Men’s Health: Built For Life

When most of us think about improving our performance, we assume that means training harder and doing more. But hard sessions aren’t necessarily productive sessions – and when it comes to hybrid training simply smashing two different, programmes together could leave you smashing your body to bits.

In part two of our three-part performance series, in association with Samsung, MH Fitness Director Andrew Tracey is joined by the UK’s fittest man, Harry Lightfoot, and his coach, AOD Fitness founder Mike Allen, to explore what it really means to train for performance.

They discuss the difference between exercising and training, why copying the routines of professional athletes rarely works and how to combine strength and endurance without burning out. They also explain the importance of finding your minimum effective dose, how to use data without letting it rule your decisions and why your hardest workouts might not be the ones that move your fitness forward.

Men’s Health UK

Guests:

Harry Lightfoot: instagram.com/harrylightfoot_
Mike Allen/AOD Fitness: instagram.com/aod_fitness

Trusted guidance for men passionate about their health, fitness and mental wellbeing. With muscle-building advice, style hacks, nutrition tips and workouts to try, we’ve got all areas covered

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When most of us hear the word ‘diet’, we think weight loss. But eating to lose fat and eating to perform at your best aren’t necessarily the same thing.

In part one of our three-part performance series, in association with Samsung, MH Fitness Director Andrew Tracey is joined by Ollie Marchon and performance nutritionist Liam Holmes to explore what it really means to fuel your training.

They discuss the signs that you’re under-fuelled, why hard sessions aren’t necessarily productive sessions and how eating more could improve your performance, recovery and mood without sacrificing your physique. They also explain why you shouldn’t be afraid of carbohydrates, how to practise your race-day nutrition in training and the simple 30/90 rule for fuelling before and after every workout.

Men's Health UK

Guests:

Ollie Marchon: instagram.com/olliemarchon

Liam Holmes: instagram.com/liam_nutritionist

Trusted guidance for men passionate about their health, fitness and mental wellbeing. With muscle-building advice, style hacks, nutrition tips and workouts to try, we’ve got all areas covered

Men’s Health UK: https://www.menshealth.com/uk/
Men’s Health UK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health UK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/menshealthuk
Men’s Health UK on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/menshealthuk/
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James Hunt is the father of two autistic, non-speaking sons, Jude and Tommy, the man behind Stories About Autism and the author of Love Needs No Words.

In this episode of the Men’s Health Built For Life podcast, James joins Andrew Tracey and Ben Shephard for an honest conversation about autism, fatherhood and learning to communicate beyond spoken language.

He shares the fear and grief that followed his sons’ diagnoses, the heartbreaking decision to have the brothers live separately and the daily realities of raising children with high support needs. James also explains how celebrating the smaller ‘inch stones’ has transformed the way he sees parenthood – and recalls the extraordinary moment a message from his son appeared on his phone for the first time: “Hi Dad.”

It’s a moving conversation about resilience, connection and finding joy in a life that may look very different from the one you originally imagined.

Men's Health UK: Built For Life Podcast

Hosted by Fitness Director Andrew Tracey and Ben Shephard.
Produced by Ruth Holroyd

Trusted guidance for men passionate about their health, fitness and mental wellbeing. With muscle-building advice, style hacks, nutrition tips and workouts to try, we’ve got all areas covered.

Want more from Men’s Health? Join the Men’s Health SQUAD for exclusive training plans, expert advice and tools to help you get stronger, faster – we’re with you every rep of the way. Click here: https://bit.ly/4eQkqIH

Men’s Health UK: https://www.menshealth.com/uk/
Men’s Health UK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health UK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/menshealthuk
Men’s Health UK on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/menshealthuk/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Men’s Health Built for Life podcast, Men’s Health Fitness Director Andrew Tracey sits down with former firefighter, IFBB professional bodybuilder and Gladiators star Jamie Bigg – better known as Giant.

Jamie opens up about leaving bodybuilding, the injury that ended with his biceps tendon snapping and why he believes he was dropped from Gladiators.

The conversation then turns to the growing number of teenage boys experimenting with steroids. After almost a decade of steroid use left him with a sperm count of zero, Jamie explains why young men need to understand the potential consequences, the warning signs parents should look for and the honest conversation every father should be prepared to have with his son.
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In this episode of the Men’s Health Built for Life podcast, Andrew Tracey is joined by researcher, speaker, author and leadership expert Nick Petrie, whose work has taken him inside organisations including Google and NASA to study resilience, burnout and sustainable high performance.

Nick explains why the behaviours that make you successful early in your career – working harder, saying yes to everything and pushing through exhaustion – can eventually become the very things that hold you back. We discuss why simply taking time off often fails to solve burnout, how a small group of people manage to combine high performance with surprisingly low levels of stress, and why learning to ‘pulse’ between different modes of work and recovery may be one of the most important skills you can develop.

We also explore the idea of finding your ‘opposite world’, why scrolling on your phone isn’t really recovery, the dangers of building your entire identity around your career, and how to keep evolving your definition of success as your life changes.

Nick’s new book, Burn Bright, brings together the research, stories and practical habits he’s uncovered while studying people who have learned how to perform at a high level without burning themselves out.

This is a conversation about staying ambitious, working better and building a version of success you can actually sustain.

Men's Health UK: Built For Life Podcast

Hosted by Fitness Director Andrew Tracey and Ben Shephard.
Produced by Ruth Holroyd

Trusted guidance for men passionate about their health, fitness and mental wellbeing. With muscle-building advice, style hacks, nutrition tips and workouts to try, we’ve got all areas covered.

Want more from Men’s Health? Join the Men’s Health SQUAD for exclusive training plans, expert advice and tools to help you get stronger, faster – we’re with you every rep of the way. Click here: https://bit.ly/4eQkqIH

Men’s Health UK: https://www.menshealth.com/uk/
Men’s Health UK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health UK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/menshealthuk
Men’s Health UK on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menshealthuk/
Men’s Health on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/menshealthuk/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices