#106 Mind & Body Peak Performance with James Newbury
Today on the podcast, Mason's joined by CrossFit legend, 2019's 5th fittest man in the world, and newly Australian Men's bobsled competitor, James Newbury for an inspiring conversation around the world of high performance; where mindset is everything and consistency is the key. Whether doing intense training for the World CrossFit Games or leveling up to compete and train with the Australian Men's bobsled team, James Newbury is very familiar with the realms of mental and physical peak performance. He understands the score of what works, what doesn't, and above all, the discipline and stamina it requires. The boys talk Float therapy, CrossFit, bobsledding, mental and physical preparation, and James drops a bunch of knowledge on the breathing, visualisation, and recovery techniques he uses to push himself to his peak. An insightful junction between high-performance sport and business with Mason and James bringing their insights to the table. Make sure you tune in!
Mason and James discuss:
* Hot and cold water therapy protocols post-workout.
* Quarantine routine; What James did to maximise his time in quarantine.
* Bobsledding with the Australian men's team at the European Cup.
* High performance rest and recovery.
* How James gears up for training, post time off from CrossFit.
* Maximising the body for optimal performance and longevity.
* Mental and physical preparation.
* Why consistency and discipline are key ingredients to any form of high performance.
* The health benefits of Float Therapy.
* The power of visualisation.
* How James combines visualisation and his Floating time.
* Maximising the gains of training and rest.
* Maintaining balance and minimising stress for high performance periods.
* Breathwork techniques James uses to get him through his most intense training and competing.
* Pre and post-workout diet/Supplements; Cordyceps, MSM, and others.
Who is James Newbury?
With a background in semi-professional Rugby League, James Newbury has dabbled in many sports. Finding his passion in CrossFit in 2011, James has consistently worked to earn himself a name both nationally and internationally within the CrossFit arena. Named Australia’s fittest 4 X times, and coming away from the 2019 World CrossFit games with a placing of 5th, he earned himself the title of 5th fittest man on Earth. Newbury is somewhat of a master at pushing himself both physically and mentally. 2020 saw a break away from the CrossFit scene due to COVID 19 implications, opening up the time and opportunity for James to develop tiny-timer ( https://www.tiny-timer.com), a remote-controlled, pocket-sized timer that is magnetic mounted and battery-operated. In 2020 James successfully trialed with the Australian Men's bobsled team, going on to represent Australia as part of the Aussie Men’s team in The 2020 European Cup.
Resources:
James Instagram
James Facebook
James Website
tiny-timer.com
tiny timer instagram
The Power of Recovery with CrossFit Champion James Newbury (EP#65)
Cordyceps High-Performance Tonic
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Check Out The Transcript Here:
Mason: (00:02)
Bro, welcome back to the podcast.
James Newbury: (00:04)
Hey, thanks for having me.
Mason: (00:05)
Absolute pleasure. Everyone loved the chat, as did I last time. And as you just mentioned, you can probably know that one of the people that loved it the most was our warehouse manager, Wazza, who wrote to you to say it.
James Newbury: (00:19)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been chatting with him a little bit about his floating experience and his ice experience. He's just got himself a float tank and an ice bath, so I've got the same at my house as well, and it's stuff that I like to use for my recovery on a regular basis, and we did have our float tank here at the gym. This is actually the old float room which I'm sitting in currently.
Mason: (00:42)
Cool.
James Newbury: (00:44)
But now we have it at home in our spare room, so I can get it all done there. If I want to have a float, then go straight to bed. But yeah, we've been talking shop about cold therapy and the benefits of floating, and just escaping the outer world and trying to do some rest and recovery stuff, which I absolutely love. And visualising training sessions and visualising workouts and visualising competitions, I think a float tank has so many benefits. We've been chatting about that type of stuff and we've also been talking about how cold we've gone with the ice bath, and then I was also mentioning that I've just come back from Europe, I've being spend a bit of time in Europe, and I mentioned that I jumped in a canal over in Europe and it was minus something.
James Newbury: (01:33)
Minus a few degrees in the canal [inaudible 00:01:35] is pretty cold, so we jumped in there and spent a bit of time in there, did some breath work. And I was just saying how invigorated I felt after getting in the canal, and it would have been... I don't know, would have been a degree, in fact it was pretty icy. So yeah. Some of the stuff that I really enjoy doing and then we also compared it to what I've currently got now at the ocean here, which is like a bath that's, I don't know, probably 18 degrees which is mega hot compared to where I was which was minus 10 for half the time.
Mason: (02:07)
How long have you been doing your cold plunging?
James Newbury: (02:10)
I've been doing hot and cold and ice baths and things for, I would have to say, we were still doing it when I was playing football back in the day, but regular. Regular cold, like cold showers and things, probably the last like four or five years, and I've been floating since 2012. Yeah. I spent a bit of time, but now it's much more regular, now that I have just something in my house where I can be like, "Okay, cool," finish a session, jump in, have a cold shower, rinse off, jump in the ice bath, do three minutes, jump out. This week so far I've done maybe eight or nine cold plunges, so it's a more regular thing now.
Mason: (02:55)
Do you find for you and your metabolism and your body, because you're working out so much as well I assume, when you're doing your plunging, do you ever reach your glass ceiling or for you is it like more the better?
James Newbury: (03:13)
Look, I think everyone is a little bit different, I love the feeling that I get after it. Look, I know that there's been some studies showing that immediately plunging after a heavy weight session or a heavy lifting session, it can potentially slow down or inhibit muscle growth and things like that, but it's only very minor, it's so slim, and for me I'm not looking to build tonnes of muscle. I'm not looking to do anything like that, I'm just looking to be really strong, be really fit and still be flexible, and I want to bounce back from my training. So I guess if you're really looking for the muscular growth and things like that, you probably want to delay your ice bath after your weight sessions by two or three hours and you should have the effects then. But for me if I do a heavy cardio session I'll typically go and jump straight in the sauna, usually do around 40 to 45 minutes in the sauna post-workout, and then I'll always finish off with cold.
James Newbury: (04:15)
So I never finish with heat, I always finish with cold. And I like my body to regulate from that cold experience. It's so invigorating and it also helps put you to sleep too, so decreasing that body temperature which we do before we go to bed, it's also really help to put into a nice really deep sleep.
Mason: (04:31)
Yeah. Nice. I've been really trying to reconcile with it because I was always, probably from when I was 21, especially if I found a wild water source, if you were t…