The Athletic Philosopher Podcast

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 32 'Elbows Up' and Canada/US Politics viewed through Hockey

This is a bit of different episode where I respond directly to a question one of my followers and friends asked me on social media. They wanted to know where the term 'elbows up' comes from in hockey and why the new Canadian Prime Minister and many Canadians are using this term to discuss their political stance against perceived American aggression.
I spent years researching and writing about Canadian national identity and it's relationship to ice hockey so I took the opportunity to respond in podcast form. Part history, part philosophy, part politics, this episode swirls around the current thing but hopefully doesn't add to the silliness.
In the end, it's important to know how sports animates communities through identity so that we can recognize when sports are being used to persuade us into accepting a position that helps a politician while not necessarily using sports for their true and deep purpose. 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 31 'Play is Serious, Work is the Distraction'

Adults make the world too serious by misunderstanding play and then wonder why they lead unhappy lives empty of meaning. It's the same as a child who's told that they must always be doing serious work. This is a clarion call to stop consuming play and start creating it as an adult.
In Episode 31 I swirl hard around one of my core pillars of athletic morality, the importance of fun. Instead of just skimming the surface I wanted to really explore the simple wisdom of this phrase and how it not only guides us in fitness but in orienting our lives towards deep meaning. 
Once we take seriously the importance of play to our growth, learning, and expression, it's impossible not to move it more towards the center of your values. 
As the saying goes "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Stop living dull, start living beautifully, go all in on PLAYING THE RIGHT WAY. 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 30 The Race Result Exposed My Mental Weakness

Episode 30 was tough to record because I'm forced to open up about the REAL reason I failed to hit 100 miles last year at the 2024 Prairie on Fire Backyard Ultra. After months of reflection and rethinking logistics and strategies I came face to face with the real truth of why I decided to stop running after 21 hours and 87.5 miles.
A philosopher goes to the truth, and finds the courage to face it directly and learn from it. I hold nothing back in exposing a mindset gap that cost me a chance to hit the target I'd aimed at. 
I share this story to encourage you to sign up for a race, train hard towards it, and be courageous to learn honestly from the results no matter if they are good, bad, or neutral. That's how we can leverage the objective outcomes to create powerful subjective growth, the perfect harmony for competing in sports to grow and develop your character. 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 29 The Truth is in the Training

Episode 29 doubles down on an emerging format for my solo podcasts I hit upon in Episode 28. Using the same conversations and concepts I preach in my coaching calls lit me up and helped me find a dramatic and passionate voice on that pod and I wanted to try it again.
"The Truth is in the Training" is a tag I've developed over the past year of coaching, training, and competing and I wanted to explore that idea first broadly and then circle back to a specific example of why it's such a good frame with some experiences I had over the weekend. 
I swirl around the different types of truth we can find from consistent training:
-The objective truth of each training session
-The subjective truth of our self-discovery through training
-The compounding of both these truths to reveal long term processes 
-The spiritual truth of learning to trust faith as a guide through adversity
-The existential truth of consciousness, reality, and how we experience the world 
Thanks for coming on the journey with me! 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 28 Show Me Your Heartstance

Episode 28 deals with a topic close to my heart. Instead of focusing on mindset in the athletic pursuit of self discovery and improvement I want us to instead aim towards our heartstance.
The idea of the open and closed heart leading towards and away from the truth is an idea that's fascinated me since stumbling across the phrasing and ideal while reading the Exodus story. I've recently started applying it to myself, my endurance training teammates, and the athletes and individuals I coach and love how it's orienting us all towards the deeper spiritual truths of our athletic training.
This is my opening salvo to the world, stop telling me what's on your mind and instead show me what's inside your heart! 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 27 Fitness Fun with Mike Donatelli

Best Day Ever as I welcome my brother, tribal teammate, and legendary athlete, trainer, and adventurer Mike Donatelli to the show.
We discuss why fun is perhaps the most important element of a consistent fitness routine. Aimed at beginners, experts, and every one in between in the fitness world, we dive into the meaning of fun in training and how to properly orient your fitness around it.
We talk competition and life goals as ways to stay discipled even when fun is first on our minds and hearts. The positivity is off the charts, hard not to get fired up around Mike. This is my type of philosophy, one that's lived in real life for a beautiful life!
Check Mike out in the following places
@mikeddonatelli (X, IG)
https://mikedonatelli.substack.com/ (Substack)

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 26 Flow With AJ Londono

This episode I welcome AJ Londono, owner of ELVT movement, to the show to discuss broad philosophies of movement, flow, challenge, life, and the pursuit of creativity and fun through movement, exercise, and sport.
AJ teaches unique concepts of motion and ties them to a philosophy of life growth and purpose. We dive deep into his idea and how they align with ancient Greek and Taoist conceptions of competition, meaning, and aim. 
Thank you for the great conversation AJ. Check him out on social and ELVT here: https://direct.me/flowwithaj

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 25 It's Impossible to Lose When You Play with Your Heart (50 mile race reflection)

This podcast is a raw and unfiltered exploration of the ideas that have swirled through my mind and heart after running a 50 mile trail race with 13 of my Tribal Training Teammates. My job was to live coach athletes through the struggles and adversity nature throws you in  such a demanding race.
I'm using the race experience to explore the importance of the open heart as the vehicle that aims us towards deep truths. Throwing down on creativity and passion, I unleashed my heart and what's been soaking through it following the race. 
As a philosopher, you might ask why I'm so harsh on the brain, isn't that were all the analysis, synthesis, and expansion of knowledge comes from? Yes, but to what end? To satisfy the rational desires of the human shortcut machine and find the shortcuts? I'm not interested. It's much harder to look into the heart and see the truth for what it is and learn from that instead. 
This is a live look of how I do that with my own experiences. All killer, no filler. This is our lives team. 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 24 Unleash the Power of Your Perception

In this episode I go HARD on the idea that our minds determine the quality of our experiences and the crucial role of athletics in making us believers in the power of our subjective framing of objective reality. 
When you push yourself hard in sports and training, you realize how much the mind holds you back from what the body is truly capable of performing. I share a few stories of athletes I've seen recently make huge gains in performance simply by reshaping their perspectives. 
The episode ends with some deep wisdom from the Old Testament, I needed to share some big quotes that I've given to my clients and athletes in the last few days on how our reactions to adversity determine the depth of our struggle and ability to positively affect our future.
This one is POWERFUL. Listener beware. You might start living a completely new life after listening! 

The Athletic Philosopher Podcast - Episode 23 A Love Letter To Canadian Sports

A special episode, the first recorded from my new home in the United States after growing up and living my whole life in Canada. As a Canadian sport historian, it felt appropriate to talk about what I love most about Canadian culture and spirit, and that means explaining why we love winter sports and why they are our best national identifier.
Come along on this broad exploration of historical facts, expert historical interpretation (I did write a book on all this!), and true sentiment around the best parts of the Canadian national spirit. 
No matter who lives on this land, or when, it's always the same, the way to thrive in this harsh environment is to meet it head on with sheer will and determination to play through the misery in sports and games.