THE GYM PLUS COFFEE PODCAST

On this week's episode co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with Kyla Cobbler. 

Kyla is a stand up comedian from Cork who is currently living in Barcelona and specialises in observational comedy. 

She started comedy during lockdown doing skits on social media and eventually branched into stand up comedy. A lot of Kyla’s sketches focus on what it’s like dating in a foreign country, particularly while sober and the weird and whacky people she meets along the way. If you haven’t seen her skits make sure you check out her instagram. 

Kyla talks about her sobriety journey and how she has decided to change her life for the better. She tells us about how performing sober was like starting from scratch all over again but it made it a much better experience. She also tells us how sometimes you need to ditch friends that aren’t aligned with you and the relief and positivity that comes with doing just that. 

Kyla is an incredibly open person and talks about how her new lifestyle sometimes makes her feel lonely. However, she is positive that things will change as she discovers new hobbies and surrounds herself with the right people and focuses on doing the things that she always wanted to do instead of the things society tells us we should be doing. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

This week we have a very special episode... co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with Rachel Corsie. 

Rachel is Captain of the Scottish International Football Team where she has over 140 appearances for her country. 

Having trained as a chartered accountant after university Rachel talks about the similarities between her career crunching numbers and her performance on the pitch. 

She talks about utilising the similar attributes required such as discipline and competitiveness and explains how this helped her get to where she is today. 

Rachel’s career highlights include playing in the US for 7 years and helping Scotland qualify for The Euros in 2017 and the World Cup in 2019. This was Scotland's first time qualifying for both competitions. 

Rachel is passionate about health and wellness and looking after herself. She admits she finds it hard to switch off as a captain, as many of her duties are performed off the pitch but she manages to destress on the squash court with her fiancée Lisa and nerd out on making great coffee. 

We caught up with Rachel when she was in Dublin doing broadcast work for the World Cup on RTE. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

This week we have a very special episode.… co-founder Niall Horgan sits down with Rhys McClenaghan. 

This episode was recorded way back in December, when Niall was hell-bent on trying to beat guests at games of Jenga, so some of the references to times and events may seem a bit out of date. 

In this episode we get a rare glimpse into Rhy’s life and the work that goes on behind the scenes to become a world champion and Olympic athlete. 

Rhys talks about his passion for the sport and the sacrifices he has made to pursue his gymnastics dream. 

He talks about his disappointment in the Toyko Olympics and how the margin for error is so small that a simple finger a couple of millimeters out of place brought his whole routine crashing down. 

One of the most impressive things about Rhys is his optimism and work ethic. 

He is very open about his disappointment immediately after the Tokyo Olympics, but in true Rhys style all he wanted to do was get back training and flip that disappointment into motivation to be ready and better for next time. 

For those listening to audio only and wondering what all the pauses, laughs and loud noises are, just remember this was recorded over a very intense game of Jenga. 

I won’t spoil who won, but let's just say it was the guy who played the clarinet. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

On this week's episode: co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with Dwayne Edgar from Inner City Running Club. 

Inner City Runners were the winner of The Best Community Fitness Club at our Make Life Richer Awards. 

The group was set up over two and a half years ago.

Dwayne used lockdown as an opportunity to do something positive and get fit and as healthy as possible. 

After a video of Dwayne and his running went viral overnight, he decided to make a proper go at it and set up the group. As he says himself they nearly spread quicker than COVID itself. 

The group runs 3 days a week and is open to all abilities. 

Everyone is welcome and they don’t care about times, the only rule is once you start you have to finish. As you will hear it’s a rule that Dwayne came to regret when doing the Madrid Marathon. 

They have big plans to run events in the city and surrounding areas but as you will hear there are a few hurdles to jump over first. 

The ethos of the group is to get people active in the community and the lads are firmly on their way to doing just that. They now have their own clubhouse and gym to help their members reach their goals. 

There is a great social element to the group and as Dwayne mentions the most important thing for the group is to have fun.

This is something we can firmly agree on.

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

On this week's episode co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with George McCabe from G-Force Fitness. 

G-Force Fitness was the winner of The Best Community Gym at our Make Life Richer Awards. 

To say that the G-Force crew are an energetic bunch might be a little bit of an understatement. 

Their energy in the room on the night of the awards was electric. 

George is passionate about community and making G-Force the best environment it can be. 

As you will hear he has faced some serious troubles in life but now he is an amazing role model for his 800+ members and the young people in his community. 

He’s a testament that even when faced with significant adversity in life you can still  turn your life around for the better. 

George oozes positivity and he’s known for his late night and early morning motivational text messages to his members. 

His love for his community is next to none and they return it in abundance. They love the energy he brings and we do too! 

So sit back, relax and enjoy this incredible story. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

This week we have a very special episode… co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with an old friend Ronan Conway to discuss The Crew.

Ronan is a team performance and self development coach. It’s a very interesting job that sees him working with professional sports teams, athletes, corporate teams and even prisoners in Mount Joy. This is something he is very passionate about.

Ronan loves sport and getting the most out of people in team environments.

So much so that we have teamed up with him to work on a very exciting project with us called The Crew.

Some of you might remember we put a call out to our community earlier this year to apply for The Crew.

We were blown away by the responses. We had over 1,000 applicants.

It was a great response, but it was also heartbreaking to see so many members of our community who were struggling or feeling a bit lost with their physical and mental health.

The World Health Organisation has identified loneliness as being one of the biggest threats to people over the next few years.

1 in 7 people now report that they feel lonely most if not all of the time and Ireland is ranked as one of the loneliest countries in the world.

It was these heartbreak stats that spurred us on to set up The Crew.

As you will hear in the episode The Crew is a 9 month programme designed to help people with their physical and mental health.

It will touch on the highs and lows of everyday life and how these can affect one's journey.

We’re hoping there will be a lot of takeaways and learnings for everyone who is following the series and for anyone a little lost or struggling, hopefully it will inspire you to effect change or seek the help that you require.

You can find out more about The Crew on the Gym Plus Coffee Website. 

Hope you enjoy. 

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

On this week's episode co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with Steve Crosbie. 

Steve is owner and founder of Fad Saoil Saunas. 

Fad Saoil mean’s longevity in Irish and that’s exactly what Steve is trying to achieve. 

Longevity of health, wellness and the often overlooked social side to this Finnish tradition. 

Steve has built an amazing community in both Greystones and Galway where his saunas perfectly complement the existing sea swimming communities of these areas. 

We hear about the tradition of sauna, the benefits of sauna, Steve's plans for the future and how sauna is the only Finnish word in the English language (don’t fact check me on that). 

We also learn that we've all been saying sauna wrong this whole time. 

In Finland it is pronounced “Sow-Na”. 

To-may-toes/To-ma-toes I suppose. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

On this week's episode co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down with Christine Higgins.

Christine is founder of Spiritual Wellness Christine.

She is a Reiki Master, Spiritual Coach, Yoga instructor and recently won Best Outdoor Experience at our MLR Awards for her Full Moon Healing Circles, which she runs Níall O’Murchu. Who features on Episode 1. 

These sessions on Killiney beach help to raise much needed funds for the charity Suicide or Survive. 

Christine’s passion is to help empower people to start living in alignment. 

She wants people to harness the power within themselves and understand the natural energies that surround them. 

Speaking of energy, Christine has it in abundance. She brings her humour, passion, and her healing to all her gatherings and isn’t afraid to have some fun along the way. 

In this episode we will hear how Christine got started, we’ll learn about energy levels and more importantly; energy balance.

We’ll learn about not just the importance of Mother Earth, but Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun, which are things I knew nothing about. 

Christine also gives insight on what to expect at a Healing Circle, just incase you want to try it out for yourself. 

Hope you enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

On this week's episode co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney sits down and talks all things health and fitness with Sean Harding. 

Sean or better known as Seany B2B is owner and founder of Back 2 Basics. 

Back 2 Basics is a gym based in the heart of Tallaght and this community is a hive of activity. 

It’s a state of the art facility with the best of equipment, charismatic and energetic instructors, a cafe with killer Acai bowls and great coffee but the  most important thing they have is a thriving, energetic community full of young and not so young, passionate members. 

As you will hear, community is everything to Seany. 

His focus is helping his community to reach their goals, not just in the 4 walls of the gym but in everyday life too. 

He organises training days and challenges where his members can push themselves and encourage others to do the same. 

They recently did 4 marathons in one day: Run, row, bike and Ski and somehow he convinced 20 others to do the same, all in the name of charity. 

We love Seany and so does our community… He was recently nominated and voted for across so many categories at our Make Life Richer Awards that it was only fitting that he won the MVP award. That’s most valuable player… for those that don’t know. 

Seany has been a Gym Plus Coffee Ambassador… pretty much since day one. 

He has big plans to expand Back 2 Basics and has his ear to the ground on all the latest fitness trends. 

Hope you guys enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com

This week we have a very special episode. 

Co-founder Niall Horgan sit’s down with Jacob Donegan. 

Jacob has been on an incredible journey over the last few years, transitioning from female to male and dealing with the physical, mental and emotional effects of that. 

Jacob’s not afraid to talk about the uncomfortable aspects of gender transition and his goal is to educate people about the process which he does through his series  “Real Talk With Jacob” on Tiktok. As a result he has has gained over 1.2 million followers on the app. 

The guys were meant to chat over an intense game of Jenga. However they got carried away in the conversation and unfortunately never got around to it. 

They might have to have a rematch! 

Hope you guys enjoy!

Find out more on: www.gympluscoffee.com