The Greg Bennett Show

Jamie Hunt - Former Professional Triathlete - Co-Founder of Sports apparel brand 2XU

Jamie Hunt is a former professional Triathlete who transitioned into the world of High-Performance sports apparel and co-founded the brand 2XU. He built that brand at a mind-boggling pace, to a brand that had over $100 million in transactions a year and sold for a 9-figure sum.

His passion, energy, and hard work were evident as an athlete. We raced each other throughout the 90s and he was a part of the exceptional group of Kiwis that took the world by storm. He took that same passion, energy, and hard work into the world of fabrics and brand building and never looked back.

He’s one of the most genuine down-to-earth men you could meet and combines that with a driven competitive streak that has fueled him to be one of the world’s great high performers.

Jamie is incredibly open and vulnerable in this episode. His journey from being left of the NZ Olympic team to the co-founder of the High-performance endurance and compression brand 2XU is incredibly inspiring.

His drive to produce the world's greatest products and his relentless pursuit of looking to do things better is grounded by his family, community, faith, and his physical training.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. His family have had to pack up and move, he was on the road for 200 days a year for 13 years and he’s dealt with depression brought on by his anxiety. But, he has come out the other side wiser and more in control of his life. He understands what’s important to him and he’s making it happen.

So many lessons and great advice. His passion is truly contagious.

Holly Lawrence - Ironman 70.3 World Champion

Holly Lawrence is one of the world's greatest Triathletes.

She’s won almost 50% of the Ironman 70.3s she’s started in since 2012 or even better 65% of the races started since 2016. And, when not winning, she’s on the podium every time she races. That includes the world championships…which she won in 2016. Then after dealing with an almost career-ending injury in 2018, she came back in 2019 with a 2nd place.

In the world of endurance sport, she is still incredibly young, and I feel she’s only scratched the surface of her potential, and really, I’m excited for her next 5-10 years.

In this episode, Holly describes how she's taken control of her life, learned to manage expectations and her own emotions.

She's incredibly passionate about the sport of Triathlon and feels fortunate to be able to do it professionally. She describes how feeling grateful for the opportunity to train and race as a professional is helping her performances.

Terenzo Bozzone - Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Ironman Champion

Terenzo Bozzone is one of the world’s greatest endurance athletes… with over 47 wins including 33 Ironman 70.3 and numerous ironman victories. He has 5 World Championship titles in Triathlon, duathlon, and his 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Title.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, he’s had enormous setbacks with Achilles injuries and eventually surgeries and a frightening accident in 2018 when he was taken out by a truck on his bike. But he continues to rebound and rebuild and come back stronger and better.

Never a smile off his face, you’d be hard-pressed to meet a better man. We’ve been mates for almost 20 years and raced each other for over a decade.

In this episode, Terenzo describes the difficult mental, physical, and emotional journey back from an almost career and life-ending accident. He struggled with Concussion symptoms for months after the accident... headaches that would last a week at a time. He won Ironman Western Australia 5 months after the accident using the desire to show his kids the importance of never giving up even when the chips are down to empower him to victory.

He discusses his hopes of going to the Olympics but missing out due to politics in sport. He regrouped and went on to win the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championships the same year as the Games.

We discuss sleep and recovery, mountain biking, supplements, and mental strategies and so much more.

Ben Hoffman - 8 Time Ironman Champion

In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg Bennett has a powerful conversation with Ben Hoffman. Ben is one of the world's greatest Ironman athletes.

 

For 15 years Ben has chased the dream of being the very best in the world and he’s on the verge of making that happen with a 2nd and two 4th’s at the Kona Ironman World Championships, He has 7 Ironman Victories, 7 Ironman 70.3 wins and when he’s not winning he’s on the podium.

 

In fact, in 2019 Ironman Florida, finished 2nd in a time of 7:48:29 – and in doing so the fastest Ironman marathon ever recorded at 2:36:09 – That is an incredible sub-6-minute mile pace or more specifically 5 minutes 57 seconds per mile or 3.42 per km for the entire marathon.

 

He has a relentless work ethic and there is no doubt the Ironman World title is within his grasp.

 

Ben describes his journey into the sport of Triathlon. He describes moments of self-doubt and questioning whether he should continue to reaching podiums in some of the world's biggest Ironman events. Dealing with his 2018 injury and the gratefulness he felt to come back and race in 2019 and win his 3rd South African Ironman, placing 4th at the World Championships and run the fastest ever marathon in an Ironman at the Florida Ironman in 2019.

 

Ben describes his sleep routine, what supplements he uses, and the importance of each member of his team. Finally, Ben gives incredible takeaways on how he uses various mental strategies to optimize himself.

 

Ben concludes with one final statement - The importance of mindset - "So much of top-level racing is a mindset - Self Belief, the Passion, the Hunger, the Desire to suffer, and also having things in your life be aligned and your relationships and have gratefulness for your life"

 

Ky Hurst - Ironman Champion, Multiple Olympic swim teams, Professional sailor

In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg Bennett chats with Ky Hurst. Ky is one of the greatest endurance athletes the world has ever seen.

 

For 24 years he has competed as a professional athlete across three sports.

 

He stormed onto the Australian sporting scene as a teenager winning his first of four Ironman Superseries titles at the age of 17. He went on to win Seven Australian IronMan titles, and 30 Australian Surf titles, he was inducted into the Surf Life Saving Hall of Fame and is known as one of Surf Lifesaving's greatest ever all-round competitors.

 

He went on to represent Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics & 2012 London Olympics in the 10km open water swim. He was 2nd at the 1998 & 2011 World Championships for his 5km open water swim. He won ten Open Men's Surf title’s from eleven starts, solidifying in many experts mind that he is the greatest surf swimmer the world has ever seen.

 

In recent years he has transitioned to his 3rd professional sport, sailing, competing for Oracle Team USA at last America’s Cup. He’s now a member of the Australian SailGP team who in 2019 won the inaugural season and the $1 million winner-takes-all championships.

 

In this episode, Ky discusses his involvement in the professional Sailgp series and what it's like being in a team sport after 20 years of racing as an individual.

 

Ky discusses his early years and the influence of his entire extended family with water sports. He shares his journey and his process from Surf Ironman to Olympic swimmer and professional sailor. His physical and mental preparation is remarkable, and Ky shares some of his epic workouts in the pool.

 

Finally, Ky discusses his interest in the sport of Triathlon and how he hopes to do his first Ironman 70.3 in 2021.

 

Fun Fact: Ky Hurst has a lung capacity of 10.2 Litres, the average man has 6 liters.

Lance Watson - Olympic Triathlon Gold medalist coach, Ironman University master coach

Lance Watson is one of the greatest Triathlon coaches of all time.

In three decades of coaching triathlon, he has coached at four Olympics and over 50 world championships. Coached more than 20 professional IronMan winners and an Olympic gold medalist, he is one of only five Ironman master coaches and was inducted into the triathlon Hall of Fame.

The athletes he’s worked with have reached the top of the world with incredible success, including Olympians Simon Whitfield and Brent McMahan…Simon of course winning the Olympic Gold in 2000, and Ironman champions Lisa Bentley, Chris Lieto, and Peter Reid.

He worked with both Laura and me for several years and personally he brought the joy back to training and racing in my career when I was feeling burnt-out and I’m incredibly grateful for that.

Lance discusses his journey into the sport of Triathlon, building the National Training Centre in Victoria Canada, and how his athlete Simon Whitfield winning the Olympic Gold affected his life.

Lance discusses how he along with Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Paula Newby Fraser, and Matt Dixon built the Ironman University coaching courses.

Lance describes his coaching style and methodology, his mental strategies for his athletes, Nutrition, and working with athletes over many years.

 

Dr. Ara Suppiah - Functional Sports Medicine and ER physician. Chief medical analyst for NBC Sports.

In this episode of BE with Champions, Greg Bennett chats with Functional Sports medicine physician, Dr. Ara Suppiah.

 

Dr. Suppiah is a certified ER physician, trained cardiac surgeon, Sports Medicine physician, Functional medicine, and Chinese medicine physician. He works with some of the world's greatest professional athletes.

 

His journey from a small Malaysian town a few hours out of Kuala Lumpur to Liverpool University and to where he is now is truly inspiring.

 

Dr. Suppiah describes his thoughts on nutrition and the importance of looking at the individual and starting with their ancestral genetics. He describes the importance of finding the right diet specific to you and supplementing that diet with the right supplements specific to that individual. Greg and Dr. Suppiah discuss glutathione, Creatine, Vitamin D, CBD, Melatonin, and other supplements.

 

Greg and Dr. Suppiah discuss sleep and jetlag. Sleep being the one free ultimate medicine. They discuss Hot and cold therapies. Dr. Suppiah describes cold therapy as the ultimate for health benefits.

 

Incredible insights and remarkable stories. See the timestamps below for more detail.

 

Jonny Brownlee - Multiple Triathlon Olympic Medalist, Multiple Triathlon World Champion

Jonny Brownlee is one of the greatest triathletes of all time.

His resume is truly remarkable - Olympic bronze medalist at his home Olympics in London, 2012 then Olympic silver medalist in Rio, 2016… combine that with his 2012 World Championship title, 2010 and 2011 Sprint World Titles and three World Championship silver medals and Commonwealth Games silver medal, and his consistent podiums for over a decade. Truly makes him one of the greatest!

What makes this man’s story even more compelling is that he’s shared his process and his journey with his older brother. Never before have we seen two brothers work together and dominant world sport.

Jonny shares his journey to the top of the world and how his brother Alistair has been such an integral part of his journey. Jonny discusses the importance of family and his home life. He talks about his preparation for heat races and what he learned from his collapse at the 2016 Cozumel Grand Final. 

 

Dan Macpherson - Hollywood actor, Television presenter, award show host, and Triathlete.

Dan Macpherson describes his journey from wannabe Professional Triathlete to  Hollywood actor, Television presenter, and award-show host.

He describes the mental strength he gained from Ironman training and racing and how he was able to transfer that into his pursuit of roles in Hollywood and then optimizing those characters once he got them.

Dan discusses the difficulties of coming out of character after months and years immersed in these roles, and the grounding tools he uses to help himself adjust back into his life. Greg and Dan discuss his family, and living life with intent and so much more.

His work ethic is truly inspirational… he’s been known to work as an actor for 6 days of the week, and then host television shows like “Dancing with the stars” and “x-factor” on his day off, and train for Ironmans in between.

He’s someone that is doing everything he can to uncover his potential. And as a friend of his, it’s been a real joy to watch him pursue his talents both as an actor and athlete.

He knows what he wants, he’s taken control of his life and he’s living with purpose, and I for one take great motivation from watching this man work.

Cliff English - World Champion Triathlon Coach, 4 x NCAA National Champion Coach

In this episode of BE with Champions, Greg Bennett chats with, Cliff English. Cliff is a World Champion Triathlon Coach, 4 x NCAA National Champion Coach.

 

Cliff describes his journey and transition from athlete to coach. It took Glandular Fever to end his athletic career and focus on his coaching. Looking back he realizes that coaching was always in his blood. He's a natural teacher. He's patient and has tremendous empathy for all his athletes whether they be World Champions and professionals or newbie beginners.

 

Cliff works with every athlete individually. The initial meetings with each athlete help Cliff determine where their strengths and weaknesses are and where they should spend their time. As much as Cliff has a Sports Science degree and coaching accreditations he describes the ART of coaching and having a true understanding of the practical side is how he really gets results.

 

Greg and Cliff discuss several of their favorite strength sessions. Often using strengths into speed work. Their examples are in the swim using buckets and towels and hill and flats for the bike and run.

 

Cliff describes being an NCAA head coach in an emerging sport. In this part of the episode, Cliff's passion really comes alive as he describes the work he's doing with the young woman at Arizona State University (ASU). Cliff is focussed on building these women into the sport and is not pushing them too hard for results at this younger age. he understands the importance of being patient and thinking about the future.