In 2001 Sergey Sizhanov moved from Vladimir Russia to coach gymnastics at what was then called The notts School Of gymnastics in Nottingham. His incredible legacy is still being felt today throughout gymnastics clubs in Great Britain with many of his former athletes now coaching the next generation. Sergey is now the head of the Irish National team program and is based at the training centre in Dublin full time. The life lessons that I was lucky enough to learn through spending twenty one years ...
Dec 16, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 96
In November 2024 Shane Curtis travelled out to Texas to compete in the Main Character professional Jujitsu event which was broadcast live on Flo Grappling. Unfortunately Shane injured his knee in a freak accident and had to withdraw from the competition where he was hoping to test himself against some of the world's best athletes. The initial spark that inspired him to get into martial arts came after watching the Bruce Lee film "enter the dragon" as a young energetic kid growing up. Shane only ...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 95
In November the All Japan championships took place and this week I'm joined by Katharine Mills the very talented lady behind MAGNASTICS. She runs a twitter account and website focusing on mens artistic gymnastics, writing incredibly detailed articles by gathering competition data from the around the world. We both sit back and relive the Paris Olympic Games, sharing the big moments that stood out for us both. Katharine was able to watch all of the Japanese championships that took place last week...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 94
In 2024 at the Paris Olympic Games Harry Hepworth made history winning the bronze medal on the vault and becoming the first British man ever to achieve that milestone. Harry started the sport at the age of eight after seeing a live gymnastics demonstration during a visit from a local athlete to his school. In the three years prior to that encounter Harry had been diagnosed with Perthes disease and was unable to participate in sports activities. He entered Leeds gymnastics club with the goal of l...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 93
In 2023 Heath Thorpe was crowned the Australian national all around men's gymnastics champion for the first time. Despite this achievement he was not selected ton represent team Australia at the World championships and Olympic qualification event later that year in Belgium. Heath has a large online following within the gymnastics community thanks to his unique style of gymnastics and ability to communicate through social media and content creation. He now trains in Europe and is based at the gym...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 92
In the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to share my story with a professional footballer, active British gymnast and a university student. Each of those conversations focussed of a different piece of the puzzle that makes of a professional sportsman's career. In this episode I'm going to talk about some of the key topics we touched on in those conversations. I've also had the opportunity to record an advert and for the first time me and Sam have produced our own content for a someone else...
Nov 11, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 91
In 2024 at the Paris summer Olympic Games Anthony Harding took the bronze medal alongside his partner Jack Laugher in the 3m springboard synchronised diving event. Anthony's international career was kickstarted at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aries where he won the individual silver medal and has since been on the podium seven times at major championships. He started diving at the age of six and moved to Leeds at the age of just sixteen to pursue his Olympic aspirations. Gymnastics pla...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 90
In 2024 Molly Thompson-Smith represented Team GB at the Paris Olympic games in professional climbing. She is a fave time UK national champion and in 2017 became the first British Women in history to win a World Cup medal. Molly took bronze at the 2020 European championships in Moscow and is a driving force within the sport, promoting diversity in the climbing community. Her career has spanned two generations and Molly has seen climbing become a legitimate career path since the sports recent ince...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 89
In 2015 James Hall qualified for the Great Britain men's gymnastics team as the travelling reserve that went on to win a historic silver medal at the World championships. Since that senior team selection he has become one of the most consistent athletes within the British team, winning eleven major championships medals in the process. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games James achieved a top 8 finish in the all around event which puts him in a very exclusive club of British men. He was an anchor for ...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 88
In 2021 Joe Cemlyn-Jones finished second all around at the British Gymnastics championships and was selected to represent Great Britain at the World championships in Japan. The story of his first experience competing at a major championships is one of continuous setbacks and challenges. However he used those lessons to go on to become the Northern European champion just a few short weeks later whilst representing team Wales. Joe trains alongside the likes of Joe Fraser, Dominic Cunningham and Jo...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 87
In 2024 Felix Dolci was part of the Canadian men's gymnastics team that finished 8th in the Paris Olympic Team final. This was the first time Canada had qualified a full mens team for the Games since Beijing 2008. Felix has been a driving force behind the recent resurgence of mens gymnastics in Canada and their success internationally. In 2023 he became the Pan American all around champion following on the back of helping Canada qualify for the Olympics. He was part of the new generation of athl...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 86
In 2012 following the London Olympic Games I began to struggle mentally after experiencing such an incredible high point. At times I felt completely isolated and turned to partying in an attempt to numb those feelings of loneliness. Many athletes go through a similar process which is often referred to as the Olympic Blues. Four years later I had a different experience after failing to qualify for the Olympic team in Rio but it was equally as challenging to navigate. The Paris Games is now in the...
Sep 30, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In 2024 it's easier than ever to share your story if you're an aspiring athlete and build a brand thanks to social media and the internet. However in some ways it's more difficult to stand out from the crowd and build a successful career in professional sports. With national governing bodies ever increasingly focussing on smaller groups of athletes, funding and elite sportsman or sportswoman's lifestyle is a massive financial challenge. Throughout my gymnastics journey I was supported by Red Bul...
Sep 23, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 84
In June 2024 just one month ahead of the Paris Olympic Games Edgar Boulet announced his retirement from the sport of artistic gymnastics. He was best known for his incredibly exciting performances of the High bar which earned him the nickname "the showman" and in 2017 he competed in the European final. In 2018 alongside his four team mates, France took the bronze team medal at the European championships in Glasgow behind Russia and Great Britain. The French team have struggled in recent years an...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 83
In 2024 at the Paris Olympic Games the sport of gymnastics attracted a huge amount of attention thanks to American superstar Simone Biles and Stephen Nedoroscik, who went viral all over the world thanks to his performances on the pommel horse. USA gymnastics is in an incredible position thanks in part to athletes like Ian Gunther and Frederick Richard who are showcasing the sport to massive audiences through social media platforms. Ian Gunther is a four time NCAA team champion with Stanford univ...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 82
In 2028 the best athletes, coaches and support staff will make their way to Los Angeles for the Olympic Games. Paris 2024 was a mixture of incredible performances and massive controversy. The future of the Olympic movement has never been more unpredictable with the huge financial burden of hosting the Games and the integrity of sport coming into question. In this episode I breakdown my big takeaways from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And this is my story.
Sep 02, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In 2012 at the London Olympic Games Daniel Purvis was part of the British men's gymnastics team that made history winning the first team medal in a century. Between 2010 and 2018 Dan won a total of sixteen major championships medals for Great Britain and team Scotland. On many occasions his incredibly consistent performances at the very highest level played a key role in the success of the men's British gymnastics team. Which included World championships team silver in 2015 and European gold in ...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 80
In the final gymnastics events of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Six men's gold medals and four women's were awarded to the best specialists in the sport. Carlos Yulo made history winning two titles for the Philippines, Rhys McCleneghan performed one of the best pommel horse routines in arguably the greatest final on that event of all time. The Chinese men dominated on the still rings and Zou Jingyuan proved to be the most dominant athlete across the whole of gymnastics, running away with the par...
Aug 11, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 79
In the men's Olympic all around final that took place on Wednesday night in Paris Oka Shinnosuke was crowned the all around champion ahead of the two Chinese athletes Zhang Boheng and Xiao Routeng. The top 24 gymnasts on the planet competed across the six men's gymnastics events in a very competitive final. Joe Fraser and Jake Jarmin performed incredibly well to finish 5th and 7th for TeamGB. Daiki Hashimoto the raining Olympic and World champion struggled once again on the pommel horse and the ...
Aug 02, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 78
In the Men's gymnastics team final that took place in the Bercy arena last night in Paris. The Japanese team took the title after the Chinese men threw away a three mark lead heading into the final rotation. America came out on top in the battle for bronze and Stephen Nedoroscik mirrored the performance of Sasha Artemev at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to secure team USA's first Olympic team medal in sixteen years. The GB team finished in fourth, repeating their results from Rio and Tokyo and w...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 77
In July and August of 2024 the best male gymnasts on the planet will compete for eight gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games. The top eight teams, 24 all around gymnasts and eight individual specialists on all six apparatus will battle it out for Olympic glory. In this episode I'm going to predict my top three athletes ahead of each gold medal event. I'm going to talk about what it's like to compete at the biggest show on earth and also share my big takeaways from the brand new Simone Biles doc...
Jul 28, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 76
In 2015 Kelly Simm was part of the British women's gymnastics team that won a historic bronze medal at the World championships in Glasgow. Kelly represented team England at three consecutive Commonwealth Games between 2014 and 2022 winning two gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the process. The World university Games is the second biggest global sporting event after the Olympic Games and in 2015 Kelly became the all around champion in Gwangju South Korea. Kelly officially retire from the sport...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 75
In June 2024 the Men's US Olympic gymnastics trials took place and the five men that will compete for a medal in Paris have been confirmed. Fredrick Richard, Body Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik are the team tasked with battling it out in France. I'm joined in this episode by Kensley Behel who has been doing an incredible job keeping the men's gymnastics community informed thanks to her Neutral Deductions social media channels and podcast. Today we are going to preview the P...
Jul 14, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In 2012 at the Junior European Championships, Jay Thompson succeeded Louis Smith, Daniel Keatings and Max Whitlock to become the pommel horse gold medalist. Throughout his career Jay competed for team England and Great Britain winning over thirty medals both nationally and internationally. A combination of injuries and challenges in the sport led to him sharing his experiences publicly during the summer of 2020. Since retiring from gymnastics, he's turned his creative talents into photography an...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 73
In August 2023 during a pre-season training session at Keyworth United football club I was involved in a collision that led to an all too familiar trip to the Queens medical centre hospital in Nottingham. An investigation into the shoulder and neck pain I was experiencing began. After multiple scans and an Arthogram the shoulder specialist revealed I had full thickness tears in three of my shoulder tendons and recommended shoulder surgery to fix them. I chose not to operate at the time but last ...
Jun 23, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 72
In 2023 at the Artistic gymnastics World championships Team USA took the bronze medal in the men's final. They are now favourites to finish on the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this summer for the first time since taking bronze at the Beijing games in 2008. Individually their squad is incredible strong and the impressive comeback after multiple knee surgeries in 2023 by Brody Malone to be crowned the US National champion last week surprised the gymnastics community. With the likes of Fr...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 71
In 2010 Luke Folwell made history becoming then most successful British gymnast at a Commonwealth Games winning five medals for team England in Delhi. Luke competed for Great Britain at the highest level and was start of the World championships team in 2007 that took the first steps towards the incredible success we see today from British men's gymnastics teams. He now plays a key role in that continued success and was part of the coaching team that supported the athletes who recently claimed th...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 70
In June 2024 my current coaching role at the Notts Gymnastics Academy is coming to an end. I've now been coaching gymnastics for three years and I'm in process of working towards my level 3 qualification. The opportunity to work alongside Josh Champion, who I consider to be my coaching mentor has been invaluable during that time. I have made mistakes, learnt some incredible life lessons and experienced real joy in my young coaching journey so far. I hope to continue learning and developing as a ...
Jun 03, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 69
In the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games the Russian Olympic Committee edged out Japan to claim the men's gymnastics team title. With Russia being shut out of the Olympic movement and the Japanese team being the reigning World champions. They are firm favourites heading into the Paris 2024 Games taking place this summer. Following the All Japan championships and the NHK trophy the five men that will represent Japan have now been selected. In this episode of the podcast I chat all things Japanese gymnasti...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 68
In May 2024 I was asked to be part of the Team England Men's gymnastics training camp at Lilleshall national sports centre. I was incredibly impressed with the level of gymnastics and how professionally the weekend was put together. I had the opportunity to share my experiences in gymnastics with a group of 30 hardworking and positively minded young athletes. At 2AM whilst feeding Ozzy I began to think about the information and advice that would have helped me as a teenager with ambitions of com...
May 20, 2024•40 min•Ep. 67
