Her Spirit 50:50 What is Possible Podcast - Physical activity expert Professor Greg Whyte talks to Louise and Annie about the importance of being active, his amazing challenges for Comic and Sport Relief and doing more today than you did yesterday is a great way to get the best out of yourself.

Physical activity expert Professor Greg Whyte talks to Louise and Annie about the importance of being active, his amazing challenges for Comic and Sport Relief and doing more today than you did yesterday is a great way to get the best out of yourself.

08/18/20 • 64 min

Her Spirit 50:50 What is Possible Podcast

In this twenty first episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Professor Greg Whyte.
Greg Whyte was awarded an OBE in 2014 for his services to Sport, Sport Science & Charity, and was voted as one of the Top 10 Science Communicators in the UK by the British Science Council. Greg is an Olympian in modern pentathlon, and is a European and World Championship medalist. He is an expert in the field of sports and exercise science. Graduating from Brunel University, he furthered his studies with an MSc in human performance in the USA and completed his PhD at St. Georges Hospital Medical School, London.
Greg is currently a Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moore’s University and Director of Performance at the Centre for Health and Human Performance at 76 Harley Street, London. Greg's former roles include Director of Research for the British Olympic Association and Director of Science & Research for the English Institute of Sport. And currently sits on the Her Spirit advisory board.

Greg is the preeminent authority on Exercise Physiology and Sports and Exercise Performance in the UK. An internationally recognised expert in the field, Greg has extensive professional experience assessing, treating and improving the performance of patients, sporting enthusiasts and athletes ranging from cancer sufferers to celebrities attempting their first mountain summit to Gold medal seeking Olympians.

Greg is well-known for his involvement in Comic Relief, since 2006 Greg has applied his sports science work to assist various celebrities in completing some of the toughest challenges. Greg has trained, motivated and successfully coached 23 Sport & Comic Relief Challenges including: the comedian David Walliams to swim across the English Channel the Gibraltar Straits and the length of the Thames; James Cracknell to run, cycle and swim to Africa; a team of 9 celebrities including Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles and Gary Barlow to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro; Eddie Izzard to run a remarkable 43 marathons in 50 days; Christine Bleakley to waterski across the English Channel; Dermot O’Leary, Oly Murrs and others to cross the driest desert in Africa; John Bishop to complete 'Bishops Week of Hell’ that involved John cycle, row and run from Paris to London; and Davina McCall in her 'Beyond Breaking Point' 506 mile ultra-triathlon. Greg supported Jo Brand on her 'Hell of a Walk' from Hull to Liverpool and Radio 1's Greg James on his 5 triathlons in 5 cities in 5 days.

In 2019 Greg trained Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly for a 24 hour Danceathon and raised over £700,000 for Comic Relief. 10 years on since Greg took the original 9 nine celebrities to Kilimanjaro, he found another 9 celebrities to attempt the challenge the list included Dani Dyer, Osi Umenyiora, Dan Walker, Alexander Armstrong, Shirley Ballas, Ed Balls, Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Anita Rani. Greg and the celebrities completed the challenge overcoming some obstacles with the main one being altitude sickness.

As a result of his work, Greg has helped raise over £45million for charity. His book 'Bump it Up

At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.

Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.

✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.

👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/

It’s time for You
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As a result of his work, Greg has helped raise over £45million for charity. His book 'Bump it Up

At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.

Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.

✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.

👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/

It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App

Previous Episode

undefined - Professional boxer and England Footballer Stacey Copeland talk to Louise and Annie about her love of sport and her passion for gender equality for all

Professional boxer and England Footballer Stacey Copeland talk to Louise and Annie about her love of sport and her passion for gender equality for all

In this twentieth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to professional boxer and England footballer Stacey Copeland.
Stacey is deeply passionate about making a difference to others and uses her love of sport to have a positive impact wherever she can.

Her community and charity work, activism around progress for women in sport and gender equality and involvement in encouraging sport for all has led to much recognition both within and beyond sport.
Boxing plays a big role in Stacey’s family, her dad was a professional boxer and her granddad has run the family gym for over 40 years. From a young age she learnt the basics in the gym, attended boxing shows, and grew to love the atmosphere and everything about the sport. She always wanted to be a part of it, however at that time, there were no opportunities within boxing for females.

As a youngster, Stacey also loved football and after joining a local team her sports career truly took off. She played for Doncaster Belles in the Premier League, England U18s, and eventually went on a football scholarship to America graduating with a degree in Sociology. After graduation Stacey played in the women’s semi-pro league in Dallas, and finished her football career in Stockholm, Sweden for Vasalunds FC.

Returning home from Sweden, injuries meant Stacey could no longer play football at elite level but she was not ready to give up competitive sport. Having always boxed for fitness, and having a real passion for the sport Stacey decided aged 29 to finally pursue her first sporting dreams of becoming a competitive boxer. Stacey was very much aware that this was ‘old’ to be taking up a new sport, especially such a tough and male dominated sport, but she was determined to give it everything. She began training, lost 5kg for her first fight, and won; the nerves before that first fight were like nothing Stacey had ever experienced before! The feeling when her hand was raised at the end was the best feeling ever, and that was it, Stacey was hooked!

She reached the ABA national final in her first year but had to pull out due to illness, however she recovered and went onto win two ABA national titles, as well as four Boxcup tournaments in Europe.

In 2013 Stacey attended an emerging talent camp at GB boxing, and the experience made her want to take boxing to the next level. The following year she competed in her first international contest winning a tough contest against a New Zealand opponent and following this, Stacey was selected to represent England at the European Boxing Championships. To box in the welterweight category she had to drop a further 6kg, so began a strict diet and training programme. Stacey arrived at the European Championships with less than 20 bouts experience and was in awe of the whole experience; however, trusting her coaches and team mates advice she gave her all in each fight. She reached the final beating the Italian champion, the Russian number one seed, and the Irish national champion along the way and although she did not win the final, Stacey was delighted to come away from her first major compet

At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.

Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.

✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.

👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/

It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App

Next Episode

undefined - Olympic cycling champion Jo Rowsell talks to Louise and Annie about her journey into cycling, over coming nerves and "exercising your chimp" and growing up with alopecia. She gives some great tips for being active and motivating yourself and others

Olympic cycling champion Jo Rowsell talks to Louise and Annie about her journey into cycling, over coming nerves and "exercising your chimp" and growing up with alopecia. She gives some great tips for being active and motivating yourself and others

In this twenty second episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Olympic cyclist, commentator and public speaker Jo Rowsell
Jo began competitive cycling relatively late – aged 16 – having been talent spotted at school aged 15. She wasn’t a cyclist at all previously and having been talent spotted was faced with a steep learning curve into the world of cycling skills and tactics. Perseverance lead to junior National Titles and representing Great Britain at the junior World Championships in only my second year of racing.

Jo grew up in London but after finishing my A Levels relocated to Manchester to be a full time cyclist and within 9 months won my first World Title in the women’s Team Pursuit. A series of setbacks throughout 2010 put her place on Team GB at a home Olympic Games in jeopardy as she subsequently suffered a bad year in 2011, but she battled back to become World Champion, World Record holder and Olympic Champion in 2012.
In 2013, Rowsell broke her collarbone at the London cycling festival but, five weeks later, after an operation and training on the Wattbike with a pillow on the bars, she won the Women's Pursuit on the track at the International Belgian Open.
After the London Olympics Jo focussed more on individual events and in 2014 completed the World Championships and Commonwealth Games double with gold medals at both events in the Individual Pursuit that year.
Jo made Team GB again in 2016 for the Rio Olympics but this time she went in as the underdogs having not won the World Title that year. However the team blew the competition away to take a gold medal again and 3 new World Records in the process.

In March 2017, Jo announced that she was retiring from the sport. "The decision to step away has been the hardest I've ever had to make," she said. "I believe I have more to offer the world."

Jo has suffered with alopecia, resulting in hair loss, since she was 10 years old which has brought with it many challenges to overcome as she grew up. She talks openly to Annie and Louise about this and how sport helped to normalise it.
She gives some great motivational tips about being active and motivating yourself and others.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.

At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.

Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.

✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.

👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/

It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App