe’s historic 20:53:41 victory, Carmen Maria Perez’s women’s course record and second-place overall finish, and the online debate surrounding the finish-line ribbon, race tracking, and limited coverage of the event. Then, the conversation turns to Aurélien Sanchez’s reported supported fastest known time on the Pacific Crest Trail: 45 days, 20 hours, and 15 minutes across roughly 2,650 miles. What does it take to manage the sleep, logistics, injuries, and constant movement behind an attempt like this? Finally, we explore Red Bull Gym Clash, a worldwide gym-versus-gym functional fitness competition. They break down the team format, qualification process, workouts, and what the event says about the explosive growth of hybrid fitness. Subscribe for weekly conversations covering the stories, science, and culture shaping health, wellness, and human performance.

  4. Jul 27

    Josh Kerr Breaks a 27-Year World Record, Van Riel's Ironman Masterclass, The Engineered Era

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. He called his shot — and delivered one of the most iconic runs in track history. At the London Diamond League, Great Britain's Josh Kerr broke Hicham El Guerrouj's mile world record, running 3:42.66 to take 0.47 seconds off a mark that had stood for 27 years and become the first man ever under 3:43. He'd announced the attempt ("Project 222") months in advance and built his whole season around it. We break down not just the run but the debate it reignited: how much of a modern record is the athlete versus the engineering around them — wave-light pacing, carbon-plated shoes, custom spikes, and wearables — and why, if it were only the tech, everyone behind him would've run it too. From there, triathlon's Marten Van Riel turned one of Ironman's toughest courses into a speed showcase, smashing the Ironman Lake Placid course record in 7:41:57 (a 2:34:49 marathon) for his first-ever full-distance Ironman win — and setting up a blockbuster Kona showdown with Kristian Blummenfelt. Garmin finally entered the screen-free wearable race with the CIRQA Smart Band — a Whoop-style tracker that runs its core health, sleep, and recovery metrics with no required subscription (with an optional Connect+ tier for extras) — and we get into who a screenless band is actually for. Then Nike ACG turned its Zegama trail-running platform into a lightweight, ZoomX-cushioned hiking boot, part of a broader shift away from heavy traditional boots. Jayden's two-a-day bike blocks and the psychology of self-image, our accidental 12-mile trail run in the mountains, and a heated debate about whether Coca-Cola's redesign means Coke Zero is officially the default (and whether Diet Coke is doomed).

  5. Jul 20

    Hardrock Records, 100 HYROXs, and PUMA’s Athlete Pipeline

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. Experience is having a moment. At the Hardrock 100 — 102 brutal miles and 33,000 feet of climbing through Colorado's San Juan Mountains — 50-year-old Ludovic Pommeret won for the third straight year and smashed the overall course record (21:11:36), while Courtney Dauwalter took her fourth title and reset her own clockwise record. It sparks a bigger debate we dig into: in ultra-endurance, do experience and durability beat raw youth and VO2 max? Then there's a feat that sounds impossible — one athlete became the first ever to complete 100 HYROX Pro races in 100 consecutive days, running 800 km and grinding through 800 stations without a single day off, on a Puma-built course recognized by the German Record Institute. Speaking of Puma, we break down Project Podium, the biggest sub-elite program in HYROX history, which turns every solo podium finisher at the Stockholm World Championships into a sponsored Puma athlete. On the science side, a UK Biobank study of nearly 83,000 people found that heavy evening light exposure (over 1,000 lux between 8 and 11:30 PM) was linked to meaningfully higher rates of age-related eye disease — 31% for macular degeneration and 47% for glaucoma — which sends us down a rabbit hole on indoor LEDs, natural light, and circadian health. And we close on a simple, cheap tool blowing up online: why cooled potatoes — the single most filling food ever tested on the satiety index — turn into resistant starch that may help with fat loss and blood sugar.

  6. Jul 13

    Laidlow's Record, WHOOP Grabs Nike, The Omega-3 Myth

    Welcome to Episode 12 of the The Colosseum — the stories, science, and culture shaping health, wellness, and human performance. This week we cover Sam Laidlow's record-setting Challenge Roth win on Canyon's unreleased Speedmax CFR (and whether the bike or the athlete deserves the credit), an 18-year-old outsprinting an Olympic champion at the Prefontaine Classic, and a two-year fish oil trial that got more DHA into the brain but failed to improve memory. We also break down WHOOP hiring Nike's former global CMO, Gymshark founder Ben Francis eyeing a stake buyback, and Andy Galpin's science-backed guide to HYROX training. Plus: VO2 max reality checks, why most people aren't training hard enough to need the recovery they think they do, and the carbs-vs-fat unlock for body composition.

  7. Jul 6

    Western States Rewrites History, a 900-Mile Ocean Swim, The Fastest Era in Running

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. Records are falling across running all at once — and that's almost never an accident. At the Western States 100, France's Vincent Bouillard smashed a course record that had stood since 2019, running 13:46:15 as the entire men's podium ducked under the old mark; on the women's side, Jenn Lichter broke Courtney Dauwalter's "untouchable" record in her 100-mile debut, on a day with the highest finish rate in the race's 53-year history. Days later at the Paris Diamond League, 20-year-old Cameron Myers ran 3:28.00 for a new Australian 1500m record, and Switzerland's Audrey Werro clocked 1:53.80 — the third-fastest women's 800m in history and the first sub-1:54 ever, closing in on a world record that has stood since 1983. We break down why it's all happening now: super shoes, high-carb fueling, deeper and better-funded fields, and smarter data — the signs of a rare inflection point, the same kind of moment as the first sub-4 mile or sub-2 marathon. Then the NIH's All of Us program just became the world's largest integrated genomics and health database — over 747,000 participants and 535,000 whole genome sequences linked to nearly 482,000 medical records, with 86% of participants from communities historically left out of biomedical research. We get into why that diversity actually matters for medicine, and where bigger data can still go wrong. Then there's Catherine Breed, who just launched "Swim California" — a first-of-its-kind attempt to swim the entire 900-mile California coast from Oregon to Mexico under marathon-swimming rules, five hours a day for four months. Plus our weekly check-in on Tyler's road to HYROX Dallas — getting back into training after time off, using HRV to know when to back off, and building the block around VO2 max and zone 2 — and a full rundown of upcoming events, from the Tour de France and Hardrock 100 to the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

  8. Jun 29

    Wearables Going Clinical, Van Riel's Perfect Season, The Hybrid Era

    This week on The Colosseum, we cover the biggest stories in health, fitness, wellness, and human performance. Your wearable is becoming a medical device. WHOOP just partnered with HealthEx to pull your actual electronic health records into the app — so diagnoses, medications, and procedures sit alongside your recovery, strain, and sleep, powered by WHOOP AI and "My Memory." Oura is heading the same direction, quietly turning the ring into a virtual doctor's office with cognitive testing and in-app telehealth. We dig into what this clinical era of wearables really means: the accuracy-vs-trends debate (and what the Apple Heart Study and validation research actually show), the privacy tradeoffs, and the thornier question of AI predicting — and even prescribing — your medication. Plus a new meta-analysis in the Journal of the American Heart Association finding wearables meaningfully boost activity in people with heart disease, and a head-to-head of Apple Watch vs. Whoop vs. Oura vs. Fitbit. From there we get into the explosion of hybrid fitness: Nike-backed ONE LDN raising £2.5M to scale its HYROX-style training club, and what the rise of community-driven "all-in-one" gyms means for the industry. We break down Marten Van Riel going a perfect 6-for-6 in Ironman 70.3 with a course-record win at Elsinore, the contrast between data-driven Norwegian training and South Africa's deep ultra-running culture, and how HYROX has done something we've never seen before — spawned an entire category of shoes built from the ground up (Puma, Adidas, On, Brooks).

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About

The Colosseum is a weekly show built on a simple idea: modern science has answered a lot of questions about how to train, eat, recover, and live well — and most people are still left guessing. Each episode, hosts Tyler and Jayden break down the latest news across health, wellness, and fitness. Exercise science. Endurance sports. Health tech. Performance nutrition. Recovery and longevity. It's the kind of honest, curious conversation you'd have with a friend who reads the research so you don't have to. Expect deep dives on science, research, and training for IRONMAN, HYROX, and ultra-endurance events. Conversations with or about athletes, coaches, founders, and researchers pushing the field forward. And honest conversations about the wellness trends shaping how people train, eat, and recover. New episodes weekly. Part of The Colosseum — a modern health movement.

Information

  • Creator
    Tyler and Jayden
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Tyler and Jayden