Amy Stephens is a registered dietitian who works with elite athletes and the general population, helping people understand that being constantly drained isn't normal – it's often a sign of chronic underfueling.

In episode 40 of F&T, we talk about RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) – what it is, who it affects, and how many people are walking around with it without knowing.

We discuss how people can be overweight and still underfueled, why the all-or-nothing approach is holding us back, and why reducing a person's calories should require informed consent.

We explore the difference between elite athletes and gen pop nutrition, how many days of underfueling can stop bones from recovering, and the connection between emotions and food.

Plus: supplements that might actually be worth your time, how to afford three square meals, and why saying "don't eat that food" sets restrictive diets up to fail.

So much in this, and I'm super conscious we only scratched the surface – leave a comment on which topic/s you'd like us to get deeper into in future episodes!

Amy's links

https://www.instagram.com/amystephensnutrition/

https://www.amystephensnutrition.com/

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help? I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touchEmail: [email protected]

Want to work with a lifestyle and fitness coach who thinks bigger than the gym?Email: [email protected]

James Sidebottom is a hybrid athlete, rockstar coach and owner of Compound, a premium personal training facility in Sheffield.

This week, we talk about his origin story, whether CrossFit feels like doing a PhD relative to Hyrox's A-level, and how he's learned to separate athletics from his personality.

We discuss lifestyle creation to facilitate performance obsession, the pain kink (do you not want to be shown up, or do you actually enjoy suffering?), and why there's actually peace in the hours long solo sessions – you just have to do them enough times to find it.

We explore ego in athletes – when it's helpful, when it's destructive – and the importance of confidence through competence. Plus: why randomness doesn't make you better, how "too much too soon" undermines what fitness should do, the responsibility of being a professional in the space, and why the win is the same whatever the distance.

Key moment: "Imagine if something happened and I couldn't perform like I do now..." – a coach's perspective on training with mortality in mind.

James' links

https://www.instagram.com/cmpndcoaching/

https://www.instagram.com/js_performancetraining/

Related episodes

Lucas Hynes, Helene Garnett, Rhys Morris on identity, injury, and ultra training; Alex Smith on Psychopathy in Elite Sports

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / followInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help? I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touchEmail: [email protected]

Want to work with a lifestyle and fitness coach who thinks bigger than the gym?Email: [email protected]

This week's a solo episode. No guest. Just me talking about the courage to be disliked – or more accurately, the courage to be known.

I've been reading "The Courage to Be Disliked" by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga – an Adlerian psychology book about why living for other people's approval makes you miserable. The core idea: you can't control whether people like you, so the courage to be disliked is actually freedom.

But as many of you will have felt, it's not just scary to be disliked for who you are. It's also scary to be liked for who you are, because, well, bloody 'ell, they could be one of your people for life.

And in answering one very specific question, I pull at thread of one of the biggest fears I face, as a friend, partner, son and, maybe, one day, father: trusting that being yourself is enough.

Referenced in this episode:

• "The Courage to Be Disliked" by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
• Episode 34 with Jon Xue Zhang on identity, bravery, and not trusting your emotions after 9pm

Related newsletter: "The Courage to be Known" featuring the willy photo story, the Adlerian frame, and whether trusting yourself to have a kid is the final proof you've made peace with who you are.

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help? I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touchEmail: [email protected]

Want to work with a lifestyle and fitness coach who thinks bigger than the gym?Email: [email protected]

Ina Fischer is a DJ, radio host and co-founder of Lawaai Collective, empowering FLINTA artists in music.

Using DJ-ing as a springboard, we dive into Ina's journey onto ever bigger billings with some of her heroes while working a day job and contending with some of the older folk in her life thinking it's all just a hobby...

From engendering escape and collective euphoria, to ensuring equity in a male-dominated space, Ina lives and breathes breakbeats, following your bliss, and inclusion– often aiming to be the mentor she wished he had when she started out.

And her points throughout but specifically on creativity and enjoying the silence will be music to the ears of anyone wanting to find their joy and keep it fun.

This one's full of bangers and anthems.

Ina's linksInstagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/inalaberlinaLawaai Collective: https://www.instagram.com/lawaai.collectiveSaffron Music: https://saffronmusic.co.uk/

Related newsletter

"Dancing Together Is Chemically Different From Dancing Alone" – exploring the science of pain relief, collective effervescence, and why Huxley's Solidarity Services were dystopian warnings that turned out to be dance floors.

https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/p/dancing-together-is-chemically-different

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/⁠Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help? I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touchEmail: [email protected]

Want to work with a lifestyle and fitness coach who thinks bigger than the gym?

Email: [email protected]

Niell Jordan-Jinivon is a senior musculoskeletal specialist physiotherapist and calisthenics evangelist based in London who very recently sprained his ankle attempting a calisthenics trick – and diagnosed it, started rehab, and kept the camera rolling.

This is our second conversation.

Last time we talked about pain, identity, and becoming your diagnosis. This time, we're talking about what happens when the expert becomes the patient. Niell caught the entire injury on camera – the trick, the break, the moment he realised what had happened, and the immediate decision to start treatment. We discuss what was going through his head at the time, whether he was a good patient (spoiler: not always), why we're better at giving advice to others than ourselves – and why asking others to give us the advice we give ourselves is bizzarely effective among so much more.

Niell's links

https://www.instagram.com/nielljj

https://www.instagram.com/thecaliphysio

Previous episode with Niell

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Dg2e5SHlZfRY0pE0eawYQ?si=5684fd42f4ff4e38

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help?

I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touch

Email [email protected]

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/

Nicole Askwith Williams is a holistic life coach for women, women's health educator and trainer who left corporate finance after watching professional women struggle with symptoms nobody was addressing at the root.

This week, we ask: are women actually weaker men from a medical, physical, or mental standpoint? Spoiler: no.

But the healthcare system, fitness industry, and most workplaces still operate as if they are.

We discuss Nicole's experience with the pill being prescribed as a band-aid rather than proper care, whether cycle syncing is actually a myth, and the uncomfortable question: is the pill unethical when it's given without informed consent?

We explore equity vs equality (do we actually want equality if the system was built for men?), period poverty (2.8 million people in the UK can't afford sanitary products), the exploitation of women through pink products and marketing, why ADHD is chronically underdiagnosed in women (especially those drawn to endurance sports), and what you should actually do if your cycle hasn't returned after stopping the pill or hard training.

DISCLAIMER: Neither Nicole nor I are doctors or medical professionals. What we discuss is sometimes hypothetical but still grounded in reading and experience. None of this is a prescription for your specific circumstance.

More from Nicole:

https://www.instagram.com/_nawilliams

https://www.instagram.com/thewomenswellbeingclub

Related newsletter

"This Is Not What a Feminist Looks Like" – exploring equity over equality, Fowler's Syndrome Awareness Month, and healthcare and fitness thinking centred on male bodies: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/p/this-is-not-what-a-feminist-looks-like

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to help/get involved?

I'm looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/

Jon Xue Zhang is an actor, stunt performer, martial artist, sports psychologist, and musician known for playing Blood Boots in Netflix series The Brothers Sun and Ram Man in the upcoming Masters of the Universe film.

This week, we talk about the work that goes into landing acting jobs, why "not now doesn't mean not ever," and how visualising your future like remembering your past can shift how you show up.

We discuss the difference between acting under pressure and being under pressure, why anxiety isn't always something to avoid, the tension between athletics and aesthetics, and what 33 years of martial arts has taught Jon about being the best version of yourself.

Plus: fight choreography, thick skin on social media, sleeping 10 hours a night as a flex, and why you should never trust your emotions after 9pm.

Catch more of JonIG: https://www.instagram.com/jonxuezhang/?hl=en

Website: https://www.xue-zhang.com/

Showreel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOBXSDIjY6M

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to build F&T with me?

I’m looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/

Evan Francis is a digital PR agency owner, content creator, writer and advocate for living with Fowler’s syndrome.

This week, we talk about what shifts when you can no longer move without negotiation, what doctors get wrong about life with a catheter, and why representation matters at every level – whether through self-advocacy, sharing your stories or finding communities online and in-person.

Ahead of Fowler’s Syndrome Awareness Month, we discuss Ev’s diagnostic journey, why women's symptoms are still dismissed as stress or anxiety, and follow similar patterns of delay and disbelief. We also explore what fitness looks like when it's no longer about returning to who you were, but discovering who you are now – and what life looks like going into 2026.
More from Ev

https://shortstuffcomms.com/

https://www.tiktok.com/@shortstuffcomms

Referenced conditions and context:

• Fowler’s syndrome: rare urological condition affecting urethral sphincter function, underdiagnosed in women
• ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis): chronic fatigue condition
• Historical dismissal: from "hysteria" to modern-day gaslighting of women's pain
• EDS, endometriosis, POTS: conditions predominantly affecting women, often take years to diagnose due to systemic bias.

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to build F&T with me?

I’m looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

I send messages out to prospective guests Monday to Friday – if you have an idea for a show, want to be on it or know someone who you think would talk well around the six pillars, then I’d love to hear from you or them (or both!).

Also open to applications for sponsorship from:

An affordable German supermarket

A high-end high street lotions and potions maker

An environmentally aware clothing brand.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/

Jack Mann is a personal trainer and podcaster obsessed with helping people see things through.

And in this episode [ends third person], I want to re/give you a meaningful secret to success.

The thing is while you might know what it is, I don't believe you're consistent with it...

If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll also enjoy:

#8 with Maddie

#28 with Karl and Leah and

#31 with yours truly.

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to build F&T with me?

I’m looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

I send messages out to prospective guests Monday to Friday – if you have an idea for a show, want to be on it or know someone who you think would talk well around the six pillars, then I’d love to hear from you or them (or both!).

Also open to applications for sponsorship from:
An affordable German supermarket

A high-end high street lotions and potions maker

An environmentally aware clothing brand.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/

This week, I want to reflect with you on what I've learned from writing, hosting, filming and editing 30 episodes of Fitness & Thinking, including: the power of just starting, the importance of community, how pressure to enjoy things can drain the meaning from them, and why time doesn't equal purpose.

We'll talk about being present in the in-between moments, reframing setbacks, acting as if the thing you're building towards has already happened, and why self-talk and the people around you shape outcomes more than you think.

Plus: why 2025 felt like a constant kick in the 'nads, and why that might have been exactly what was needed.

Fitness & Thinking

Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.

The newsletter goes out on Wednesday mornings.

New episodes land on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on Wednesday evenings, and on YouTube on Thursday mornings.

Subscribe / follow:

Apple Podcasts (audio only): https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/fitness-thinking/id1840384710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5kFI7JcGD6kSUfYa4RPPl5

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fitnessandthinking

Substack: https://fitnessandthinking.substack.com/

Want to build F&T with me?

I’m looking for an editor/producer and a social media manager.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessandthinking/