The Athletic Philosopher Podcast

In this special interview I give an ordinary guy a chance to tell his extraordinary journey in fitness that will leave you inspired. Personal transcendence is possible with the right aim, sacrifice, and determination and Dustin Schelle personifies and embodies all of that and more. He set a goal to run 100 miles at the 2026 Prairie on Fire Backyard Ultra and he not only accomplished that but so much more in his 3 year fitness journey. 

Hear Dustin talk about his progression, the solitude, the sacrifices, and the family triumphs of his own running journey should give us all hope and courage to face down our weaknesses and strive towards the better version of ourselves in body, mind, and spirit. 

It's cool to be inspired and awed by professional athletes and people setting world records, but to me, the power of sport is best understood in these personal transformations that are open to each and every one of us if only we had the courage to try and face the truth, nobody better exemplifies this than Dustin and after listening to his story you will have no choice but to become a believer yourself. 

Thank you for being you Dustin and for opening up and sharing your story with us. We are all better for it. 

Follow Dustin and his run club 'Bam-Ba-Lam' here:

https://www.instagram.com/ruthlessdusty/

https://www.instagram.com/bambalamrunclub/

Join The Temple (Fitness Coaching Community): Get all of 2026 included in your 2027 membership and start aiming and training towards Prairie on Fire 2027 today by emailing me here: [email protected]

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

In this special episode I dive deep into the world of hosting the right type of adult athletic event with Prairie on Fire and The Full Mo' race direction TJ Dailey.

Having run 5 of TJ's races, I believe he is at the forefront of getting the right elements to align to provide not only well run events, but events that are properly aligned to the spiritual depth athletics should provide for those who practice it properly. 

We talk about some of our favorite race experiences we've seen play out in the past 4 years, dive into the philosophy of sport modernization, and dissect just why you should want to test yourself in these arenas.

Thank you TJ for your time and wisdom, here's to many more races together in the future. 

Follow TJ and his running club here: https://www.meshtc.com/

Join The Temple (Fitness Coaching Community): Get all of 2026 included in your 2027 membership and start aiming and training towards Prairie on Fire 2027 today by emailing me here: [email protected]

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

Is the world of objective data and information leaving you with an empty hole in your soul? You're not alone and in this special interview the wise and great Trina Nuance and I dive deep into the world of subjective energy. 

In this wide ranging discussion we talk about our coaching approaches that always seem to center on the spirit, why the personal is prophetic, the importance of physical activity in separating and better understanding the objective and subjective dichotomy, and what we see in the social media landscape that we love and hate regarding self development and how you can spot the real ones from the posers.

I loved this discussion and hope you will find some golden nuggets of wisdom. 

Follow and Contact Trina Nuance: https://bio.site/trinanuance

Join The Temple (Fitness Coaching Community): Get all of 2026 included in your 2027 membership and start aiming and training towards Prairie on Fire 2027 today by emailing me here: [email protected]

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

In this special episode I'm joined by the great Kyle Shepard to discuss how athletic wisdom of body and mind can help forge us into the best versions of ourself.

Kyle writes one of the best publications on exploring mental fortitude and I've long wanted to invite him onto the podcast to discuss how physical challenge and mental resiliency can connect to create spiritual harmony in one's life. 

In this episode we go deep on the mind body connection, how daily physical challenges no matter the size can act as huge catalysts form mental growth, and into the world of the backyard ultra as an ultimate arena to truly take on oneself in mind, body, and spirit. 

Thank you for your heart and wisdom Kyle, can't wait to have another epic conversation in a future episode.  

Subscribe to Kyle's "Resilient Mental State" here: https://www.resilientmentalstate.com/

Follow Kyle on Substack here: https://substack.com/@kyleshepard10

Join The Temple: Get all of 2026 included in your 2027 membership and start aiming and training towards Prairie on Fire 2027 today by emailing me here: [email protected]

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

This episode is raw, real, emotional, and delivered on essentially zero sleep and fueled entirely by love and amazing race vibes. 

Prairie on Fire 2026 will forever hold a special place in my heart and it's because I ended up running the least miles of my 4 attempts at this race while gaining the most peace and satisfaction at the same time. How is that possible?

Well this race had torn me into two for months and months and I knew a reckoning would emerge, but I couldn't know what it was until I was inside of it. 

I needed to be in Indiana for the race that means the world to me AND I needed to be in Chicago with my family to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

My body felt great, legs strongest they’ve ever been in this race and my mindset was strong, but my heart left Indiana on lap 12 and moved north to Chicago.

I go all the way inside my mind and spirit to bring you inside the reckoning and leave you with a clarion call to join me next year at this race so you can aim at the same type of internal breakthroughs and revelations. 

Details for next year below:

Join The Temple: Get all of 2026 included in your 2027 membership and start aiming and training towards the race today by emailing me here: [email protected]

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

In this episode I get raw and real about how I've changed in ways that are both good and bad resulting from our move from rural Canada to suburban Chicago. 

I've noticed a reluctancy to open up and share more of my day to day life and with the benefit of hindsight and the deep knowledge of self I discover through physical training I'm able to map the internal changes step by step through the ways I transformed my training to fit into a new environment.

Ultimately, this is a clarion call for all of us to become unafraid in both seeing and revealing the truth about ourselves by doubling down on the power of the training to show us the truth, no matter if we like it or not.

This episode is a perfect illustration of how I coach individuals through the training to become expert observers of themselves so they be courageous in improving themselves one small step at a time in body, mind, and spirit. I just so happen to turn the gaze onto my own life. This is truly how we win together team!  

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

This one is raw, from the heart, and holds nothing back. July 2026 will forever be a month to remember for this Goldstein clan and I take you through all of the challenges and obstacles we faced down together. 

Importantly, I turn the gaze onto my own philosophy I use to coach others in fitness and life to get me through my own rocky season when life got knocked off balance. 

When you aim your physical training towards spiritual self knowing you end up training for competitions in life that you never anticipated. Finish lines are easy because you know the rules and sign up to take down the challenge. But life is the real test, throwing us off our foundation just as we think we are 'finally' getting settled. 

Dive deep with me into how I prove my philosophy by applying it myself in the most difficult and trying times so you can become a believer in the power of physical training to prepare you to handle life's adversity that is never on your plan. 

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

I never imagined that I would use my years of training as an academic historian to help people get fit in body, mind, and spirit as a coach but that's exactly how my life has gone.

In this episode I wind my way through the specific training and way I was shaped to view the world as I earned my PhD and successfully published as an academic sports historian. It's the first time I've gone into depth about my historical expertise and how it's shaped the specific way I use fitness in my 1-1 and group coaching. 

The direct application to training is how the present moment is shaped by the context of past experiences to help you best aim towards a positive future. Think of how progressive overload works in the the gym as a good illustration. I spell it out clearly so you can respect the power of the historical gaze to merge seamlessly and constructively with your fitness

The takeaway lesson for you is to recognize that the skills you are learning right now may be best realized in an arena you aren't even imagining they could be helpful and to always be using the power of hindsight to sharpen up the narrative arc of your life. 

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

"The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you....If the machine produces tranquility than it's right." - Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In this episode I welcome fitness coach Ronald Potts to the podcast to discuss a few book snippets on the meaning of working on a machine, highlighted by the above quote, and how we can use that metaphor to think about physical training and exercise. 

Both Ronald and I go deep into our coaching philosophies as a way to make sense of the powerful metaphor Pirsig gives us ab out the machine, the craftsman, and the dynamic interaction between the two.

The actionable takeaway is that you have to take control of your own definition of fitness in order to have it fit harmoniously into your life. You cannot let just the objective elements reign over the meaning of the activity, you have to bring your subjective values to truly unlock it. 

Thank you for you time, wisdom, experience and openness Ronald, many more conversations to come! 

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

If you are interested to follow along with Ronald or inquire about his coaching services see the below links:

Follow Ronald on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack  

Learn about Ronald's Coaching Services: rdpcoaching.com

Inspired by the book club I'm running inside my fitness coaching community, The Temple, this episode explores what I'm learning about my training through keeping my own 'quality' exercise journal.

Inside The Temple we are reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert Pirsig and finding harmony between the experience and the measurements when it comes to our own training.

As a fitness and mindset coach, I often times have to steer individuals away from the numbers and towards the meaning of the experience but through keeping a journal that forces me to respect the measures I'm finding out new ways to harmonize and respect the twin forces that give sport it's deep meaning 

At the end I even challenge YOU to keep a similar journal to find out how the measures and the meaning interact in your life and training to tell you exactly what to do and how to do it.

Let's keep winning together! 

If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: [email protected]

Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack

Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training