The Perfect Athlete Podcast

To be an athlete means to commit yourself to finding every advantage, even if it’s worth 1-2%. Understanding sleep, recovery, training techniques and hormones are all vital factors in mastering your body. Joining me to break down the myths and misconceptions around all of these is my former strength and conditioning coach, Daryl Richards.

We delve deeper into the specifics of training, the difference in approach for athletes vs regular PT sessions and the essential steps to allow your body to recover. Whether you’re an athlete at the top of your game or you’re just starting your fitness journey, this episode will certainly give you lessons to up your game.

In this episode we cover:

• Importance of sleep to body recovery
• Insulin sensitivity
• Breath work and its effect on the nervous system
• Hunger hormones
• Working towards goals
• Nutrition and hydration

Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Podcast Labs, full-service podcast production and marketing agency. Find out more at https://podcastlabs.co.uk/

Links and references at: https://perfectathletepodcast.com/

The key to success in most sports is to become the best athlete possible. Polo is unique though - you don’t just train yourself, you also train your horse. In a sport with some unique physical challenges, Hazel Jackson-Gaona has worked tirelessly to become the 2nd best player in the world of women’s polo. 

On The Perfect Athlete this week it’s time to demystify a sport which few people know much about beyond the Ralph Lauren logo - from the cost of breeding and genetics in the equestrian field, to the preference of flexibility over pure physicality and managing injuries with less strength training. 

In this episode Hazel and I cover:

• Managing injuries with less strength training
• Handling asymmetrical muscular imbalances
• Hydration, nutrition and fasting
• Recent scientific developments in Polo
• Shifting away from being a male-oriented sport

Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Podcast Labs, full-service podcast production and marketing agency. Find out more at https://podcastlabs.co.uk/

Links and references at: https://perfectathletepodcast.com/

Farmer, father & BDO World Champion - Scott Mitchell’s career in darts has taken him from driving tractors in Dorset to competing around the world among the best players on the circuit. With a chance at a PDC tour card in this year’s Q School, he shows no signs of slowing down.

On this episode of Perfect Athlete podcast Scott joins me, Chris Billam-Smith, to break down the intense mental discipline and unique physical challenges that make the perfect darts player. 

We learn about how Scott’s relationship with alcohol has changed to improve his performance, competing against your opponent in a sport where you can’t physically affect their game, and the importance of learning a multitude of sports at a young age.

In this episode we cover:

• Maintaining a pre-match routine
• How travel abroad can affect your game
• Playing yourself vs playing your opponent
• Choosing a variety of practice methods
• Trash talk
• Pub sports’ relationship with alcohol

Perfect Athlete is sponsored by Podcast Labs, full-service podcast production and marketing agency. Find out more at https://podcastlabs.co.uk/

Links and references at: https://perfectathletepodcast.com/

Hi, I'm Chris Billam-Smith, AKA The Gentleman. I'm a professional boxer, and the current Commonwealth Cruiserweight Champion. This is my brand new podcast, The Perfect Athlete. I'm always striving to be the best and perform better in my sport and I'm constantly experimenting with new technique within my training and lifestyle to find that extra 1% or 2% difference to make me stronger, faster or mentally sharper than my opponents. I'm on a mission to find out what makes the perfect athlete, how constantly striving for perfection can make you better and how the measure of perfect might look across different sports and environments. In this podcast I'm going to be talking to world-leading experts across a range of fields and world-class athletes from every sport. We'll explore their techniques, hacks and debunk any myths when striving for perfection and explore the breakthrough's in science and techniques that push the limits of what is possible. We're going to look into everything from the obvious such as nutrition, hydration, training methods and treatments to the more obscure including psychology, holistic approaches, breathing techniques and beyond. I'm really excited to get started on this podcast journey with you, you can sign up to be the first to hear about the launch of the podcast over at https://perfectathletepodcast.com/ and reach out to me via my instagram page with any questions https://www.instagram.com/perfectathletepod/. I'll see you soon for round 1!

Produced and sponsored by Podcast Labs - Podcast production and marketing agency: https://www.podcastlabs.co.uk/