Chasing Excellence - podcast cover

Chasing Excellence

Ben Bergeron & Patrick Cummingswww.chasingexcellence.email
Looking to build more than just physical fitness? Join Ben Bergeron and Patrick Cummings as they explore how daily practices create the foundation for lasting peace of mind. Through practical frameworks and honest conversations, discover how deep health unlocks the freedom to chase what truly matters. Learn the five essential factors - training, eating, thinking, sleeping, and connecting - that transform fleeting moments of clarity into a life of sustained fulfillment. If you're ready to move beyond quick fixes and build context-independent peace of mind, this is your guide.
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Episodes

Audacious Goals, Momento Mori, & Mobility Tips

This rendition of our 3x3 has us talking through tips for creating useful BHAGs in our businesses and lives, ways to remember that we're all going to die, and my recommendations for improving mobility.

May 11, 202138 minEp. 174

How to Warm-Up More Effectively (2:00 Drill #26)

We've got some more great questions on this month's 2:00 Drill. We're talking through low intensity for CrossFitters, constructing a useful warm-up, what to say to an athlete right before a performance, and more!

May 04, 202142 minEp. 173

Peter Rahal on the Hard Work of Building RXBar

Peter Rahal co-founded RXBar inside of a Chicago CrossFit gym, eventually selling to Kelloggs. He joins us to talk about the original vision of the business, the power of dyslexia, building culture, and the messy process of figuring out what's next.

Apr 27, 202148 minEp. 172

How CrossFit Could Go Mainstream (HopperTalk #03)

HopperTalk is back! This time around, Patrick & I share our answers to questions about CrossFit going mainstream, what hell might look like, what businesses we'd start regardless of our qualifications, and a handful more.

Apr 20, 202156 minEp. 171

We're Breathing All Wrong

Lots of interest lately about the importance of breathwork, so we're talking about my 100-day experiment with Wim Hoff breathing, what I learned from the Navy SEALs about stress management, and where I recommend you start learning how to breathe better.

Apr 13, 202142 minEp. 170

Robb Wolf on Being a Health Translator

Robb Wolf is an author, the founder of LMNT, and co-host of Healthy Rebellion Radio. He joined us to dive deep into a bunch of nutrition questions I've got, including nutrient density, how to feed our kids, and keto for CrossFitters.

Apr 06, 20211 hr 14 minEp. 169

How to Start Looking at Food More Positively

Your questions are back in the spotlight today. In this edition of the 2:00 Drill, we're talking about adrenal fatigue, box breathing, how much volume is too much when pursuing health, and a whole bunch more.

Mar 30, 202139 minEp. 168

Matt Fitzgerald on Becoming a Smart Athlete

Matt Fitzgerald is a coach and author of more than twenty books, including "How Bad Do You Want It?" In this conversation, we talk about pacing by feel, mental toughness vs mental fitness, competing for our identity, and lots more.

Mar 23, 202157 minEp. 167

Questions We Should Be Asking Regularly

The 3x3 returns! This round, we're answering questions about questions. Here are the questions I think we should all be asking ourselves regularly to improve our lives, our businesses, and our performances.

Mar 16, 202129 minEp. 166

The CompTrain Academy, Part 2

We're diving back into our conversation about the future of CompTrain, talking this week about our Elite athlete experience, what we'll look for in future Dev Team members, and what the Training Academy will one day look like.

Mar 09, 202143 minEp. 165

The CompTrain Academy, Part 1

What is the CompTrain Academy? That's the big question we're answering this week. I'm talking about the origins of the idea, why it wouldn't have happened without a change in CrossFit's ownership and a new CEO at CompTrain.

Mar 02, 202145 minEp. 164

Why Mat Fraser Retiring Sucks (2:00 Drill #24)

A special CrossFit Open edition of our 2:00 Drill this week! We're taking your questions about finding a coach, using CompTrain but missing the community in the gym, and my take on who gets to call themselves a competitor.

Feb 23, 202136 minEp. 163

Overcoming Excellence Fatigue

With so many people talking about how to chase excellence, it can be hard to continue moving forward when it feels like there's still so much left to figure out. Here are the strategies that have helped me keep perspective.

Feb 16, 202141 minEp. 162

Should Ricky Gerard Get a 2nd Chance? (HopperTalk #02)

We're giving this new episode format a second go this week, talking through 14 random questions like where Lebron James might place at the CrossFit Games, what old person things that we do, pet peeves, and lots more!

Feb 09, 202146 minEp. 161

Greg Everett on Becoming Tough

Greg Everett is the founder of Catalyst Athletics and the author of the new book, "Tough." In this conversation, we dive into pursuing toughness by developing our character, our capability, our capacity, and our commitment.

Feb 02, 202159 minEp. 160

Great Coaches Beat Great Programming (2:00 Drill #23)

We're reaching back into the grab bag of your questions for this month's 2:00 Drill, talking about helping kids with mindset, scaling businesses, my thoughts on the value of hypertrophy training alongside CrossFit, and more.

Jan 26, 202125 minEp. 159

Steven Kotler on Accomplishing the Impossible

Steven Kotler is the author of 13 books, including "The Rise of Superman." His newest book, "The Art of Impossible" is a deep dive into how to achieve peak performance, and is out now.

Jan 19, 20211 hr 11 minEp. 158

More Books, Movies, & Podcast Recommendations

We're always getting questions about the books, movies, and podcasts we've enjoyed lately - so this week we're doing a 3x3 to help fill your bookshelves, Netflix queues, & Spotify playlists. All links are in the show notes!

Jan 12, 202138 minEp. 157

Don't Chase Happiness

Is the advice to "just do what makes you happy" a bad strategy? That's what we're talking about today, diving into what creates fulfillment, why we have to be careful about always opting for "fun," and loving the process.

Jan 05, 202130 minEp. 156

Advice to a 12-Year-Old CrossFitter (2:00 Drill #22)

The 2:00 Drill is back this week, answering your questions about discipline and consistency, why I no longer do certain movements in my training, and my advice for how to work with and lead "sled dogs."

Dec 29, 202047 minEp. 155

What's the Big Thing You're Chasing? (HopperTalk #01)

We're testing out a new (fun?) show format this week called 10 Questions. Patrick and I share our answers to a handful of random questions, including popular things that are annoying and the most underrated CrossFit athletes.

Dec 22, 202051 minEp. 154

The Hierarchy of Mindset

Do you need to develop a killer instinct to get to the top of your chosen sport or profession? That's what we're talking about today, diving into my hierarchy of mindset and the 80/20 rule for tapping into the dark side.

Dec 15, 202034 minEp. 153

Opening Gyms, Leadership Skills, & Mindset Hacks

In this month's rendition of the 3x3, I'm tackling not obvious things to do before opening a gym, lead more effectively, and ways to develop more of a growth mindset.

Dec 08, 202053 minEp. 152

Back to Training After COVID (2:00 Drill #21)

Back at the 2:00 Drill this week, answering your questions about the importance of heart rate, how to work with clients who aren't bought in, how Katrin overcame her back injury, and lots more.

Dec 01, 202041 minEp. 151

5 Characteristics of an Effective Coach

This week, I'm breaking down the five traits all coaches need to strengthen to be effective: enthusiasm, curiosity, empathy, confidence, and subject matter expertise.

Nov 24, 202033 minEp. 150

Telling Stories, Hard Conversations, & Life Lessons

We're back at our 3x3 this week, talking self-fulfilling prophesies that don't serve us, ways to enter into difficult conversations, and the lessons I've learned the hard way.

Nov 17, 202026 minEp. 149

Designing a High School Health Curriculum

What would I do if granted the ability to design and implement a high school health curriculum? That's the hypothetical we're talking about today, covering the different ways I'd introduce the Five Factors to the students.

Nov 10, 202025 minEp. 148

Reflections on the 2020 CrossFit Games

We're home from the 2020 CrossFit Games and have lots of thoughts, hope for the future, and work to do. Here's my recap of our time out in Aromas.

Nov 03, 202045 minEp. 147

James Clear on Working Backwards From Magic

Author James Clear joins us this week to talk about opportunity costs, why reading is such a valuable habit, and why entrepreneurship is such a powerful engine of personal growth.

Oct 27, 202049 minEp. 146

The Best Workout After a Cheat Day (2:00 Drill #20)

We're jumping back into your questions this week, covering things like training for the CrossFit Games as a teen, how to warm-up for an early-morning workout, and the advice I hear all the time that I think is bad.

Oct 20, 202046 minEp. 145
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