The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast

By Dr. Greg Wells

Healthy High Performance for a Limitless Life

You can get healthier, improve your wellness, and live a limitless life and physiologist Dr. Greg Wells would love to be your trusted guide on t

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FAQs about The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast:

How many episodes does The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 329 episodes available.

The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast episodes:

December 20, 2022 #185. Masterclass on Mental Health Part 1: With Dr. Gina Di Giulio, Michael Landsberg, and Dr. Bill Howatt
Welcome back!
In today’s Masterclass we’re going to dig into the most prevalent topic we’ve heard from our guests over the past couple of years: mental health. Since this is such a big and important topic, this is going to be the first of a two part series on mental health.
This week we’re going to hear from Dr. Gina Di Giulio, who talks about managing stress and anxiety, Michael Landsberg, who has developed a movement around the idea of sick not weak, and Dr. Bill Howatt, who is an expert on mental health and who recently published a book No Regrets.
Enjoy this Masterclass!
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1h 11min
December 20, 2022 #42 - “Imagine If”: Simon Whitfield on Mastery, Visualization & Joy
How to sustain a meaningful, healthy high-performance life—during and after peak achievement—by turning pressure, identity shifts, and fear into purpose, calm decision-making, and daily practices that actually stick.
In today’s conversation Simon Whitfield explores the mindset behind his Sydney 2000 Olympic gold and Beijing 2008 silver, and how visualization, breath control, and teamwork shaped those races. He shares the “imagine if” habit from his training log, the deliberate use of a domestique strategy in 2008, and the “do-nothing defense” for regaining composure in decisive moments. Simon opens up about the costs of fame, the post-career identity pivot, and why rebuilding around nature—specifically time on the ocean—restored his presence with family and joy in daily life. The result is a practical blueprint for anyone navigating pressure, change, or reinvention.
You will learn how Whitfield used mental rehearsal—“seeing the race” countless times—to solve scenarios before they happened. You will learn how a team-first plan (with Colin Jenkins as domestique) let him dictate Beijing’s race dynamics instead of reacting. You will learn a field-tested calm-under-duress protocol: nasal breathing, relaxing grip/tension, and delaying reactions—the “do-nothing defense.” You will also learn why seeking empty space (water, nature, boredom) is not a luxury but a performance tool that improves focus, relationships, and decision quality.
You will discover that mastery is largely the precise application of attention and energy—repeated with joy—more than raw talent. You will discover how simple pre-commitment cues (“imagine if…”) and environmental design (water, horizon, quiet) reliably flip your physiology from panic to presence.
Feeling hijacked by pressure or transition. Simon shows how to reset identity and agency—breath first, choose the controllable move, and build rituals that make composure your default under stress.
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50min
December 14, 2022 #184. Masterclass on Overcoming Obstacles: With Silken Laumann, Tara Norton, and Lisa Bentley
Welcome back to another Masterclass!
Today we’re going to be looking at the topic of overcoming obstacles. We’ve had the incredible opportunity of interviewing some incredible athletes on this podcast and today you’ll hear from Olympic medalist Silken Laumann, Ultraman Champion Tara Norton, and eleven-time Ironman Champion Lisa Bentley. As you listen to this episode, you’ll start to see some patterns emerge around mindset and practices that these athletes have used to overcome obstacles and become the best of the best.
Enjoy!
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51min
December 13, 2022 #41 - No Health Without Mental Health: Dr. Gina Di Giulio on Practical Mental Health
How to make evidence-based mental health care simpler, faster, and more actionable—so individuals and organizations can reduce anxiety, improve resilience, and access the right support without getting lost in a confusing system.
In today’s conversation Gina Di Giulio explores why “there is no health without mental health,” and how to cut through confusion to get high-quality support quickly. She and Dr. Wells unpack practical strategies for coping with anxiety, protecting sleep, using exercise as “medicine,” limiting news exposure, and staying socially connected while physically distant. Gina explains her “action first” philosophy—take a small, controllable step to jump-start motivation—and shares how gratitude journaling and strengths-based psychology move people from neutral to flourishing. You’ll hear real-world, clinician-tested tactics that work for busy leaders, parents, and teams.
You will learn a simple decision filter for anxiety: identify what’s controllable and take one small step, because action reduces anxious rumination. You will learn the core pillars of brain recovery—sleep, screen-free time, time in nature, music, and movement—and how to implement them in a modern workday. You will learn why Gina prescribes exercise like a drug (the “3×30” guideline) and how social connection amplifies its mental health benefits. You will also learn how gratitude journaling and a strengths-based approach from positive psychology can shift mood from “minus” to “plus.”
You will discover that motivation follows action—not the other way around—and that even a 1% step changes state. You will discover how small daily practices (news limits, scheduled self-care, brief nature breaks) build stress-resilience you can feel.
Feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty and decision fatigue. Gina offers a playbook to regain agency—clarify control, take a single step, and build momentum—so you can lead, parent, and perform without burning out.
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45min
December 06, 2022 #183. Masterclass on Gratitude: With John Foley, Steve Foran, and Pete Bombaci
Welcome back!
We’re going to change things up over the next couple of months.
As we look back at the past few years of this podcast, some topics kept coming up over and over again. So we’d like to dedicate some episodes to digging deep into some of the key themes that have emerged over the past few years.
This week we’re going to look back at three guests who talked a lot about gratitude: John Foley, Steve Foran, and Pete Bomabaci. John was our first ever guest and is a former lead pilot for the Blue Angels, Steve has dedicated his career to the power of gratitude, and Pete is the leader of the GenWell Project.
Enjoy!
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59min
December 06, 2022 #40 - Grief, Risk and Freedom: Climber Brette Harrington on Fear, Loss & Flow
Brette is addressing how to keep living — and performing — fully in the face of fear, grief, and events you can’t control. She’s showing listeners how to trust their own inner voice, manage real risk, and rebuild a meaningful life after trauma instead of letting other people’s fears or expectations dictate their choices.
In today’s conversation Brette Harrington explores how a life built in the mountains has shaped her resilience, creativity, and sense of purpose. She shares her journey from skiing with her parents in Lake Tahoe to boarding school in New Hampshire, discovering rock climbing, and eventually becoming one of the world’s leading trad climbers, alpinists, and free soloists — including the first free solo of the 2,500-foot Chiaro di Luna (5.11a) in Patagonia. She and Dr. Wells talk through her serious ski accident and broken neck, the years of big-wall and alpine climbing with her partner Marc-André Leclerc, and the devastating avalanche that took his life in 2018. Brette explains why she chose to return to the mountains against others’ advice, how she now manages fear on big objectives, and why moving slowly, breathing deeply, and listening to her energy are non-negotiable for both safety and performance.
You will learn how Brette’s progression from ski racing and freestyle skiing into sport, trad, big wall, and ultimately high-end alpine climbing gave her an unusually broad toolkit for huge mountain objectives. You will learn how she thinks about skill acquisition: layering disciplines over time (rock, ice, mixed, skiing) and deliberately seeking terrain that exposes her weaknesses so she keeps growing.
You will learn her practical process for managing fear on a route — starting with honest morning self-assessment, choosing objectives that match her mental energy, and then using breath, heart-rate awareness, and deliberate relaxation to prevent the “overgrip” that leads to mistakes. You will also learn how she navigated breaking her neck in a ski crash, the slow rehab and Atlas realignment work that followed, and how she used running, yoga, and core training to rebuild enough capacity to establish demanding new alpine routes like Life Compass, The Sound of Silence, MA’s Vision, and Just a Nibble after Marc-André’s death.
You will discover that calm is a trainable physiological state, not a personality trait — by choosing your days carefully, focusing on breathing, and relaxing your grip, you can keep your brain and body working even when exposure, risk, or stress spike. You will discover that sometimes the most courageous move after loss is to ignore the chorus of “shoulds,” follow the environment where you genuinely heal, and honour the people you’ve lost by continuing the work you started together.
Many people feel paralysed by fear — of failure, of risk, of what others will think — especially after something traumatic happens. Brette’s experience shows how to respect real danger while refusing to let fear or outside opinions shrink your life, giving listeners a blueprint for returning to their version of the “big mountains” after injury, grief, or setbacks.
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37min
November 29, 2022 #182. Shawn Kanungo on The Bold Ones
Welcome back!
This week I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Shawn Kanungo, an expert in disruption and innovation.
Shawn is a globally recognized innovation strategist. He previously spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation. Shawn is a Partner with Queen & Rook, where he advises leading organizations and executives on disruptive trends.
His work and interviews have been featured in The Globe & Mail, The Guardian, CBC and CTV. His debut book, The Bold Ones: Innovate and Disrupt to Become Truly Indispensable, releases on December 6, 2022. This book unpacks the DNA of disruptors, showing us how to make a dent in any field.
Enjoy the conversation!
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40min
November 29, 2022 #39 - From Olympic Gold Medals to Great Traits: Mark Tewksbury & Debbie Muir on High-Performance Leadership
Mark and Debbie are solving the problem of leaders and high performers chasing results without a clear, teachable framework for how to think, train, and lead like champions. Too many organizations default to hustle, pressure, and vague “motivation” instead of building fundamentals, mind–body awareness, and the habits that actually create sustainable achievement, strong teams, and meaningful legacy. Through The Great Traits framework, they’re turning Olympic-level performance principles into practical tools that anyone can apply at work and in life.
In today’s conversation Mark Tewksbury and Debbie Muir explore how an Olympic crisis turned into a blueprint for high-performance leadership. Mark shares the story of being “second best in the world” in the 100m backstroke, watching American rival Jeff Rouse blow the world record apart, and realizing he needed to find over a second of improvement in just ten months — the same improvement it had taken him seven years to earn. Debbie describes how she came out of retirement, brought her synchronized-swimming coaching genius across sports, and helped Mark rebuild his race from fundamentals: starts, turns, underwater dolphin kick, mental scripts, and the mind-body connection.
Together with Dr. Wells, they connect that Olympic journey to The Great Traits of Champions framework, their 24 Achiever–Leader–Legacy traits, and the 12-week Corporate Champions Program that now helps leaders around the world train like elite athletes while leading with values and impact.
You will learn how Mark and Debbie broke down a seemingly impossible performance gap — 1.2 seconds in a 100m race — by going back to basics instead of chasing gimmicks, focusing on the 30% of the race that happens in the start, turn and underwater phase, where Mark was leaving huge potential untapped.
You will learn how Debbie’s “Utilize the Power of Thoughts” trait, metacognition (“think about what you think about”), and tools like the WAIT cue — What Am I Thinking? — help athletes and executives notice and rewire unhelpful mental loops in real time. You will learn how they translated their Olympic playbook into the Great Traits system of 24 Achiever, Leader, and Legacy traits, and why they structure their Corporate Champions Program as an “applied” 12-week training block rather than a one-off workshop. You will also learn how self-reflection, values, and legacy traits like Embody Your Values, Influence Others Wisely, and Continually Evolve can anchor performance so it’s not just about winning medals or hitting targets, but about the ripple effect of who you become in the process.
You will discover that the same tools that win Olympic gold — fundamentals, deliberate practice, and mind-body awareness — are exactly the tools leaders need to navigate uncertainty, pressure, and reinvention in their careers. You will discover how bringing unconscious thoughts to the surface, challenging limiting beliefs, and aligning your inner dialogue with your values can unlock a completely different level of performance, confidence, and impact.
Their expertise helps solve the challenge of how to systematically grow from talented, driven individuals into purpose-driven leaders who can sustain high performance without burning themselves — or their teams — out. Using The Great Traits framework, they show listeners how to transform vague ideas like “mindset,” “confidence,” and “legacy” into trainable skills that can be practiced week after week, just like an athlete practices starts, turns, and finishes.
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46min
November 22, 2022 #181. Joe Jacobi on Mindful Training
Welcome back!
Today I’m super excited to share my conversation with Joe Jacobi. Joe won America’s first ever Olympic Gold Medal in Whitewater Canoe Slalom, and combines his experience as an Olympic Gold Medalist and the spirit and values of his home life in Catalunya to build a one-of-a-kind lens that simplifies and shapes the next chapter of people’s lives.
Joe uses writing, coaching, and adventures to help seasoned leaders confront obstacles and bring focus to what matters most. He helps people reset, build effective routines, embrace challenging transitions, improve responses to uncertainty, and leverage states of flow.
In this conversatiaon, we talk a lot about his book "Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, & Bring Focus To What Matters Most," a book that transfers his reflections, experiences, relationships, and strategies from more than 40 years on the river to navigating the river of the life.
You can learn more about Joe on his LinkedIn page.
Enjoy the conversation!
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31min
November 22, 2022 #38 - The Responsibility Ethic: Turning Pain into Performance with Adam Kreek
Adam is tackling the problem of high achievers and leaders chasing big goals through grind, quick fixes, and toxic pressure—only to burn out, stall, or implode when failure hits. He’s working to show people how to convert adversity into fuel, align ambition with values, and pursue “Gold Medal Moments” in a way that is physiologically sustainable, emotionally healthy, and effective over the long term.
In today’s conversation Adam Kreek explores what it really takes to be “built for hard” in sport, work, and life. He walks through his origin story from an “average kid in an average town” to a world and Olympic champion in the men’s eight, including the high school coach who told him, “You’re an Olympian, you just don’t know it yet,” and why staying multi-sport and not going too hard too early built his durability.
Adam and Dr. Wells unpack the heartbreak of choking as favourites at the Athens Olympics, the emotional processing required after a deep failure, and how those lessons led to gold in Beijing via shared leadership, smarter preparation, and better physiology-informed race strategy.
They also dive into his 73-day Atlantic rowing expedition, “adventure therapy,” and how he now coaches executives and organizations using the principles from his book The Responsibility Ethic and his threshold-style “healthy failure” workouts for corporate athletes.
You will learn how Adam differentiates between cognitive learning from failure and physiological processing of failure—why long, steady aerobic sessions can be one of the best ways to metabolize the emotional load of a big loss so it doesn’t poison future performance.
You will learn the science-backed logic behind his Olympic race strategy: the interplay of creatine phosphate, anaerobic and aerobic systems in a 5½-minute all-out effort, how lactic acid and perception of pain spike around the 45–60 second mark, and how his crew exploited that moment psychologically to move on their competitors.
You will learn his concept of shared leadership—why great teams operate more like a jazz band than a rigid orchestra, passing influence around so no single leader’s breakdown sinks the boat—and how he translates that into executive coaching and strategic planning for organizations. You will also learn the structure of his threshold rowing workout for busy professionals, the idea of “healthy failure” versus unhealthy suffering, and how his Responsibility Ethic framework helps leaders set non-toxic, values-aligned “Gold Medal Moment” goals that take years—not weeks—to achieve.
You will discover that your perception of “being done” is wildly inaccurate—whether it’s in an Olympic final or a demanding project at work, most of us hit the panic button long before our true physiological limits, as Adam’s coach liked to say, “you’re only four-fifths dead.”
You will discover how pairing that understanding with clear values, deliberate recovery, and shared leadership lets you pursue big, hard goals without sacrificing health, relationships, or long-term performance.
Adam’s expertise helps solve the challenge of sustaining high performance when the stakes are high, the failures are public, and the pressure never really goes away. He gives leaders and teams a practical roadmap to process setbacks, structure training (physical and professional), and build values-driven systems so they can keep showing up at a Gold Medal level for years, not just one season.
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1h 2min

FAQs about The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast:

How many episodes does The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 329 episodes available.

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