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What does it take to keep someone performing when their job leaves almost no room for downtime? In this episode of the Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with longtime friend Dr. Drew Contreras, a retired Army physical therapist who went from supporting soldiers in combat to becoming the first full-time physical therapist embedded in the White House Medical Unit.

Drew shares what he learned caring for everyone from White House staff to Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden – and why the fundamentals of human performance matter even more when time is your most valuable resource. From encouraging naps during relentless work schedules to introducing walking meetings at the White House, Drew explains how small changes can help people stay functional under extraordinary pressure.

The conversation also explores the changing role of physical therapy, why PTs should be doing more than treating injuries one patient at a time, and how technology such as digital health and AI could reshape the profession.

• What working with two sitting U.S. presidents taught Drew about keeping people functional under extreme pressure
• Why naps, walking meetings, and other simple interventions can make a major difference during sustained periods of high-stress work
• How physical therapists became a “force multiplier” for keeping soldiers healthy and operational during deployment
• Why Drew believes physical therapists should play a bigger role in performance and musculoskeletal primary care
• Why embracing new technology such as digital health and AI will be essential for the future of physical therapy

(00:00) Intro to Dr. Drew Contreras

(02:55) How a Combat PT Got Handpicked for the White House

(07:00) The Birthday Basketball Game That Started It All

(12:05) Building a Wellness Culture in the White House

(19:15) What Actually Moved the Needle on Health

(22:05) Naps, Walking Meetings, & Reframing Work

(26:30) Deploying as One of the First Combat PTs

(31:00) PT as Human Performance, Not Just Rehab

(33:20) Treating Obama vs. Biden – Different Ages, Different Needs

(38:50) Leading the APTA & Scaling Physical Therapy

(43:45) The Money Problem in Physical Therapy

(53:30) PT as Musculoskeletal Primary Care

(1:00:30) AI, Digital Health, & the Future of PT

(1:04:21) What the Presidency Really Does to a Person

(1:11:30) Infinite Shelf: Legacy by James Kerr

Huge thanks to our sponsors, LMNT, BEDGEAR, and Momentous.

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Juliet and I have been saying yes to everything this fall. We're calling it the Fall Travel Junket, and it's stacked with events from Phoenix to Vail to Antarctica. Follow our Instagram or subscribe to The Ambush for details. And spoiler: you can join us in ANTARCTICA! For real!

We've been watching the new season of Ted Lasso, which is putting women's sports on mainstream television in a way that's hard to ignore. We get into what that means culturally, including who we'd want to see make a cameo.

Private equity is moving into youth sports with the "stay-to-play" model and it's terrible for players and parents. We dig into that, the "pay-to-play" model, what's happening at the policy level, and what parents can actually do.

We close with two Instagram trends that gave us pause: men in the longevity space calling facelifts "aesthetic wellness," and a dating site for people who didn't get the COVID vaccine.

New episodes of The Ready State Podcast drop every Thursday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss a thing!

• Why Ted Lasso's new season is putting women's sports inequities on mainstream display
• What the WNBA surge and Copa 71 reveal about the growing appetite for women's sports
• How private equity operates in youth sports through the stay-to-play model
• What New York Magazine and the Denver Post found when they investigated the pay-to-play childhood
• What parents can actually do right now, from supporting Senator Murphy's bill to keeping rec leagues alive
• Why calling facelifts "aesthetic wellness" is a branding problem worth naming
• What "Unjected" is, and what it says about the stranger corners of wellness culture

(0:00) Welcome back + Goings on in Starrett Land: our empty nest and the Fall Travel Junket

(02:10) PT Biz Mastermind and Brett Bartholomew's Non-Superficial Conference

(02:46) The Assembly in Vail, Eudaimonia, and the Antarctica expedition

(04:46) Ted Lasso's new season and the women's sports moment

(06:15) WNBA, Copa 71, and cultural momentum toward the 2027 Women's World Cup

(09:54) Ted Lasso cameo wishlist: Emma Hayes and Megan Rapinoe

(12:45) Private equity in youth sports: NYMag and Denver Post investigations

(13:56) The stay-to-play model and Senator Murphy's bill

(17:24) Free play, skate culture, and why it matters

(20:15) What parents can do: rec leagues, Positive Coaching Alliance, taking action

(22:30) "Aesthetic wellness": men calling cosmetic procedures a health practice

(27:48) Unjected: the dating site for the unvaccinated

(29:52) Outro

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What if the biggest breakthrough in women’s health isn’t a brand-new protocol… but learning how to better apply the fundamentals to the person in front of you?

Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan, professor of exercise physiology and nutrition at UNC Chapel Hill, to explore what the latest research can teach us about training, body composition, creatine, and women’s health across the lifespan. Drawing from more than 15 years in the lab – and her experience as a collegiate runner who suffered 9 stress fractures – Abbie explains how our understanding of female physiology has evolved.

They unpack how women can use body composition data without becoming ruled by the numbers, why creatine may become even more valuable as we age, whether women really need female-specific strength programs, and how to approach HIIT and recovery during perimenopause and menopause.

The takeaway? Human bodies aren’t black and white. And now that we have more tools than ever, the focus should be on finding the ones that work best for you.

• How Abbie’s experience with 9 stress fractures shaped her approach to training, fueling, and women’s health
• Why body composition data can be a valuable tool for tracking muscle, bone, fat, and long-term health
• What the research says about creatine for women, from muscle and hydration to potential cognitive benefits
• Why women don’t necessarily need “women-specific” strength training – and when female physiology should influence how you train
• How to use high-intensity interval training, recovery, and scaling to get results without turning every workout into an all-out effort

(00:00) Intro

(01:43) Meet Dr. Abbie Smith-Ryan

(04:00) Advocating for Women's Health Research

(06:37) Women's Health Research: What's Changed & What's Missing

(11:40) 9 Stress Fractures, Underfueling, & Low Energy Availability

(17:54) Body Composition & Injury Risk

(23:21) DEXA, Bod Pod, & Measuring Body Composition

(30:43) Body Composition for Midlife Women

(35:47) Juliet's Bone Density Loss During Menopause

(37:28) What the Research Says About Creatine for Women

(41:42) Creatine Hesitancy, Myths, & Safety

(45:41) Creatine Loading & the Menstrual Cycle

(48:23) Creatine Dosing: 5g vs 10g & Brain Benefits

(52:32) What's Changed in Athletic Performance

(54:43) Applying Elite Performance Science to Everyday Women

(55:27) Women-Specific Strength Training: Science vs Marketing

(1:00:32) Overcomplicating Exercise

(1:02:16) HIIT, Recovery, & the Menstrual Cycle

(1:04:50) HIIT vs Sprint Interval Training

(1:07:30) The 20-Minute HIIT Protocol: 1 Min On, 1 Min Off

(1:09:48) Abbie's Proof of Practice Podcast

(1:13:49) No Black & White Answers

(1:16:07) Have We Improved Sports Science?

(1:20:23) Infinite Shelf: '90s Rap Music

Huge thanks to our sponsors, BEDGEAR, Momentous, and LMNT.

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Juliet and I are officially empty nesters. Both girls are launched, the bathroom is clean every morning, and we're figuring out what the next phase looks like. It rhymes with dusk bike rides, protein shakes for dinner, and a cereal bar in Marin we somehow didn't know existed until now.

We also revisited one of our longest-running household debates: women's pain tolerance. An Instagram infographic claiming childbirth equals breaking 20 bones made the rounds and reignited everything. We cover what the McGill pain scale actually says, why medical research has failed women on pain, and the full story of my eardrum, which ends with blood in the ER and a pain scale I have never quite recovered from.

From there we got into our book Outplay and the data shaping every youth sports conversation right now. The number everyone cites is that 70% of kids drop out of sport by age 13. A researcher on LinkedIn tried to find the primary source and came up empty. So did researchers at the Aspen Institute. So did everyone else. We unpack what the CDC data actually shows and why citation drift doesn't mean youth sports is fine.

The biggest chunk of this episode is something I wanted to make sure we gave real time to: what two years of running the Starrett System has actually taught us. Most people coming into the program weren't working a coherent physical practice at all. They might have been doing some weight training or riding a Peloton, but nobody was hitting all three legs of the longevity triangle: strength, conditioning, and mobility. Nobody was sprinting. And a lot of people believed that the moment they felt discomfort, they should stop.

Watching that shift has been one of the most rewarding things we've done. Member Lily gained 5.4 pounds of lean mass in eight months. Cole said he's craving training every day for the first time. The fall cohort starts September 8th. Early bird: $200 off at starrettsystem.com.

• Why the "70% of kids drop out of sports by age 13" statistic cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics and major sports governing bodies may have no verifiable primary source, and what the CDC and Aspen Institute data actually shows
• Why the claim that childbirth equals breaking 20 bones is a myth, and what the McGill pain scale says is actually more painful
• Why medical research has historically underserved women on pain, and how self-reporting skews the picture
• What two years of running the Starrett System revealed about what most people were actually missing in their physical practice
• Why having a strength practice, a conditioning practice, and mobility work are three separate things, and why most people were only doing one of them
• What the "longevity triangle" is and why most wellness and longevity conferences have almost no conversation about it
• How teaching people to train around injuries and physical limitations, rather than stop, has been one of the biggest shifts for Starrett System members
• Why the program's nutrition approach centers on abundance and eliminating nothing, and what happens when people who have been chronically underfueling start eating enough

(00:00) Welcome to RECESS / Kelly and Juliet go officially empty nest

(00:31) The bathroom story and Byron Katie's towel wisdom via Gabby Reese

(03:19) Life as empty nesters: bike rides at dusk, protein shakes, cereal for dessert

(04:43) Listener ask: send your best recipes for two

(05:18) Women vs. men pain tolerance: the debate renewed

(06:44) Kelly's eardrum story

(08:57) McGill pain scale and Juliet's finger

(11:11) Outplay: preparing families for youth sports

(13:32) Pay-to-play, private equity, and the Norwegian youth sports model

(16:26) The 70% dropout stat and its missing primary source

(19:12) Starrett System: origin story from the YPO conference

(26:48) Starrett System: member results and the September 8th fall cohort

(30:41) Cereal bar in Marin and the great Raisin Bran debate

(34:07) Wrap and early bird CTA

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Andy Stumpf spent years navigating some of the most extreme environments imaginable as a Navy SEAL, but he says the hardest lessons he learned had nothing to do with combat. In this episode of the Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with the retired SEAL Team Six operator, pilot, skydiver, and author of Drownproof to explore the mindset that helps people stay steady when life feels anything but that.

From a chaotic military skydive gone spectacularly wrong to the emotional toll of divorce, Andy shares why the ability to "chunk" overwhelming challenges into the next manageable step has become one of the most valuable skills he's ever developed. Along the way, the conversation dives into self-talk, asking for help, ownership, leadership, flow state, and why resilience isn't about being fearless – but about learning to focus on what you can control when everything else feels out of control.

Whether you're navigating a personal setback, leading a team, raising kids, or simply trying to build a more resilient mindset, this episode offers practical lessons for staying grounded, making better decisions, and keeping your head above water when the inevitable storms of life arrive.

• Why resilience is less about toughness and more about controlling what you can control
• How breaking overwhelming challenges into small, manageable steps can help you navigate almost any crisis
• The surprising role that self-talk plays in performance, confidence, and decision-making under pressure
• Why asking for help is one of the strongest leadership skills, not a sign of weakness
• How finding a healthy "flow state" can improve focus, reduce stress, and build long-term resilience through work, sport, or everyday life

(00:00) Intro & Andy's Background

(05:15) Origin of "Becoming a Supple Leopard"

(11:00) Backstory of "Drownproof" Title

(17:49) Where We Learn Resilience & Life Skills

(20:22) Breaking Tasks Into Small Chunks

(23:12) Andy's Wild HAHO Jump Story

(30:43) Everything Goes Wrong Mid-Air

(37:52) Getting to Safety & Lesson From the Jump

(43:04) How Divorce Was Harder Than SEAL Training

(47:38) The Power of Self-Talk

(49:11) Asking for Help as a Sign of Strength

(54:32) After-Action Reviews, Accountability, & Leadership

(54:34) Why 85% Quit BUD/S

(58:14) The Chunking vs. Overwhelm Theory

(1:00:00) Hell Week & the Psychology of Time

(1:09:57) "It Takes Longer to Do It Wrong"

(1:17:32) Writing Drownproof

(1:20:38) BASE Jumping, Wingsuits, & Risk

(1:23:44) Flow State, Not Adrenaline

(1:31:23) The Sphere of Influence Exercise

(1:33:32) Redirecting Negative Self-Talk

(1:34:47) The Infinite Shelf: Money & Meaning

Huge thanks to our sponsors, LMNT and Momentous.

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We're back from one of the most bonkers trips of our lives. Juliet and I just finished hiking the Haute Route, the classic alpine traverse from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland, roughly 90 miles over 10 days with our daughters Georgia and Caroline. Caroline's senior trip. Years of mental infiltration paid off.

Neither of us trained specifically for it. I spent the spring managing a torn ACL and calf. I skipped the surgery because we had this trip on the calendar, and I wasn't willing to miss it. Somewhere around day eight or nine on the trail, my knee actually started to feel better. That's the thing about movement as medicine: there's no substitute for the reps.

The trip had other highlights. We've been telling Georgia since she was three that we would someday find wild Edelweiss in the Alps. On day four, crossing one of the high passes, she spotted a patch. She actually cried. It was one of the best moments of my life.

We also dig into the news that Thorne, one of the most trusted names in supplement quality, has been acquired by Procter & Gamble for $3.8 billion, and why this deal raises real questions worth watching.

Then there's the Tour de France Femme and Kasia Niewiadoma's historic climb on Mont Ventoux: 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes. We talk about the coverage problem, the naming problem, and why this race deserves far more than it's currently getting.

We close out with GLP-1 Watch: new data on cancer risk reduction, dementia, addiction disorders, and which grocery category is taking the biggest hit. Spoiler: it's chips.

New episodes of The Ready State Podcast drop every Thursday.

• What the Haute Route is and why it's one of the great alpine treks in the world
• How Kelly completed 10 days of hiking in Switzerland months after tearing his ACL and choosing not to have surgery
• Why going uphill is easy and the downhill will humble you, and what "tissue exposure" means for how you prepare for a big adventure
• The story behind finding wild Edelweiss on a high alpine pass and why Georgia cried when she spotted it
• What Thorne's $3.8 billion acquisition by Procter & Gamble means for supplement quality, and what to actually watch for
• Why Kasia Niewiadoma's 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes on Mont Ventoux is one of the most extraordinary athletic performances in recent memory
• What the current GLP-1 research shows about cancer risk, dementia, and addiction, and why all of it still needs to be taken with real caution
• Why where your GLP-1 is compounded matters and what the black market problem looks like

(00:00) Welcome back to RECESS, and a recap of the hippo attack episode and puppet theater

(01:30) Introducing the Haute Route: Chamonix to Zermatt, and how Caroline's senior trip idea came to be

(02:22) The scale of the Swiss Alps: glaciers, wildflower valleys, and a moonscape where a glacier used to be

(02:41) Meeting hikers at the mountain hut who ask "Have you been training for this?"

(03:12) The bonkers 8-hour day: two 10,000-foot passes, extreme terrain, and extreme views

(03:50) The $500 Edelweiss bounty, day four on the trail, and Georgia's emotional discovery

(05:51) Fit but not prepared for the downhill: what tissue exposure means and why the kneecaps paid the price

(06:07) Kelly's "sprain plus": tearing his ACL and calf in February and deciding to skip surgery for this trip

(07:38) Working the plan: movement, swelling management, and a knee that improved over 10 days of hiking

(09:45) The family dimension: hiking as a unit of four, bird launchers, and the mountain bike trike side trip

(10:50) Thorne acquired by Procter & Gamble for $3.8 billion: what it means for supplement quality

(12:12) Why NSF Certified for Sport matters and the precedent of P&G's 2012 New Chapter acquisition

(14:28) Tour de France Femme: Kasia Niewiadoma's historic climb on Mont Ventoux

(17:40) The coverage problem: Peacock picking up halfway, and why this race needs Phil Liggett on the mic

(18:53) What 5.3 watts per kilo for 55 minutes actually means (and why you should try your local bike)

(19:47) GLP-1 Watch: grocery data from 150,000 households, chips down 10%, and yogurt on the rise

(24:18) GLP-1 and cancer: Penn Medicine study, breast cancer data, and why these are still observational studies

(25:53) GLP-1 and dementia: 40–70% lower risk across large studies, and what the mechanisms might be

(25:56) The caveats: observational data, socioeconomic skew, compounding quality, and the black market problem

(26:32) GLP-1 and addiction: alcohol, cocaine, nicotine disorders, and rewiring the brain's reward center

(28:20) What are we living for: Caroline's college move-in, the river trip, and whether Kelly needs an ACL for ski season

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Movement doesn't have to feel like punishment to improve your health. In fact, Caleb Marshall believes the secret to staying active for life has far less to do with discipline – and far more to do with joy. In this episode of the Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with the creator of The Fitness Marshall to explore why fun, play, music, and community may be some of the most overlooked ingredients for long-term health. 

Caleb shares how growing up feeling like he didn't fit into traditional fitness or dance spaces inspired him to build a radically inclusive movement community where people of every age, ability, body type, and experience level feel welcome. They also dive into the surprising psychology behind making fitness sustainable, why creating a judgment-free environment helps people move with more confidence, and how Caleb's devastating ACL injury reshaped his relationship with recovery, resilience, and trusting his body again. 

Whether you're someone who loves the gym, avoids it altogether, or simply wants to enjoy moving again, this conversation is a powerful reminder that the best exercises are often the ones you look forward to doing.

• Why joy, play, and fun are essential ingredients for long-term consistency in fitness
• How creating an inclusive, judgment-free environment helps people fall in love with movement
• The surprising mental health benefits of dance, rhythm, and being fully present in your body
• What Caleb's ACL recovery taught him about resilience, patience, and rebuilding trust in his body
• Why mastering the basics – instead of chasing the latest fitness trends – is still the most effective path to lasting health

(00:00) Intro & Guest Bio

(03:53) Welcome to the Podcast

(05:04) Caleb's Fitness Philosophy & Origin Story

(10:07) Joy as a Health Strategy

(14:09) Building Truly Inclusive Content

(20:10) The Ready State Live Tour Story

(23:05) Disarming People Through Non-Judgment

(25:03) Buying Richard Simmons' Wardrobe

(27:19) Origins of the Booty Army

(29:49) How a Fitness Marshall Video Gets Made

(34:56) Craziest Fan Moments: Zara Larsson & Sesame Street

(38:20) Audience Size & Recognition

(40:35) Tearing His ACL on Camera

(41:47) The Psychology of Injury Recovery

(50:37) Adapting to Seated Chair Workouts

(52:17) Launching Active Booty

(57:00) Balancing the On-Camera Persona with Real Life

(1:00:57) Movement Practice & Training Routine

(1:03:16) Staying Trend-Proof

(1:05:50) Most Popular Videos Revisited

(1:08:02) Infinite Shelf Recommendation

(1:09:30) Closing Thoughts

Huge thanks to our sponsors, Momentous and LMNT.

Juliet and I have told pieces of this story over the years, but we've never sat down and told the whole thing from the beginning. This episode, I'm turning the tables and interviewing Juliet, because the full arc of how she ended up getting launched twelve feet into the air by a hippo on the Zambezi River is too good to tell any other way.

It starts in the late 1990s, when Juliet was a D1 rower turned wilderness river guide in California: fit, competent on Class IV water, and completely unaware that a tryout on the Kern River was about to drop her onto one of the most storied women's extreme whitewater teams in the world. We're talking Kelly Califadich, Julie Munger, Beth Rippins, Sue Norman, Brooke Winger, Rebecca Rusch: true legends of the sport. Juliet was the youngest, the least experienced, and by Rebecca's nickname for her, the MEAT in the middle of the boat. What she had was athletic horsepower, the right mindset, and no real concept yet of what she'd signed up for.

Winning nationals meant an all-expenses-paid trip to the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe for the 1997 World Championships. Two weeks of daily training in the Batoka Gorge: daily flips in Class V rapids, giardia, massive crocodiles between rapids, and a hundred-degree grueling hike in and out of the canyon every single day. Followed by a race they won. Then, because they'd budgeted a full month in-country, the team tacked on a five-day canoe safari at Mana Pools, Juliet's mom Janet included. Flat water. Wildlife. A chance to decompress.

Emphasis on WILDlife.

What Juliet describes about the moment of the hippo attack (the sound, the air, looking down into the open mouth of a four-thousand-pound animal) is something I still think about. And what she did in the seconds after hitting the water is the reason she's here to tell it.

• What it actually took to make a women's extreme whitewater World Championship team in the late 1990s — and why the word "extreme" mattered
• How high-volume rivers like the Zambezi differ from the Class IV whitewater most people have experienced, and why that gap is bigger than it sounds
• What two weeks of daily training in the Batoka Gorge looks like: the hike in, the carnage, the giardia, and what finally made the flipping stop
• Why hippos kill more people in Africa than almost any other large animal — and what makes their attacks so difficult to survive
• What Juliet's guide told the team in the safety talk before the canoe safari, and why the locals already knew not to be there
• The split-second decision Juliet made in the water after the attack — and why years of river guiding made the difference
• Why a lifetime of athletic competition and high-stakes environments still didn't prepare Juliet for this particular kind of fear
• What "primal terror" actually feels like, and how it's different from the adrenaline fear of running a dangerous rapid

(00:00) Kelly sets up the episode: an interview with Juliet about a story that shaped their life together

(00:45) How they met at the Extreme Whitewater World Championships in Chile, including Kelly's infamous Class V swim

(01:53) What made this sport extreme: Camel Cigarette sponsorships, helicopter carnage footage, and Class V rivers worldwide

(04:28) Juliet's four World Championship venues: the Zambezi, Reventazon, Orange River, and Futaleufú

(06:26) The legendary women's team: Kalafatich, Munger, Rippins, Norman, and Rebecca Rusch

(09:07) Juliet's origin story: D1 rowing at Berkeley, chasing a tan, and becoming a wilderness river guide

(12:01) The tryout on the Kern River and the Monday phone call that changed her life

(15:08) Winning nationals means Zimbabwe: understanding high-volume rivers for the first time

(21:18) Two weeks in the Batoka Gorge: daily flips, giardia, crocodiles, and finding the Nyaminyami

(29:42) Winning the World Championship and the greatest French fries of Juliet's life

(32:42) The Ready State Mobility Coach

(32:47) The canoe safari plan: five days on the lower Zambezi at Mana Pools, with Janet, Juliet's Mom

(36:31) Gary's safety talk: machetes, three guns, hippos, crocs, lions, and snakes

(38:31) Days one and two on the river: crocodile wakes, hippo pods, and the Jumanji paddle bang

(41:57) Hippo City or Hippo Bronx: the democratic vote that nearly cost Juliet her life

(45:40) The attack: a sound like a gunshot, launched 12 feet into the air, and swimming for their lives

(50:17) Stranded on a Cape Buffalo island, Tupperware canoe repair, and three silent days to the takeout

(57:13) Juliet can't be beat at the "share an interesting fact" ice-breaker game

(58:24) Primal fear and why Juliet will never do a canoe safari again

(59:36) Reacting under extreme pressure, not freezing in the moment

(1:02:33) Hippo shrine

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Marin Lazic believes the best athletes aren't just physically prepared – they're mentally free to perform. But that flies in the face of how many of us were taught to think about high performance. In this episode of The Ready State Podcast, Kelly and Juliet Starrett sit down with the Australian Men's Olympic Water Polo team's Head Strength & Conditioning Coach to explore why fun, play, and psychological safety may be some of the most overlooked performance tools in sport.

Drawing from his own experience as an athlete whose performance collapsed under stress, Marin shares how that moment completely reshaped his coaching philosophy. We dive into why reducing anxiety can improve movement, decision-making, and resilience, how breathwork and vision training are becoming part of elite athletic preparation, and why creating a culture where athletes genuinely enjoy the process leads to better long-term results.

Whether you're coaching athletes, raising competitors, or simply trying to perform better under pressure, this episode offers a fresh perspective on building durable, high-performing humans.

• Why reducing stress and performance anxiety and creating psychological safety can unlock higher levels of athletic performance
• How fun, play, and positive team culture improve movement, resilience, and performance under pressure
• Why elite coaching extends beyond strength training to include recovery, mindset, and athlete well-being
• How breathwork, vision training, and movement quality help athletes perform at their best when it matters most
• Why the best coaches develop durable athletes who can stay healthy, adapt to setbacks, and perform consistently over time

(0:00) Intro & Meet Coach Marin Lazic

(0:38) Marin's Background & Coaching Philosophy

(0:58) Marin's Athlete Setback Story

(8:16) The Stressful Moment That Changed Everything

(9:13) How Stress Physically Tanks Performance

(16:55) Evolving from Old-School to Modern Coaching

(18:12) Happy Athletes Are Better Athletes

(20:17) Entrenched Thinking in Sport

(20:57) Finding a Head Coach Who Buys In

(24:38) Making Fun a Performance Strategy

(26:43) Pre-Game Warmup Games to Ease Performance Anxiety

(27:08) Beating Serbia at the Olympics

(29:27) Preparing for Paris Olympics

(30:25) Six Weeks in Europe Pre-Game

(32:39) Removing Decision Fatigue on Game Day

(33:04) Quarterfinal Loss to USA in Shootout

(34:24) The Physicality of Elite Water Polo

(36:04) Wrestling, MMA, & Water Training Methods

(43:21) Eye Training & Vision Work

(47:19) Breath Work & Session Structure

(48:18) Post-COVID Efficiency Approach

(54:29) The Concept of the "Stoke Tank"

(55:53) Being a "MacGyver" Coach on the Road

(1:00:33) Coaching Influences: Peter Twist & Pavel

(1:02:11) Losing Size, Gaining Water Strength

(1:06:14) Dad of the Year & Bluey

(1:09:56) Infinite Shelf: The Book Legacy

(1:12:17) Where to Find Marin & Watch World Cup

Huge thanks to our sponsors, LMNT and Momentous.

It's our 200th episode of RECESS, and Juliet and I are marking the milestone with laughs, a little blood, and a lot of gratitude. We look back at the last 50 episodes — we runs through the extraordinary lineup of women guests who've joined us, a powerhouse group that deserves more ears, and highlight one of our favorite recent episodes with John John Florence.

Then yes, we have to address the incident. On the 4th of July, at the Marin County Fair, I picked up the child's sledgehammer, went a little too hard on the high striker, and the thing bounced back and opened up my head. A surgeon friend materialized to administer three staples and with zero blood on the white shirt, we were on our way back into the fair for fireworks. But it will go down in history as "the year that Kelly sledgehammered his head".

From there, we get into the World Cup and give a long-overdue shoutout to the coaches and support staff doing the invisible, exhausting work that makes elite performance possible at that level. We also land on why Haaland wearing his mom's name on his jersey might be the coolest thing happening in sports right now.

We just got back from a week on the Klamath River - no cell service, no Wi-Fi, days of being barefoot and sleeping under the stars. We were stoked to run into the Paddle Tribal Waters group on the river - a program reconnecting indigenous youth to their land through whitewater kayaking. Our bodies felt incredible. Our nervous systems got a full reset. We can't recommend fully disconnecting out in nature enough.

And finally, we share a note we got from Jason Sacks (CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance, and prior TRS Podcast guest), who emailed us after reading an Ambush newsletter piece we ran on hearing loss and dementia risk — because hearing loss is the single biggest modifiable dementia risk factor. After getting his first hearing aid, Jason is here to say that the stigma around doing something about it needs to go.

• Why the women guests on RECESS over the last 50 episodes represent some of the most essential health and performance conversations in the feed
• What actually happens when Kelly takes a child's sledgehammer to the head at a county fair — and why zero blood ended up on the white shirt
• How elite coaching staffs manage travel, fueling, and real-time decision-making during the World Cup
• Why Haaland putting his mom's name on his jersey is about more than a jersey — and what mitochondria have to do with athletic potential
• What the removal of the Klamath River dams has made possible for salmon, ecosystems, and indigenous communities
• How the Paddle Tribal Waters program is using whitewater kayaking to reconnect lindegenous youth to their river
• Why a week barefoot on uneven terrain, off your phone, and sleeping outside resets your body and nervous system in ways daily training can't replicate
• Why hearing loss is the #1 modifiable dementia risk factor — outranking smoking, education, and depression — and how treating it can change everything

(00:00) Welcome back to RECESS and a milestone: 200 episodes

(01:30) Kelly's pick: John John Florence, humility, and what makes a truly extraordinary athlete

(02:20) Highlights from the last 50 episodes: the women guest lineup and why it matters that downloads drop when women are featured

(04:10) Lisa's pick: Cesalina Gracie, training for Everest, and the unexpected controversy the episode sparked

(05:00) The 4th of July high striker incident: one child's sledgehammer, three staples, and a surgeon who showed up to the fair

(09:44) Kelly reads the actual text exchange from that night, including Kelly's medical self-assessment: "cut plus"

(11:10) World Cup and a shoutout to the coaches and support staff doing the invisible work behind elite performance

(14:45) Haaland's jersey, mitochondria inheritance, and why your mom is the reason you can suffer

(16:47) Kelly's session with Rich Roll on his new Open Container format and what it looked like to problem-solve in real time with an elite athlete

(20:06) The Klamath River: 300 miles of free-flowing water following the largest dam removal project in U.S. history

(20:50) Paddle Tribal Waters: indigenous youth returning to the river through whitewater kayaking, two years in the making

(22:29) Running into the group at camp, and what it feels like to watch teenagers discover a superpower

(25:29) What a week on the river — barefoot, phone-free, sleeping outside — actually does to your body and nervous system

(27:08) Bird Club, the initiation ritual, and a golden eagle with a seven-foot wingspan at ten feet off the windshield

(29:30) Hearing loss as the #1 modifiable dementia risk, and a follow-up from podcast guest Jason Sacks on his first week with a hearing aid

(32:54) Summer to-do list and send-off