PerformWell Podcast

PerformWell Podcast
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Performance isn't one thing. It's how you train, recover, think, and show up - every single day. PerformWell brings you straight-talking conversations with coaches, athletes, and experts who actually live this stuff. No fluff. No filler. Just what works.

  1. 4d ago

    Your Diet Is Working. You Just Can't See It Yet

    Three weeks in. You're training. You're eating properly. The mirror hasn't caught up and the scale has stopped moving. Nothing has gone wrong. You're early, and you're measuring the wrong thing. This week Nick and Grant are joined by Southampton personal trainer and nutrition coach Gemma Paddington to unpack the three week wall: why the scale drops fast and then stalls, why quick weight change is almost never fat, and what's actually changing underneath while you can't see a thing. We get into glycogen and water weight, weight loss vs fat loss, why Gemma times progress photos around a client's cycle, the client whose scale weight went UP 2kg and why that was good news, weekend calories, refeeds vs cheat days, the comparison trap, and how precise you actually need to be with food depending on where you're starting from. Plus what all three of us have had to unlearn this year, and what to actually do when you hit week three and want to quit. If you've ever said "I'm doing everything right and nothing's happening", this one's for you. GUEST Gemma Paddington: https://www.instagram.com/gemmapaddy82/ 🎙️ Hosted by Nick & Grant. Nick: https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick Grant: https://www.instagram.com/coach_grantmcdonald/ 📲 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performwellpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getfitbynick 🏋️ Coaching: https://performwellcoaching.co.uk New episodes every week. If this one helped, drop a comment and tell us where you got stuck, we read all of them. CHAPTERS 00:00 Your diet is working, you just can't see it yet 00:40 What the first three weeks actually look like 02:08 Why the scale isn't the metric at week three 03:27 Inches, centimetres and other British nonsense 03:55 Why the scale drops fast and then stops 05:23 Glycogen, water and the first two weeks 06:05 Weight loss vs fat loss: not the same goal 09:42 The client whose weight went up 2kg 11:08 How fighters cut water weight, and why you shouldn't 13:56 When weight cutting goes wrong 14:48 What's changing that you can't see 16:10 Recomp: strength up, weight flat, fat dropping 16:59 If not the scale, then what? 17:27 Bloating, cycles and timing progress photos 18:58 Where the honeymoon ends 19:30 "Two sessions a week and 2,000 steps a day" 20:12 The pit of despair 21:21 The weekend maths 22:21 Cheat days vs refeeds 24:18 How to actually run a refeed 28:23 The comparison problem 30:06 Body dysmorphia 31:06 Precision vs simplicity 33:49 Just track something 34:51 Why protein is so hard for people 35:44 What we've each had to unlearn this year 40:00 Gemma's back injury and training past 40 41:38 Three things to do at week three 43:52 Gemma calls out a coach in the gym 46:27 What does it mean to perform well? #fatloss #nutrition #fitnesspodcast

    Your Diet Is Working. You Just Can't See It Yet

  2. Aug 30

    Every Goal I Set as a Kid, I Quit. Then I Did an Ironman.

    Every goal I set as a kid, I quit. The Marines, two weeks from Greenberry. SAS selection. A business that folded in COVID. Cycling the length of Britain. At 35, the Ironman is the first one I've actually ticked off that list. Grant and I break down what the last 12 months really cost: the 11 to 15 hour training weeks, the social life, the strength work I loved, the beer gardens I cycled past. Why "I don't have time" almost always means "I don't have the energy." Why discipline shows up AFTER commitment, not before it. And the question that nearly broke me the day before the race: Does it still count as an Ironman if they cancel the swim? If you're strength-first and you think endurance is out of your reach, this one's for you. 🎙️ Hosted by Nick & Grant. Nick: https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick Grant: https://www.instagram.com/coach_grantmcdonald/ 📲 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performwellpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getfitbynick 🏋️ Coaching: https://performwellcoaching.co.uk #ironman #ironmantraining #hybridathlete

    Every Goal I Set as a Kid, I Quit. Then I Did an Ironman.

  3. Aug 23

    He Ran a World Record Marathon With Heart Disease (ft. Archie Hunt)

    Archie Hunt was born ten weeks early with a heart that isn't supposed to let him run. In April he ran 2:27:41 at the London Marathon in a cape and a pair of red pants, and set the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon dressed as a book character. The previous record was 2:42, held by a man dressed as Dracula. The part nobody expects is how he did it. Ninety-two percent of his training is zone one and zone two. No intervals, no threshold sessions, no marathon blocks, for two full years. He built from 40k a week to 200k a week by run-commuting to and from work with a backpack, around 60-hour weeks as a corporate lawyer in London. In that time his heart got measurably stronger and he came off three of his four medications. He's also beaten runners who've trained hard their entire lives, which is why the hate mail is always from people slightly slower than him and never from anyone faster. We get into all of it. Why patience beats intensity. Why he'd take 300th place with a PB over 10th without one. What he thinks about at 30k when it's falling apart. And what it actually means to perform well when the ceiling you're chasing keeps moving. In this episode: Why he was told not to run, and why he found a different doctor How 200k a week is possible around a full-time job The zone two case, from someone who has no other option Fuelling, 3,500 calories a day, and two breakfasts at his desk Throwing up at 60k of a 110k ultra and winning it anyway Splitting yourself into the person who trains and the person who races Sub 2:20, Comrades, backyard ultras, and the elite start at London Follow Archie: https://www.instagram.com/archibald_on_the_run/ Archie trains under medical supervision with regular scans and checkups. As he says himself in the episode, don't copy a 24 year old on the internet. If you have a heart condition, speak to your own specialist. 🎙️ Hosted by Nick & Grant. Nick: https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick Grant: https://www.instagram.com/coach_grantmcdonald/ 📲 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performwellpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getfitbynick #Marathon #ZoneTwo #RunningPodcast #WorldRecord #Endurance

    He Ran a World Record Marathon With Heart Disease (ft. Archie Hunt)

  4. Aug 16

    ICU Nurse by Day, Cage Fighter by Night (ft. Bryony Tyrell)

    Bryony "Killer Bee" Tyrell spent seven years as an intensive care nurse. She spent her nights becoming one of Britain's leading female cage fighters. She raised two kids through all of it. Nobody on the ward had any idea. Now Gemma Arterton is playing her in a feature film. In this episode: why weight cutting kills more fighters than punches do, what her coach shouted at her from the corner in Belgium when she was too tired to stand, why she'd rather fight 15,000 people than speak to them, and why at 46 she's still competing and moving into stunt work. She also put both of us on the floor before we started recording. She fights at 52kg. Bryony is the clearest example we've had on this show of something that keeps coming up: the people doing extraordinary things almost never quit their normal life to do it. They just refuse to accept that the ordinary one is all they get. Follow the film: https://www.instagram.com/killa_bee_film/ Shot at: Hoplite BJJ https://www.hoplitebjj.co.uk/ The PerformWell Podcast. You haven't peaked. You just stopped doing hard things. Hosted by Nick Finch and Grant McDonald. Online coaching: performwellcoaching.co.uk Instagram: www.instagram.com/getfitbynick www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast www.instagram.com/coach_grant_mcdonald #MMA #Nurse #Podcast

    ICU Nurse by Day, Cage Fighter by Night (ft. Bryony Tyrell)

  5. Aug 12

    I'm Doing an Ironman. You Shouldn't.

    Should you do an Ironman? Probably not. Three days before Ironman Leeds, Nick Finch and Grant McDonald talk about why chasing someone else's challenge is the fastest way to end up training for a life you don't want. Everyone's doing a Hyrox. Everyone's running a marathon. Everyone's posting the medal. And if you're in your thirties watching all of it happen on your phone, it's easy to feel like you're behind on a race you never entered. This episode is about the opposite of that. It's about reference experiences, the small things you tick off that quietly build the confidence to attempt bigger ones, and why nobody wakes up one morning and does a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a marathon in a single day. Nick breaks down the four year ladder that got him to the start line: a charity boxing match in front of a thousand people, a failed attempt to cycle the length of the UK, a marathon, and a swim with the Royal Marines. Grant walks through the same pattern in karate, from white belt to two national titles, and why earning his black belt was harder and more frightening than any competition. We also get into the 11 hour training weeks, the 24 week build, the swim cutoff that ends your race before you've even got on the bike, and the honest answer to what happens if it goes wrong on Sunday. The question underneath all of it: what's your marathon? Tell us in the comments. We read every one. SUPPORT THE FUNDRAISER Nick is racing for CALM. https://www.justgiving.com/page/stronger-than-the-silence NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE Post race debrief, recorded within 48 hours of the finish line. Subscribe so you don't miss it. ABOUT THE SHOW PerformWell is a podcast about people who have done something most people would call impossible. We find the part you can copy. Every guest gets the same question at the end: what does it mean to perform well? Hosted by Nick Finch and Grant McDonald. WORK WITH NICK Online coaching, The Hybrid Build: performwellcoaching.co.uk Instagram: @getfitbynick @coach_grantmcdonald #Ironman #HybridTraining #PerformWell

    I'm Doing an Ironman. You Shouldn't.

  6. Aug 9

    You Don't Look How You Think You Look (ft. Rob Stark)

    Rob Stark photographs physiques for a living. He still catches himself in a mirror and thinks he looks small. Rob went from 64kg at 6'2" to 101kg and back down to 80kg. Before the camera he was a DJ at Ministry of Sound, a filmmaker with a U2 music video to his name, an actor and a performer. He told me before we recorded that he wasn't sure he had anything interesting to say. In this one we get into why nearly everyone hates being photographed, how Rob talks people down before a shoot, what a physique built as a hiding place actually costs, and why he still gets nervous after twenty years behind the lens. Grant and I have both been shot by Rob. This one's personal. Follow Rob: https://www.instagram.com/starkphysiques/ https://www.shotbystark.com/ Get after your own goals: 💪 Coaching: performwellcoaching.co.uk 🎙️ Hosted by Nick & Grant. Nick: https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick Grant: https://www.instagram.com/coach_grantmcdonald/ 📲 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performwellpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getfitbynick 00:00 The man who thought he had nothing to say 00:45 A career that started by accident 08:12 Everyone is creative until it gets taken out of them 11:13 Fifty side quests and one pattern 13:48 The holiday photo that started it 14:45 The advice that stopped him wasting years 15:33 Wanting to be lean and big at the same time 17:48 Nick at 75kg and 6'4" 20:18 Testosterone, bloods, and doing it properly 29:31 Body dysmorphia goes both ways 30:24 Hiding inside a character 32:39 How to talk someone down before a shoot 35:53 I'd rather fight 1,000 people than talk to them 40:41 Building a body you can hide in 45:07 What does it mean to perform well? 53:05 Twenty years in and still nervous 55:24 Meditation, and rowing versus sailing #bodydysmorphia #physiquephotography #performwellpodcast

    You Don't Look How You Think You Look (ft. Rob Stark)

  7. Aug 2

    I Nearly Quit Recording This Podcast Off a Cliff (ft. Tim Miller)

    As far as we can find, this is the first podcast ever recorded hanging off a cliff. If you know otherwise - comments are open. I'm terrified of heights. Tim has spent 20+ years as a mountaineering and climbing instructor, and he's the founder of Boulder Shack Climbing Gym in Southampton. I told him I'd do an episode on his turf and then found myself suspended over the edge of a sea cliff, genuinely wanting to quit, crying behind my sunglasses. What followed became a conversation about the thing that actually gets you through fear: trust. Trust in the equipment, trust in the person holding your rope, and trust in yourself, built one small promise at a time. We get into "type 2 fun", the Fear Bubble (Ant Middleton), why calm is contagious, and the breakfast question that talked me off the ledge. Literally. Follow Tim: 🧗 Boulder Shack Climbing Gym, Southampton 🎙️ In Progress with Tim Miller on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts Tim Miller: https://www.instagram.com/timothy.rocks/ Get after your own goals: 💪 Coaching: performwellcoaching.co.uk 🎙️ Hosted by Nick & Grant. Nick: https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick Grant: https://www.instagram.com/coach_grantmcdonald/ 📲 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performwellpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getfitbynick If this episode made you want to do the scary thing - subscribe. And if you don't, I'll come hunt you down once I get off this ledge. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro The First Podcast Ever Recorded Off a Cliff 0:53 Why We're Hanging Off a Cliff (Fear → Trust) 2:14 The Psychology of Staying Calm 4:23 "Oats Are Working Now, Mate" Tim's Panic Trick 6:04 Has Tim Ever Been Scared? 7:57 Commit First Why We Do Hard Things 9:21 Kids, Parents & Safeguarding: 20 Years of Trust 12:30 "Isn't This Mental?" Panic Mid-Podcast 13:40 The 1AM Knock Foster Care & Trust 16:05 The Spain Burglary Story 17:57 When You Can't Back Out (The Tryfan Story) 20:37 "Let's See Nick Cry" The Courage to Be Seen 21:37 The Fear Bubble (Ant Middleton) 23:46 The 3 Types of Fun 24:33 The Moment I Nearly Quit 26:16 The Climb Out "That Was NOT a V1" 27:11 One Step at a Time Key Takeaways 28:18 What a World We Live In + Where to Find Tim 29:56 Outro #podcast #climbing #overcomingfear #type2fun #mindset

    I Nearly Quit Recording This Podcast Off a Cliff (ft. Tim Miller)

  8. Jul 19

    Doing Hard Things When Nobody's Watching | Luke Bland

    Six months ago Luke Bland sat in his car, pressed record and spoke from the heart. One of those messages - we're all going to die, and most of us are sleepwalking through the time we've got left, stopped over three million people mid-scroll. In this episode of the PerformWell Podcast, Nick Finch sits down with Luke (@lukewbland): dad of two, former Royal Marines recruit, scaffolder turned business owner, Ironman, and a man who has run 100 miles in a single go - with a 200-miler and a 215-mile Race Across Scotland still on the calendar. It's an honest, no-fluff conversation. Luke talks about the turning point that made him quit drinking and drugs overnight at 32 and pour that same energy into endurance sport. We get into learning to swim just nine months out from an Ironman and coming out of the water nearly last, why "world class basics" - manners, timekeeping and hard graft are the only edge he thinks he needs, and the surprisingly underwhelming truth about crossing the finish line. Along the way: men's mental health and brotherhood, being present as a dad, why "no time" doesn't hold up as an excuse, and what it really takes to not die average. Whether you're chasing your first Ironman, trying to get off the sofa, or just tired of the highlight reel - this one's for you. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FOLLOW & CONNECT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ The PerformWell Podcast → https://www.instagram.com/performwellpodcast/ 💪 Nick Finch (host) → https://www.instagram.com/getfitbynick 🏃 Luke Bland (guest) → https://www.instagram.com/lukewbland/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SUPPORT THE CAUSE ❤️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Nick is racing Ironman Leeds to raise money for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a UK suicide prevention charity. For men under 50, suicide is still the leading cause of death - CALM is working to change that. Donate to "Stronger than the Silence" → https://www.justgiving.com/page/stronger-than-the-silence Every share and every pound makes a difference. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 – Intro 00:55 – Meet Luke Bland & the "don't die average" message 02:26 – Losing control: quitting drink and drugs at 32 03:43 – Hyrox, Ironman Barcelona & learning to swim in 9 months 06:49 – Falling in love with the bike and the trails 08:09 – Royal Marines, Lympstone & "world class basics" 10:14 – Failing young and the drive to prove yourself 14:46 – Scaffolding and the power of a group of lads 17:31 – Men's mental health: "therapy without calling it therapy" 18:43 – Advice for busy dads: why "no time" doesn't hold up 21:04 – Stacking days & the quiet mind of an overthinker 23:54 – What you do when no one is watching 26:53 – The 200-miler, "the tunnel" & signing up for what scares you 31:22 – Would you still do it without social media? 32:48 – Discipline, dawn training & the highlight-reel trap 39:40 – Celebrate the wins — but do what you love 45:27 – What it means to "perform well" & a message to his kids 47:40 – What's next: 200 miles, Scotland & speaking on mental health #DontDieAverage #UltraRunning #PerformWellPodcast.

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About

Performance isn't one thing. It's how you train, recover, think, and show up - every single day. PerformWell brings you straight-talking conversations with coaches, athletes, and experts who actually live this stuff. No fluff. No filler. Just what works.

Information

  • Creator
    PerformWell Podcast
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    154
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © PerformWell Podcast
  • Show Website
    PerformWell Podcast

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