Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So you're thinking about running, but not sure how to take the first step? My name is Brian Patterson, and I'm here to help. Welcome to Brian's RomPod. So this week I'm really excited to have my first guest from Dubai, and this is Tom Waite. He's a performance fitness coach and regularly works with high performers, executive, and business leaders. And I'm really, really pleased that Tom has taken his time out of his busy schedule to agree to come on the show. He says, and I quote, his approach integrates biometric data, wearable tech, targeted strength training, and tailored nutrition to deliver lasting results without disrupting already packed schedules. So without further ado, let's welcome Tom to the podcast. Hello, Tom.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Hey everyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Great having me on the what time is it over there in Dubai?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

It is uh 4.09 in the afternoon.

Tom’s Journey Into Sport

SPEAKER_02 1:23

4.09. Great, excellent. Um so thanks very much, Tom, for coming on the podcast. And what I wanted to do, as I do with my various guests, is just to find out as to what was your background like, you know, growing up at school, were you always into exercise? And is it was it a big part of your life?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, absolutely. So it it wasn't really a big part of my life until I was maybe 14 years old or so. And interestingly, I was a little bit overweight as a as a kid. And it wasn't until that I kind of got some stick for that in in school, and I decided that I wanted to do something about that at a young age. So I actually got into running. I started running on my lunch break at school, right? Because I thought that was the only way I could I could lose weight. And then that progressed into competing in rugby, and then that progressed into actually broke my leg playing rugby.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So that rugby was out. Um and I was a little bit too small for the games, to be honest. Everyone kept growing and I stopped growing.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

So then I then I transitioned to boxing, and boxing was the the the real sport that I found my passion in. And I competed for seven years before uh again injury took me out of it. And then since then I've just focused on on lifting and coaching.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Right. Okay. So you did you um, you know, from boxing, did you kind of transition into going into either fitness training or personal training, that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Exactly. So I was coaching in boxing, and then I picked up multiple fitness qualifications, and then I pursued my degree in exercise science. Okay. And it it really I became quite obsessed with optimizing everything and what could I do to gain those extra percentage or two in terms of performance, in terms of nutrition, in terms of exercise physiology. I just became quite obsessed with how can I get more from performance.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

And so um I take it you grew up in the UK. Um, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then when did you um I mean, is it only recently that you've kind of decided to to move to Dubai or have you been there for a while?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

No, I've been here a while. I've been here coming up eight years.

Goals And Recovery Drive Training

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Okay. So moving into because I know you you sort of personal train, sort of business executors, high performers, that kind of thing, but a lot of is a lot of what you do can translate to my audience, which is runners. And I think one of the things, first things I'd I'd like to talk to you about is basically sort of the universal principles in terms of training compared to sort of like personalization. So um what sort of things do you feel that when let's say uh a runner is thinking about their training program, um, what are the sort of the key key indicators or key um key principles they should be thinking about?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Sure. So the first thing I'd be thinking out about is what is the goal with the running, right? Because I speak to one person, I speak to another person, they'll have very, very different interpretations of what running is.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

For some people, it might be running a marathon. I have a friend who's doing the marathon de sab in five weeks or whatever it is, which is what, 300k through the desert, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Oh right.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

So his interpretation of running is is completely different to someone who might just be dipping their toe. My interpretation of running right now is doing a 5k consistently, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

So first look at specificity. What is the goal? If if someone's just trying to get back into running, then we just want to think about getting into a position where you can do one, two, three runs a week. And it might be something really, really simple. It's so being specific about whatever the the the sport is, right? The second thing I think about is what is your recovery weighing up in comparison to that demand? So for people in my um in my uh sort of professional world, yeah, just running twice a week might be quite a big ask for someone because they're not necessarily having much opportunity to recover in between those sessions. So what is it what is the goal? But then also what is the capacity to recover in between this the sessions that we're actually going to do?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

So that that would be my kind of base layer of thought process before we go into pursuing anything. Then you go into higher level stuff, right? So in terms of again, it comes back to the goals. If we're looking to do something more endurance-based or something short distance, we can look at what we might do in terms of nutrition to complement those different uh uh distances, for example.

Sleep And Stress As Performance Levers

SPEAKER_02 6:30

And I see you You spoke about recovery, and I think this is something that for me kind of gets overlooked because people may look at the training and think, right, yeah, I've done the training, that's fine, and then the nutrition, but people don't think about the recovery as part of that cycle.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So people always forget that the adaptation doesn't happen during the training.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

It happens outside of the training. So it's like lifting, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

You are not building muscle when you're in the gym. You're building muscle when you leave the gym and you recover and give yourself the right nutrients and the right rest.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

It's the same with endurance training. You're running and you're giving the stimulus for these adaptations, but you need to be able to recover from the that stimulus, right? So I think that the most important metrics to think about when we're looking at recovery is is number one sleep.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

How how many hours are we are we getting? Generally, a good baseline is between seven to nine hours. I'm not sure. Is that something that you get right now?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah, I'm probably on the six, six and a half, that kind of thing. And I don't know if that's whether it's an age thing, whether, I mean, obviously when I was younger, you know, I could go throughout the night without a problem, seven hours and and uh uh but it tends, I mean, you know, being older, obviously you have you go to the toilet more during the night, and maybe you tend to wake uh wake up a little earlier uh than normal. Is it's uh I mean uh in your experience, because I know you um train um high-level executives, is that the same sort of feedback that you're getting from them?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

It it could be many reasons, right? So nighttime toilet frequency is one, yeah, stress is a huge one, yeah. Absolutely massive one, because if someone's we're just looking strictly at sleep, we can go very, very deep on sleep for a very long time. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Generally, people, the people I work with, they have trouble getting to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

They have trouble staying asleep, and then they have trouble getting up in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Because when they get into bed, they might be ruminating on stuff that's happened in the day. They haven't had an outlet to get rid of that before bedtime. Maybe they haven't wound down efficiently. Maybe they're they've been working right up until the time that they're actually going to bed. Quite often they're doing calls at 11 p.m. Yeah, and then getting straight into bed.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

There's no wind down process. And for for myself, I always try to have a bit of a wind down. I always try to read in the evening. That that helps settle my mind a little bit because I'm focusing on something that isn't work. But that's that's that's a big element. Nighttime wakeups, again, sleep environment is a huge one.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Where I am, very, very loud at night. And I I'm quite a light sleeper, so road, road uh noise, general uh noise pollution is is quite a big thing for me.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Um, so these are these are some of the things that you have to think about. Like, yes, are we getting giving ourselves enough opportunity to sleep? Are we actually getting into bed and having eight hours in bed? And then what do those quality hours look like?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

And we can measure that in in some pretty accurate means.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yeah. So I know, you know, for me, you know, having a workout or doing a workout is a way of not only improving, you know, helping, you know, me to get fit, general life, that kind of thing, but also it's a way of winding down and helping me to prepare for sleep for later. I is is that a good way of looking at it?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, absolutely. So I think if if someone doesn't train and they're struggling with their sleep, training is one of the best things that they can do because what they're doing is increasing that sleep demand in their brain because they're being active and and tiring themselves out as essentially.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Starting a training program when you're not already doing one is a great way to improve your sleep. But don't do it right before bed.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Really?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

There's a really simple rule to apply. Yeah. Um Yeah, just try not to do it right before bed, especially uh things like running, high intensity, weightlifting. It just I would try and do it at least three hours before bed.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Because you're just really aggressively increasing that sympathetic state in your body and completely taking yourself out of a normal sleep-wake rhythm.

Wearables Without Obsessing

SPEAKER_02 11:30

I know what we might touch on this later in terms of sort of biometrics and metrics, because people are, uh especially these days, data is everywhere. And um we can measure everything from our height, weight, sleep, running, whatever, and there's just so much. I mean, in terms of sleep, I mean, do you advise people about that? Or is it best they don't sort of get the well, what's the phrase, paralysis by analysis type of thing? So try not to be so locked into the apps and that kind of thing about of about sleep?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

I think it it depends on the person. Some people are very, very data-oriented about everything.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And the the way I look at data is it's a tool to be able to implement behavior change.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

It's not something that should ruin your day if it doesn't give you a good score.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

So if we're looking at our sleep and it says we've got several nighttime wakeups, I'd be thinking, okay, are we getting into bed and thinking about lots of things before bed? And then that's subconsciously churning in our brain while we sleep. Or are we waking up multiple times to go to the toilet because we're we're drinking lots of water before bed?

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Or did we eat right before bed or not sufficiently enough time before bed because we're going through a digestive process and that interrupts sleep? There's so many things we could look at once we've got a little bit of data.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

And what it should do is guide those decisions to implement those changes that we just talked about, and then again have that feedback loop. But the way I look at data from there is once we've got the foundational habits in place and we've seen that improvement from the data side, yeah, we should be okay to remove the data. Okay. Something needs to be. It's not something that needs to be in place all the time. And I think some people obsess over their sleep scores or the recovery scores.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

So much so that it becomes another stress.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Yes, that's true. Yeah. So you're in that vicious cycle type of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Exactly. So yes, data is great, and I love data, and it is it very much forms the backbone of everything that I do. But we also need to learn to regulate ourselves as well.

Consistency Beats The Perfect Plan

SPEAKER_02 14:02

So yeah. So just so just to recap, then basically, if we're looking to sort of formulate some kind of training plan, obviously it depends on your particular needs, or like for instance, if you're training for a race, that kind of that kind of thing. And then to sort of helpfully sort of something incorporate a plan which is workable for yourself. Because obviously a plan for uh one individual who has more free time and has um you know, a bit of a, you know, a different fitness level is going to be able to maybe train completely differently to yourself. Um and so something that is more workable, be it, you know, two to three times a week, um, that is a much more achievable way of being consistent, is I is that is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, exactly. That doing doing a tiny habit extremely well is so much better than doing eight habits very badly.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

So if if I if I have someone who comes to me and says, I want to run a 10K, yeah, and they've never they've never ran in their life ever.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I could say, right, we're gonna do this fancy periodized nutrition program, periodized training program, and we're gonna do, we're gonna track all your day training sleep, and we're gonna track your blood pressure and your recovery, etc.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Or it could just be like, okay, you've never ran before, so just go run a 2K for me and tell me how it was.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

The person who just does the thing that they want to do in some small degree is gonna go so much further because they build that consistency by doing it, than the person who has a perfect plan and does none of it very well.

Online Plans And Fitness Hype

SPEAKER_02 15:59

So, in terms of being influenced by plans online, do we kind of take that with a pinch of salt, or can we use that as a kind of a guide as to where we need to be going? Because I know you talked about there, which was a sort of a periodization, um, which we can sort of talk about, you know, what is period, what is periodization. But but first of all, is that do we use the sort of training plans online as just a guide and and gives you a bit of a flavor of what is what you know what is a traditional, you know, quote quote unquote traditional training plan?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Again, it comes back to the person.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

So if if someone has never ran in their life or they've they've done limited runs, maybe they've done a 5k before, looking at a program online is probably not the best thing in the world for them.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Because they just need to, they need to just improve their their skill. They need to get better at actually doing the exercise. You know, as well as I do, running is a skill, just like lifting is a skill.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So the more you do it, the the the more efficient you get at it. For someone who's maybe done a 5K, a 10K, they're maybe like looking to do a half marathon. They could probably benefit more from something that they might find online in terms of a program.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

So again, it just depends on where that person is in their journey and then what what their goal is as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

For me, for example, my my running journey is I'm very early in my running journey.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well, let me rephrase that. I ran a lot when I was younger. I haven't ran in recent years.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

So for me, just doing two, three runs a week at a steady pace and a steady heart rate and getting volume in is the most important thing for me right now, rather than looking ahead and thinking, I could be doing this with my periodization. I just need to get the runs in.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

I just need to get a bit fitter.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

So again, it just comes back to the person. But if if you were to if you were to apply that question to my context, specifically in terms of strength training, yeah. If someone came to me and said, I saw this program online, I'd say, Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Because it's it's so easy to get distracted by things that you see from influencers or your favorite person trainer online.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

And you know, this stuff is all very clickbaity. It has absolutely zero context applied to your the the person watching it.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah. So you you you gotta think behind in terms of well, the the nature of Instagram or some of these apps, the sort of thing, is that you know, they that they are going for the followers, they're going for the the exposure, like so, you know, it it's it's it's all very well looking at on a on the screen, and um but it may not necessarily apply to you.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

So right. And the what we have to remember about social media, especially in the fitness world, is that it rewards controversy and novelty.

unknown 19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

If if there's something there that no one's ever seen before and it's packaged in the right way, it's gonna be viral. And then millions of people are gonna watch it and think this is this is this is new. I've never seen this before. This must be some secret that I haven't tapped into. Or it's a controversial take.

unknown 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Because again, controversy breathes virality.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

But that doesn't mean that it's gonna be useful for the the person watching it. I know for a fact that some of the videos that I see online, some of the workouts are the biggest waste of time in the world.

unknown 19:41

Yeah.

Motivation And Identity Keep You Running

SPEAKER_00 19:42

But because it's packaged in a nice way and it looks cool, yeah, and it's very saveable and very shareable, yeah, people take that to mean it must be valuable.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

So I know you um just moving on, is that um for people who and I know you're the some of the the people that you're training, they're obviously under a lot of stress. Um, they kind of don't really have enough time because they they they are doing quite high power jobs and that kind of thing. And it may be the same for to my audience as well, who are runners who are working nine to five, that kind of thing, and trying to get some kind of consistency into their fitness or their running plan. What would you say is a good way to try to um help them along that journey to help them with that consistency?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

So understanding what value that starting a running program brings to someone's life.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

So let me ask you a question. Why did you start running?

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Well, ever since I was at school, um and I well, my my journey has been that when I was uh at school, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. So um health has always been an integral part of my life. And I, you know, when I was went to boarding school, one of the successes of me, um, I didn't, I wouldn't, I didn't do very well academically, but um one thing I was good at and was encouraged at um was um exercise. It was it was basketball or it was football, it was doing cross-country running, that kind of thing. I was good at it. So, and I also I think I had the right encouragement as well. So that that that that's what it was to me, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

So, would you say you kind of created an identity for yourself about being a fit person or someone who was good at exercise?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yeah, and it I think it helped me because I was under medication at the time, and I think that was quite important um to me uh in able. to sort of cope with having taken the medication and then doing the exercise and to help me get through school life. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Sure. Because it was something that grounded you or because you felt you needed to do it from a medical perspective?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

I just think it was something that grounded me and I something that I enjoyed. It it was just that's I think that was the main the main um thing uh for me was more of a because I wasn't necessarily happy at school, but the thing that I was happy and because I was good at doing um was was doing exercise.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah. That makes complete sense. And I think I was probably the same with boxing. Yeah. There was something that I excelled in and it it pulled me towards it and having having something that I was good at and having something that gave me purpose and and a bit of identity.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah purpose that's probably the word that I would I would use yeah yeah definitely.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah. And I think that's it's really important to be clear on that, right? If you've got something that's pulling you towards a purpose or an identity for yourself, that can be so, so powerful. A lot of the time when people start an exercise program or they start running, they're pushing themselves to do it because they think it's going to be good for them or they know that it's going to be good for them, but it it's not necessarily something they might enjoy. Whereas having that that pull energy and having something that you know is going to improve your life and you're going to feel the benefit and you can feel the benefit when you do it it's not a it's not a chore. It's not something that you like you're really pushing yourself to have to do. I think getting clear on what the motivations are for doing that are so, so important. And sometimes it starts like that. Sometimes it starts where for me for example I knew that I was getting out of breath I'm a power lifter right so I'm all about lifting as much weight as possible for very very low reps and it's all about strength.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

But I was dedicating so much time to my strength work I completely neglected my my cardiovascular health.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

And I was getting out of breath going upstairs and I was like I'm I'm a personal trainer nutritionist whatever. And I'm getting out of breath going upstairs. This is not okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

So I pushed myself to run.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

And it wasn't until I got into a flow with it and felt the benefit of how much mentally clearer I was I felt when I was running I was in quite a meditative state. It was a time I I struggled to switch my mind off and I found that running was a time where I don't really think about anything. That was not for me. So I was getting to this position where I could see and feel all these benefits.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

And that's when I actually started wanting to do it rather than feeling like I had to do it.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Yes. Yeah. And I think that's the other thing is that what running gives to most people it's about the feel feeling that you're you're going outside um you're enjoying life you know outside like for instance you know going it's it's it's the uh officially the start of spring I think that's tomorrow but um but it feels like spring you know and then you've you can feel the fresh air on you and whether it be a walk or even going out for a run and I just think that's part of life is part of living and it's part and it's feeling something.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yeah and it's it's so accessible. Exactly I really wish everyone could have a passion for not necessarily running but doing something that makes them feel good.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

And and running's such a great one because it is so accessible you can just go outside and run. And there's no there's no fear around it a lot of the times that one of the biggest barriers that I find with with people coming into a gym that they're scared of being in a gym environment.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

It's intimidating. Whereas with with running the the barrier is you just need to go outside and be on your own and yeah go have fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

So I think it's it's a great entry point to so many other things as well.

Part Two Tease And Closing

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Thank you Tom for coming onto the podcast. Now as I do with most of my interviews I do split them up into two. So please do listen next week to part two. Or if you're listening in the future you can listen to both podcasts and the whole interview in one go. So anyway without further ado thanks for listening and I look forward to giving you more hints and tips about running next week.