360 Life Stories

Jo Bradshaw never wanted to climb a hill. Horses were the plan, and when that fell apart in her mid twenties she ended up in retail. Years later she was leading expeditions at altitude, and she has summited Everest and completed the seven summits.Jo and I talk about leaving corporate life for adventure work, why she pulled out of a 185 kilometre Arctic race, why some of her best expeditions never reached the summit, and what it was like to be on Everest during the 2015 earthquake. We also talk about the expedition she led in honour of Junko Tabei, and what she says to anyone who feels stuck.Find Jo at jobradshaw.co.uk and on Instagram at _jobradshaw.

Dr Nicky Keay is a doctor who specialises in hormones, sport and dance. She advises Scottish Ballet, helped build an anti-doping test for growth hormone, and has a knack for explaining all of it without the jargon.We talk about the one phrase about hormones that winds her up, why your body always pays for training first, what adrenal fatigue really is, and why menopause shouldn’t be treated like an illness. She also tells me about the job interview that went wrong and turned into the best thing that could have happened.Nicky’s website: https://nickykeayfitness.com/Free PEAQ questionnaire: https://mypeaq.streamlit.app/Appointments: https://nickykeayfitness.com/appointments/Instagram: @drnickykeay

So Jonathan Blakeley didn’t pick up a commentary mic until he was 34. During lockdown, living on his own and working in COVID test centres, he wrote to every non-league football club in London asking if they needed a commentator. He ended up at Kingstonian FC.We talk about calling games sat right in among the fans, a playoff semi-final that pulled in his biggest audience yet (and how much of it his listeners actually got to hear), and how he fits overnight shifts around live commentary. He also explains how audio description commentary for blind and low vision supporters changed the way he commentates, and why he only ends up using about a quarter of his prep notes.He’s now getting paid to commentate, and his advice for anyone who thinks they’ve started too late comes down to one question: do you love it?Let me know in the comments what you’d go for if age wasn’t a factor.#360LifeStories #360LS

So most of us wait until we feel ready before we do the thing. Kim Ingleby reckons that feeling might not turn up at all, and you’re allowed to go anyway.Kim is an award winning mindset performance coach & sports therapist founder of Energised Performance in 2004.Who’s worked with Team GB athletes and spoken at TEDx Bristol. Growing up, though, in her words: “I was shy. I was awkward. I was chaotic, messy.” At school she was told the business she wanted to start would never work. She set it up anyway, while doing a degree and working in a pub and a nightclub, which is one way to build character. To get in touch with Kim visit energisedperformance.com, or email her direct [email protected] Connect on socials @kimingleby to book a 1;1 coaching online session, workshop or talk We get into why Olympians and someone running their first 5K end up worrying about the same things, what she does when she’s not OK, and the time she told TEDx she wasn’t ready. Her line that I’d take away: “You grow confidence through experience.”

Paul Connolly started out in care and counselling. At 40, after a talk at Old Trafford, he went back to university to study sports psychology, and that took him into the dressing room at Manchester City and on to Lancashire Cricket.In this conversation we talk about what he saw behind the scenes in professional sport, why he says there's no research to back up spotting a superstar at six, what an RAF Chinook crew taught him about staying calm under pressure, and why so many people end up as managers without ever being shown how to manage.Paul now mentors coaches across football, cricket and hockey.360 Life Stories is a podcast about ordinary people who've made a career change or rebuilt part of their life.

So Luke Harrison was the start on Monday guy. All or nothing, every time, and it kept leaving him with nothing.Luke went from bullied kid to miserable plumber to coach and PT in South Shields. In this chat he tells me why the hardest part of changing wasn't learning new habits but letting go of who he thought he was, and what little and often looks like when you actually live it: bed by nine, training at seven out of ten, and three things a day that move the needle.If you keep promising yourself you'll start properly next week, have a listen.This episode includes discussion of mental health, including suicidal thoughts. If you're struggling, Samaritans are available any time on 116 123 in the UK.

Shane Nugent has spent close to ten years helping people fix their nutrition, and he'll tell you straight that meal plans mostly don't work.In this episode we get into why "the customer is almost never right" in nutrition, what it's actually like running a business through its hardest eighteen months, imposter syndrome that never fully goes away, and some client stories that go a lot further than weight loss.Timestamps and links below.

In this episode of 360 Life Stories, Luke Doran talks about building a career that looked successful from the outside while feeling completely unfulfilled inside, the moment his wife's pregnancy scan changed everything, and the decision to walk away from that career to retrain as a personal trainer. We also get into the eleven hour surgery his newborn son went through, what Luke learned about control and resilience through that experience, and the coaching work he does now helping successful men move from burnout to balance.

Renee McGregor has spent 25 years working in sports nutrition, including with Olympic, Paralympic, and Commonwealth athletes. In this episode she talks with Iain about reaching what she calls the pinnacle of her career, and realising she wasn't enjoying it.They also get into why over-exercising has become normalised in society, how her approach to nutrition shifted away from just numbers, and the real story behind Train Brave, the campaign she co-founded in 2018.

Saffron was building an elite sports career until one cross-country jump changed everything. This is how she rebuilt.Saffron Cresswell was a decorated rider, winning team medals and competing at the highest levels, when a fall at Bramham International resulted in paralysis. We sit down to discuss the four months of hospitalisation and rehabilitation that followed, and the specific, difficult choice she made to start moving forward.This conversation is about the reality of rebuilding after injury when the path you spent your life on is suddenly closed. Saffron is honest about not having her next chapter fully written, as she balances coaching, sports presenting, and wheelchair racing. It is an exploration of facing life changes when you lose the identity you spent years crafting. Finding new purpose is rarely a linear process, and Saffron's story offers a grounded look at how we adapt when the destination shifts.Subscribe for weekly conversations on growth and resilience, and let me know in the comments how you have worked through your own turning points.