WEBVTT - #146 Cody Simpson: 'Swimming Saved My Life' – From Pop Stardom to Olympic Dreams 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:06.440 Hi, my Boris and this is straight talk Cody Simpson. Well, 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:07.080 and straight talk. 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.319 Swimming was the first thing I remember being good at. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.319 The coaches and the people that I had there, really 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:15.560 believed by it would be able to go all the 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.400 way with it. But at the same time I was 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.080 loving music and practicing guitar, and so I had these 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.919 sort of dual interests. And then I cut swimming short 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.080 because I was given a massive opportunity to young age 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.360 to pursue music. I started traveling and touring by myself 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:32.280 from sixteen. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:34.080 It did wonders for me as a musician. 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.400 But you start going out to clubs because they're letting 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.280 you in, you know, drinking and drugs, and that's a 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.880 serious level of freedom for a kid that age. 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:44.120 That's a time of mistake. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.680 Statement they did happen? 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.559 Did you ever get like chronically close to stuffing things up? 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.400 Yeah? Yeah, a few times it was sliding and what 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.360 pulls you back swimming to save my life in a 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.640 sense when I left entertainment to go stare at the 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.200 black line again, having gone from doing nothing to that 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.120 in nine months time, it was a lot of vomiting 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.720 in that period. I said I'm going to go for it, 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:10.600 because if I don't, it's going to be too late. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.560 You know, I'm going to live with those what ifs, you. 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.479 Know, if you've got your now partner, Emma, Yeah, two 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.160 great athletes. I'm just sort of imagining the genetics. 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:22.120 Coach is waiting for. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.840 Like you said, Cody Simpson, straight talk, Thank you very much. 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:29.480 Hey, going you have on all? Right? 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:29.880 Yeah? 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:30.160 Yeah? 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.320 And how are you feeling now. 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.559 That you were at the Olympics that you weren't competing. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:36.600 But you're at the Olympics and you come back from 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.600 from France. You probably stopped training after the Colf Games, 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:42.440 after the trial. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.160 Tries this year, about two months ago, three months ago. 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.040 Now have you been have you done any training? 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:51.680 Oh, Jim and just I built such good habits over 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.200 the last three or four years that, you know, it 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.320 was it felt strange to just stop entirely. So, you know, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.240 I'm still sort of regularly exercising in that but thing 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.840 like I was, it's not as acting a lot of 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:05.880 a lot more sleep ins. 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.239 I guess it's probably fair to start off because a 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:12.919 lot of people don't know how it all works. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.720 So what's the routine look like for someone who's preparing 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:17.799 for Olympic trials. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.799 Then let's let's go back. Let's go back Comic games. Yep, 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.480 you did very well, thank you very very well. 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.760 And and then then you just hear that, well, you know, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:32.480 I'm one of the contenders. I'm going to I want 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.239 to go. I want to make sure I go to 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:38.160 the limbus in Paris. I've got to get to these times, 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.720 you know, you know what the times are. When do 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.040 you start training, you have a break after come games, 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:45.560 or you just get straight back in the pool. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.440 No, not really, like you you. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.280 Swimming is one of those really unforgiving sports where if 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.079 you take more than we're probably allowed two maybe three 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.440 weeks a year of not. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.560 Training, and that means seven days a week or six 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:02.040 days a week. Sundays are always off. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.440 But if you're doing it right by Sunday, you're begging 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.360 for You're begging for that Sunday to go, and you 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.880 kind of need to then be doing very very little 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.120 on that Sunday to kind of be ready to go 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.760 again on that Monday morning, because that Monday morning through 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.400 Saturday is pretty nasty. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.320 Yeah, so we just give me a bit of a 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:27.960 taste of this. So we're talking about during the build 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.080 up of just getting kilometers under belts? 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:31.560 Is that a thing? Still? You still got to get 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.080 a k's under belt in. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.560 A sense like you want to build. It's probably less 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.960 vital for a sprinter, you know, one hundred meters and down, 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.880 but still even for one hundred meters and aerobic a 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:51.160 good solid aerobic base and a solid cardiovascular system is 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.320 very important when it comes to being able to withstand 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.200 the training required. Even when you're doing sort of the 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.240 more lack take producing work or your sprint work and stuff. 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.960 You want to be able to move oxygen through your 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.840 body pretty pretty efficiently, and the aerobic stuff can help 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.360 support that. So I still did a lot of a 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:17.680 lot of aerobic slash distance swimming. 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.920 As Cody fifteen hundred nah. 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.039 But maybe you know fifteen one hundreds on time or whatever. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.479 You're like things like that. A lot of kick a 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:28.800 lot of. 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.440 Pool just explain what there is kicking you mean to 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:32.479 actually to kickboard. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.239 Yeah, so just sort of legs on their own pools, 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:36.880 you know, with the pool wary and maybe some paddles, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:38.520 arms on your own, so you're sort of building up 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.680 your upper body as well. Yeah, a little band on 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.640 the feet to stop your kicking. We sometimes you know, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.599 do a little you know cheat one here and there, 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:56.400 but yeah, it's it's it's just really nily regiment for 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.160 your average sort of not average, you're for your typical 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:05.280 elite swimmer or competitive swimmer. At this age, it's kind 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:10.400 of you don't really have time for anything else. And 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.640 I had to make that sacrifice in my life if 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:14.599 I was going to be doing this again full time, 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:21.680 where I had to sort of give up my the 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.520 life that I was living at least back in Los 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:30.240 Angeles when I left left entertainment to go stare at 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.520 the Black Line again morning and night. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.160 Totally different life discipline, that's. 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.760 For sure, polarizing, lifestylestly different going to sleep at five 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.360 am versus getting up at five am. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.640 Because I just want to just get into the woods 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.800 a little bit on in terms of the training thing, 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.000 because most people don't have any idea. I'm lucky because 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.440 I had a kid who did it, so yeah, I 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:52.960 sort of I was one of the dads that had 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.640 get up at four o'clock every and taking the swimming training, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.560 and then then again in the afternoon like it, and 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.920 then and then Saturday, then there was, and usually there. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.240 Was after squad there was racing. 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.560 Yeah, got a carnival or something something. 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.440 There's always a carnival, especially in the summer. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.880 Yeah, the worst time because you have I don't know 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.280 why they held them in January, February, March, April. 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:17.840 That's usual. 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:19.560 Through the day you're sitting under the tent and. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.120 I was on holidays, and your your you and your 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:24.760 family and I'll come back to your family, your sex. 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.279 But so just give me a typical morning if you 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.839 can remember a typical week. So let's say Monday up 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.480 at four thirty, what time you jump in the pool 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.719 and we're talking about where were you training? 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:39.960 Southport? Well, I was training the cost Yeah. Fortunately it 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.000 wasn't four thirty. It was more like five point fifteen, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.440 which was good. We didn't have to be in the 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:48.640 water till six. But Monday was always a really big 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.320 day because we did two full swim sessions and await 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:54.200 session in between. 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:55.560 What's a full swim session? 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:00.520 Look? For me, it was standard five pretty much five kilometers, 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.640 sometimes it's tad less, sometimes a tad more. 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:10.320 Average of five k and that'll be morning and afternoon. 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.440 In the morning will be more sort of aerobic zones, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:19.120 some threshold kind of training to sort of dust the 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.120 coboys out of the day off. 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.880 A pace that when you say zone, you're looking at 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:24.480 training at a. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.040 Pace pace or heart rate zones. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.360 Yeah. Yeah, so what we're looking at, we're looking at 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.000 eighty percent of max heart rate. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.200 Yeah, you're pretty much on a Monday morning, we didn't 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:39.360 want to be above, say, thirty beats below maximum heart rate. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.640 So ifew max is you know, two hundred, you want 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.120 to you don't want to be above that one seventy 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.560 two much you often did you. 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:49.400 Get above that for the whole session? 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:51.480 My coach off and be like, I want you to 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.680 hold these times but at this heart rate, and I'm 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:59.720 going I'm going to be above. But that's that's what 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.160 you're working towards, as being able to hold certain times 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:08.320 with relative relaxation of heart rate. I suppose relative comfort, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:10.960 and when you're at your fittest you can do that. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.800 But that's what you're building towards, I suppose, is being 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.960 able to withstand that kind of work and find some 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.080 measure of comfort within the discomfort. 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.320 That's sort of like a baseline training. I mean, that's 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.560 yeah stuff. Yeah, so you do that five k's in 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.240 the morning. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.720 Morning, and you're pretty much straight into about ninety minutes, and. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.640 So what would do straight off that? Like food wise, a. 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:37.679 Little snack pretty much like I do. You're pretty much 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:43.240 trying to just replenish glucose after that, because you know, 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.320 fairly drained, so hydration and fueling, So I just have 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.280 a snack. Sometimes we do a little more of a 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.040 you'd sort of take half an hour to an hour 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.440 to have a bit more of a breakfast, and then 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.040 you go into the gym and do ninety minutes in 0:08:58.080 --> 0:08:58.640 the gym. 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:00.520 When are you in your gym when you do leg? 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.439 I mean, I can't imagine what a swimmer that way. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.600 I sort of camp, But what does a swimmer doing 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:06.120 in the gym? 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:11.480 Some fundamental I did three main lifts a week and 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.800 they were all full body, so upper around lower, and 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.079 you're doing a few key lifts for the upper and 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.040 the lower. Mine was like a weighted chin up and 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:27.160 either like a front squad or sometimes leg press if 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.160 my back was bad, but often a front squat. And 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.120 then you have a lot of other stuff, a lot 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:37.320 of shoulder strengthening and strengthen all the little muscles around 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.360 the shoulder, because shoulders are the first thing to go 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.720 typically when it comes to injuries for swimmers for over years, yeah, 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.240 over years, because you're doing you know, tens of thousands 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:51.680 of rotations on those shoulders a month, you know. So 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.600 it was always that, always core, always some sort of 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:04.520 functional and connectivity, core connectivity stuff. So that was Monday morning, 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:06.800 which pretty much and we'd often be at the pool 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:14.839 from six till eleven because between the two hours in 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:16.640 the pool nine minutes in the gym, I'd often have 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.280 a little bit of physio therapy or something afterwards and 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.640 wouldn't get home till eleven, sometimes eleven thirty, and then 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.640 you're smashing lunch and trying to lay down for two 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.320 hours because you're back at We were back at the 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.520 pool at three for the AVO session, and that would 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.200 often be a really big Monday IVO would often be 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.240 my least favorite session of the week. It would be 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:45.560 a few k butterfly, which butterflies my stroke. I absolutely 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:47.440 loved it, but I hated doing more than you know, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.000 a few hundred meters of it or two butterfly. 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:52.920 You feel like you're pulling a piano on your back. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.080 Yeah, yeah, like so you would. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.520 So, so the morning SESSI would to be freestyle. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.680 Mostly freestyle, Yeah, sometimes a bit of a little bit 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.679 of pacing of your stroke. Yeah, often sort of under 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.440 you know, race speeds. You wouldn't be doing race speeds 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.520 that morning, but yeah, you'd be doing a little bit 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:11.240 of butterfly. 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.360 Sometimes and then your rip. 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.120 Yeah, you break up into you know, the medley guys 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.280 will doing their set. The backstroke has been in their set, 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.080 the butterflies have been at their set. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.680 And I was always I was. 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:25.000 Never a two hundred flyer. I was a bit more 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:26.880 of a sprinter. But on the Monday nights my coach 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.040 had thrown me in with the two hundred guys and 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:35.360 be doing a bit more endurance butterfly work, and I 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:36.280 absolutely hated it. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.880 So you would rinch absolutely basically this is a repeat, 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.840 repeat this every day of the week until maybe Saturday, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:43.520 when you might have done a few bit of racing. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:47.600 Yeah. Yeah, So like a Tuesday morning is quite similar, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.120 except you don't do gym. We do like a spin 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.040 bike or like some kind of bodyweight circuit before. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:54.959 We get in the water in the morning. 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.679 Well, and then you're kind of doing Tuesday morning doing 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.520 a bit more all like power stuff in the pool, 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:07.319 so you'd be dragging heavy sponges or pulling like buckets 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.120 with weights in them, that kind of thing, as well 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.000 as some of the aerobic stuff, so a bit of that, 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.160 and then Tuesday night it would be like a more 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.800 of a fast fast session, like more race paced session. 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.120 So that Monday Tuesday, like you know, even for one 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.160 hundred meters swim, like we're fitting twenty k into that 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.920 Monday and Tuesday plus gym and spin bike. So it 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.199 was pretty buggered by by Wednesday, and. 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:32.240 Then it starts all over again. 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.920 Yeah. Yeah, Fortunately we get Wednesdays just the morning, just 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.959 morning swim and another weights and then Wednesday are was 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:45.720 sort of like your recovery window long enough. But yeah, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.800 so'd be just relaxing, sleeping, trying to do maybe a 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.360 little as bath or often just literally sitting on the 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:55.840 couch eating food. 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:01.640 And you're doing this like for months, months, yeah, and there's. 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.120 No so you kind of that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday block 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.240 is kind of repeated very similarly on that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, right, 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.040 and then you have the Sunday off and that's that's 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:11.920 months on end. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.839 Yeah, and mentally. I mean, how do you It's a. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.160 Grind man like you, you find, And that's part of 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.880 the reason I think I was attracted again to swimming 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.960 at that level. And I built up to that amount 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.040 of work from doing absolutely nothing in about a period 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:35.240 of about nine months, which was a pretty steep on ramp. 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.120 If you can imagine going from doing very very little 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:43.280 to doing you know, being training with you know, Olympians, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.640 training with am I, training with other people, and having 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:48.840 gone from doing nothing to that in nine months time. 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.400 It was a lot of vomiting in that period, you know, 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.040 and just trying to have my body adapt to what 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.360 it had to try and withstand and my mind. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.160 I suppose as well. It was a mental and physical game. 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:03.720 And what did you What things did you notice about 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:04.080 your body? 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.920 For example, like I I mean, I don't know, did 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.520 you drop ten kilos or did you build muscle? 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.160 Now I put on about ten kilos. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.560 Really, yeah, I was quite I was quite quite skinny 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.880 before I because I didn't do much weights. I didn't 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.480 do a whole lot of I surfed a bit and 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.440 I went to the gym, but not with a proper schediment. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.080 And you know, I went for runs and stuff. But yeah, 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.600 it wasn't pushing myself in that sense or trying to 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.560 build muscle. So I actually probably put on about ten 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.440 killos and lost a bit of body fat or a 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:35.360 fair bit of body fat. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:36.800 And what did you know about your mind? 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.400 I mean like, I mean, do you start playing does 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:40.760 your brain start playing tricks on you? 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:46.480 The mental side of it was the most noticeable. The 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.600 physical changes were just a byproduct of what I was doing. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:56.280 I wasn't going my goal is to you know, build 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.160 get bigger arms and you know whatever. It was just 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.160 it just sort of happened because you're doing that much work. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:07.240 But the mental was the decide that I had to 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:13.800 battle with most, because you're moving from a life of 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.560 relative comfort day in and day out to a life 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:22.440 of consistent discomfort daily morning and night. Like it's you 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.640 don't you don't sort of get to And this is 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.800 something I've had to how to chat with a few 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.480 other musician buddies of mine that was sort of so 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.520 curious about what I was doing because I'd gone from 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.560 this life into this, you know, another one. So if 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.640 you're just absolutely absolutely exhausted and you got to train 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.240 again the next morning, you just have to go. I 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.440 was like, no, yeah, you can't just not show up. 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:48.240 You know, there's that's not there's no negotiation, and you 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.160 learn to not negotiate with yourself as much as your 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.040 mind wants to negotiate with yourself, because excuses always sound 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.080 the best to the person making them, you know, so 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:03.240 you have to really battle with not listening to the 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:04.920 mine as it wants to play tricks on you. 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.960 How important is a coach in that regard then, like, so, 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:13.360 I mean, do you not make excuses because you have 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:13.720 a coach? 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.080 You just won't cop them? And who was your coach? 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:17.360 I think that's important. Yeah. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.000 My coach was a guy named Michael Bowle. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.960 He is renowned Australian swiming coach, has had success for 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.760 decades now. Probably what put him when the map on 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:34.120 the map was a god named Stephanie Rice. I know, 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.800 well yeah, she won many gold medals, broke many world 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:44.600 records and he has then had podium success with his 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:50.560 athletes at every Olympics since then, most recently with Emma 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.080 and Kaylie McEwen. And he had our group was amazing 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.080 for a couple of years there. We had in twenty 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.520 twenty two he had ten, maybe eleven athletes on the team. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.200 It was like almost his whole squad was on the 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.640 Australian team at one stage and that was a really 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.879 special thing to be a part of that. I always 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.000 look back on and go I was part of that, 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:11.760 that group. 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.000 At that time that would keep you going to I guess. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:17.239 Yeah, yeah, And you're looking around, you look into your 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.000 left and looking to your right and just seeing people 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.159 do this phenomenal things day in and day out, and 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.920 it just makes you rise to that level goosebumps thinking 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:26.240 about it. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.520 Now, buy motivation or use or is it more competitive thing? 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:30.720 I actually want to be load them? 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.800 It was both. Yeah, it's inspired as in, you know, 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.280 they make me want to be my you know, do 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:41.119 and reach my potential because I'm seeing them reach theirs. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.400 And also like I want to I want to piece 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:43.879 of what they have. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.560 So so and so you had one coach, just one coach. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:49.440 One coach through I had. 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.000 I had one coach in LA when I first started 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.000 who I was got hooked up with over there, pretty 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:02.160 much told him that I was interested in pursuing swimming again. 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.119 He was a former coach, Australian coach that was coaching 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.720 in college in the States, and who was a former 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:10.679 OLYMPI in himself. 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:10.920 Brett Hawk. 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.320 Yeah boy, yeah, yeah yeah, I remember. Yeah yeah. 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.760 He was around where my son was, right, I know 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:19.040 the guy. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.280 Yeah. So he he ended up becoming a coach and 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.560 living in the States, and we got connected because he 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.240 was funny enough doing a podcast, a swimming podcast, and 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.640 he goes asked me to come on his podcast, and 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.879 because he knew that I liked swimming and had a 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.040 background in swimming growing up and was now a musician, 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:41.040 he just wanted to talk about that. And I said, well, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.679 I'm actually looking at training again. And he thought I 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:50.399 was kind of taking the piss, you know, but I 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.919 convinced him I was serious, and we met up and 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:54.760 he kind of tested me out a little bit, and 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:59.160 we started during COVID. He started sending me little sessions 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.119 to do in my little community pool. That was I 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.280 was hopping the fence because it was shut you know, 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.040 no lane ropes, no no flags or whatever, no blocks 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.600 of just twenty five yard pool like in the States, 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.679 and started doing that and then we got hooked up 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:14.560 and he coached me for the first probably nine months, 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.439 until I moved back to Australia. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.080 Yeah, and why is it helped me out you But 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:20.560 why is it? 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.320 I mean Queensland, particularly that part of Queensland where you 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.840 were training, the southeast part of queens Why is it 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.920 we have so many good swimmers from there Australia White 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.560 I'm talking relative for the rest of the country. 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.120 Well, a lot a lot that aren't from their move there. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:42.440 I think it's just because makes sense because one of 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.679 the programs that are available, like the couple of the 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:46.160 best coaches. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:47.600 In the world are there. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:52.320 Yeah, and to the weather and being able to train 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.280 outdoors year round in a fifty meters outdoor pool because 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.920 we have such good facilities. So I think it's a 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.399 mix of that. Because a lot of a lot of 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:06.359 the guys from Sydney, Melbourne, even like Tazzi and stuff, 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:10.359 end up just coming to the squads in Gold Coast 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:10.720 and Brizzy. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.160 I think it was a Queenslander thing there from them. 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:20.240 Yet out of origin it is. But yeah, we just 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:22.920 I think I think it's just the weather and the programs. 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.440 That place attracts the swimmers and the coaches to probably 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.159 probably because the facilities are pretty good. 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.680 They are the ex Comic Games Yeah, facilities. That's why 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:31.560