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The High Performance Podcast
Jason Kenny: The mindset needed to achieve Olympic glory (E77)
Jason Kenny has just won his eighth cycling medal at the Tokyo Olympics to become Great Britain's most decorated Olympian of all time.
At the age of 20, Jason won his first Olympic gold, alongside Sir Chris Hoy, in the team sprint at the Beijing Games in 2008 and was one of the figureheads of the highly successful Great Britain Cycling Team at their home Olympics in London four years later, taking his career haul to three golds medals in the sprint and team sprint. But it was in Rio that Jason really wrote his name into British Olympic folklore, winning three more titles, in the team sprint, sprint and keirin.
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Thank you to Lotus Cars for being our very special parter for this Olympics series. Lotus has created the new cutting edge Olympic bike to be raced by Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics RIGHT NOW! The very bike that Jason was riding as he picked up his 8th Olympic gold medall. It is an incredible design you really have to see for yourself! Check it out at lotuscars.com
Have you seen our book cover?! Get you hands on signed copies of our new book, High Performance: Lessons from the best on becoming your best, right here: https://bit.ly/3xQwAsL
Check out a brand new newsletter for our members club THE HIGH PERFORMANCE CIRCLE! On the Circle this month:
* Exclusive Podcast with Chrissie Wellington - 4 x Ironman World Champion and Global Lead for Health & Wellbeing for parkrun.
* Keynote with former England Rugby Sevens captain Ollie Phillips
* High Performance Boosts with British Wheelchair Tennis Champion and Paralympic medal winner Jordanne Whiley MBE, Olympic Gold medal winning rower Ben Hunt-Davis and adventurer Levison Wood.
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402. Yaya Touré: The Dressing Room Standards That Turned Man City Into Champions (E402)
01:15:18||Ep. 402Yaya Touré is one of football’s most dominant midfielders, a key figure in transforming Manchester City into a title-winning force. In this episode, Yaya shares the unseen moments behind that success, from arriving at a club with a losing mentality to helping build a culture driven by focus, respect, dedication, and passion.He opens up about the turning point that changed everything, a heated halftime confrontation that sparked a shift in standards and turned City into “a machine.” Drawing on his time at Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, Yaya explains why winning teams are built on brotherhood, purpose, and an obsession with excellence, not just talent.Yaya also reflects on the managers who shaped him and the identity that defined his career: “I’m a winner.” This is a powerful insight into what it really takes to build a championship mentality and sustain success at the highest level.Our partners for this episode: Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal 👉 https://nordvpn.com/highperformance Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee Randox 👉 Book a test today and save 20% on all health checks with the code HP20 at : https://highpfrmc.com/HPP_Randoxhealth_au XTB 👉 To find out more and make your money work, use code HPP at: https://highpfrmc.com/XTB-hpp-au Visit CLIF at www.eu.clifbar.com or www.instagram.com/clifeurope to learn more and shop your favourite flavours on www.amazon.co.uk/clif
Martin Lewis: How I Built Britain's Most Trusted Brand — and the Price I Paid
52:04|Martin Lewis will tell you himself - he's not an entrepreneur, not a celebrity, not a website owner. He's a campaigning journalist. One who happened to build MoneySavingExpert into the most powerful consumer platform in the country, recover billions of pounds for ordinary people, and become the most trusted voice in Britain in the process.We're revisiting one of the most powerful conversations we've ever had on High Performance and we think it's more relevant now than when we first recorded it.This conversation is about what drives a person to dedicate their life to fighting for strangers. Where that fire comes from. What it costs to carry the weight of millions of people's trust. And what Martin Lewis has had to go through to get here.You'll hear Martin on why trust cannot be marketed, only earned. On the moment that shifted his entire philosophy from beating the system to protecting the people the system exploits. And on why success, however hard won, is never the whole story.
How You Leave Says Everything — Salah, Trent, and the Art of the Exit
29:09|Mo Salah is leaving Liverpool as a legend. Trent Alexander-Arnold left to boos and a painted-over mural. What made the difference — and what does it tell us about legacy, loyalty, and how we all choose to move on?Jake and Damian dig into the psychology of the exit: why the ultimatum game explains fan reaction, how Salah's struggles at Chelsea made him a better player at Liverpool, and what Roy Hodgson returning to management at 78 says about purpose and passion.Plus: Georgia Hunter Bell's remarkable comeback from telesales to World Indoor champion, Kimi Antonelli's back-to-back Formula One wins and what one victory does to the mind, and Josh Kerr's pursuit of the world mile record. Damian's High Performer of the Week will stop you in your tracks.
401. Why The Bravest Leaders Are Afraid All the Time | Brené Brown (E401)
01:17:57||Ep. 401Brené Brown is a world-renowned researcher and author, known for her work on vulnerability, courage, and what makes truly effective leaders. She has spent decades studying human behaviour, uncovering how fear, connection, and self-awareness shape performance at the highest level.In this episode, Brené sits down with Jake and Damian to explore the difference between safe and unsafe leadership, and how fear quietly drives decisions at work and at home. She explains why the best leaders don’t avoid vulnerability, but use it to build trust, clarity, and stronger teams.They cover why your greatest strength might secretly be your armour, the formula every elite performer needs to understand (performance = potential minus interference), why organisational leaders are the only high-performers in the world where coaching isn't expected, and what England's penalty curse and Liverpool's current struggles really tell us about the psychology of winning.Plus — a special surprise message from Steven Gerrard leaves Brené lost for words!Subscribe to Brené’s podcast ‘The Curiosity Shop’ on YouTube or your favorite app for new episodes every Thursday.Brené’s latest book ‘Strong Ground’ is available now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strong-Ground-Leadership-Tenacity-Vermilion/dp/178504320XLinks referenced in podcast: The lethality of loneliness: John Cacioppo TED TALKOur partners in this episode: Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 Visit Seattle 👉 Start planning your perfect summer of football by searching Visit Seattle on social media, or discover more at: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-visitseattle-au
How to Think Clearly When It Matters Most: Shane Parrish
59:48|Shane Parrish is the founder of Farnam Street and one of the world's most respected voices on decision-making and clear thinking.In this episode we re-visit with Shane, he introduces the concept of positioning — the small daily choices that put you on easy mode or hard mode before a single big decision is made. He breaks down the four defaults that hijack your thinking (emotion, ego, social pressure, and inertia), explains why fear of success holds people back just as much as fear of failure, and shares the Kissinger test that reveals whether you're truly doing your best work.If you're tired of making life harder than it needs to be, this one's for you.
What Does Healthy Masculinity Look Like?
46:21|Louis Theroux's Manosphere documentary has got everyone talking - but Jake and Damian think we might be asking the wrong questions. Is shining a light on extreme influencers actually making them more attractive? And is the phrase 'toxic masculinity' doing more harm than good to the young men it's supposed to help?Jake shares research from the Centre for Male Psychology suggesting the term may be damaging to boys, while Damian breaks down why labels drive identity, and why that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Also this week...The treatment of Liam Rosenior Head coach Johann van Graan's transformation of Bath RugbyLeBron James broke the NBA all-time games played record And Norwich is officially the best place to live in the UK (Jake has thoughts)Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 Visit Seattle 👉 Start planning your perfect summer of football by searching Visit Seattle on social media, or discover more at: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-visitseattle-au
400. Ex-NATO Commander: Why Britain Isn't Ready for the Unthinkable (E400)
55:11||Ep. 400When global instability dominates the headlines, it can be hard to know what to think...or how to lead. This week, Jake and Damian sit down with General Sir Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, to cut through the noise.With 37 years commanding British soldiers, Richard has led through some of the most complex and high-stakes environments imaginable - from the streets of Basra to the corridors of NATO headquarters. And his lessons aren't just for generals.In this episode, he breaks down the war-gaming mindset that every great leader needs, explains why the best decisions are built on intuition as much as information, and shares Field Marshal Slim's three components of morale — a framework as relevant in business as it is on the battlefield.Richard also makes the case for thinking the unthinkable - conscription, and challenges the narrative that younger generations lack resilience, and ends with a genuinely optimistic vision for what great leadership could unlock.This is a conversation about courage, preparation, and the kind of bold decision-making the world needs more of right now.Our partners on this episode: Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 Visit Seattle 👉 Start planning your perfect summer of football by searching Visit Seattle on social media, or discover more at: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-visitseattle-au
Mark Webber: The Truth About Vettel, Red Bull and Why I Was Never Their Number One
46:10|Mark Webber came from a small town in rural Australia with no money, no connections, and a body the wrong size for a Formula One car. He made it to the very top anyway, achieving nine Grand Prix wins, 42 podiums and World Endurance Champion - becoming one of the most respected drivers of his generation.We re-visit this conversation with Mark, where he opens up about the years at Red Bull when he believed his own team was favouring Sebastian Vettel at every turn. Engines allegedly turned down when he was catching his teammate. A new front wing arriving at the track and going to the other car. A World Championship slipping away in the final race of the season. It got so bad that Mark did something almost unheard of in Formula One — he wrote a private letter directly to the man who owned the entire operation.Our partners for this episode: Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 Visit Seattle 👉 Start planning your perfect summer of football by searching Visit Seattle on social media, or discover more at: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-visitseattle-au
When a Team Stops Believing: Inside Tottenham's Freefall (ft. Tim Krul)
53:13|What happens inside a dressing room when a team loses faith in itself? Jake and Damian go beyond the results and the headlines to examine the psychology of collective belief failure — using Tottenham's historic 12-game winless run as the defining case study.Joined by goalkeeper Tim Krul, who has experienced relegation with both Newcastle and Luton, they explore what fear actually looks like on a pitch, why managers can lose a dressing room in 10 minutes, and what the Kinski substitution really said about Tudor's state of mind.Damian draws on his work with West Brom during a similar crisis to explain why the answer is almost never about fitness or tactics — and Jake reveals what Norwich City's sporting director said to Philippe Clement that convinced a Premier League-level manager to take on a Championship relegation battle.Plus: why Kimi Antonelli could be this season's Formula One world champion, lessons from the Gordon Ramsay Netflix documentary on the cost of relentless high performance, and what Paul McCartney's decade after The Beatles teaches us about identity and reinvention.Our partners on this episode: Heights 👉 Get 20% off your subscription by using Code: HP20 here: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp_heights_au3 Visit Seattle 👉 Start planning your perfect summer of football by searching Visit Seattle on social media, or discover more at: https://highpfrmc.com/hpp-visitseattle-au