Simon Ward, The High Performance Human Podcast

From elite triathlete to CrossFit world record holder with Jess Towl


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20 years ago Jack Maitland and I were asked by British Triathlon to run one of the Regional Talent ID Programmes in the North of England. The brief was to find talented young boys and girls who were good swimmers and runners and who might turn out to be exceptional triathletes. We didn’t do too badly with the two brothers (c’mon, you know who they are!!). Also in that squad was a young lady called Jess Towl. Jess was in the squad for 3-4 years and then left to train in Australia. On returning she joined the performance squad in Loughborough. Things didn’t quite work out as planned so she left to teach swimming and turned herself into a very successful CrossFit Games competitor. As a triathlete, Jess didn't have the physique or the strength for CrossFit and, as she explains, it was a long and arduous, but very rewarding, journey. She now works in Dubai as a coach to both CrossFit athletes and Triathletes. We talk about the differences in training between the two sports,  learning to perform olympic lifts, having a performance mindset, owning a CrossFit world record and how she is rebuilding herself after a catastrophic shoulder injury.
 
Enjoy the show! Who knows, you might find inspiration to change sports or just to start lifting weights for your triathlon performance. Some of the topics we cover include:
  • Being part of the same triathlon talent ID programme as Jonny & Alistair Brownlee (3:00)
  • Swimming or weightlifting - it starts with technique, technique, technique - (24:00)
  • The benefits of a performance mindset when moving to a new sport (25:30)
  • Different approaches to nutrition between triathlon & CrossFit (27:00)
  • Owning a CrossFit world record (39:30)
  • Double unders (41:00)
  • To be good at CrossFit you need to be good at recovery (56:00)
  • When weightlifting goes wrong - dealing with a bad shoulder injury (59:00)
  • Skydiving and the Happy Hormone cocktail (1:03)
  • Sleep trackers, gadgets and why you need to learn how to judge your own effort levels (1:21:00)
  •  
    To find out more about Jess you can find her on Instagram at jesstowl
     
    Jes coaches Triathletes and Crossfitters at InnerFight in Dubai. You can find out more about them here:
    InnerFight.com
    You can find her personal page HERE
     
    Jess also likes to follow these Instagram channels and podcasts:
    Wod_science - latest research on endurance training / weightlifting / nutrition 
    drjamesdinic - General Health / Nutrition 
     
    Podcasts:
    InnerFight Endurance Podcast - All things Triathlon 
    The Mind Muscle Project 
    The Diary of a CEO 
     
    Books: 
    Chatter by Ethan Kross
    Jess says, "Not usually the type of book I would go for but it is about how you speak to yourself in your head and how that affects your life / body. It really made me stop and think and gave me some great information on how I can make my performances in sport and my general day to day living better just by being conscious of how I am speaking to myself."
     
    To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please email her at [email protected].
     
    To leave a review of the podcast on Apple podcasts CLICK HERE.
     
    Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via [email protected].
     

    Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.

    Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.

    If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!

    Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email [email protected].

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    Simon Ward, The High Performance Human PodcastBy Simon Ward

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