
Simon Shawcross (Image Courtesy of The 21 Convention)
“Stick at it.” – Simon’s advice to his 20-year-old self.
Simon Shawcross (Simon[@]hituni.com) is the Founder and a Director of HITuni.com, the leading provider of online education in High Intensity Training and certification courses in HIT for personal trainers and those wanting to become personal trainers.
As a Master Personal Trainer himself, specialising in High Intensity Training, Simon has the wealth of sixteen years experience working in the field and he has personally supervised over 20,000 client workouts. Prior to entering the world of fitness and personal training, Simon achieved a BA Honours in Business Administration Management and Marketing Management at Oxford Brookes University.
As a public speaker and presenter on topics relating to peak mental and physical performance, Simon has helped organisations in the corporate world and individuals achieve their peak performance, wellbeing and health goals.
Simon’s fascination with the impact that food has on the human body led to a continuing exploration of the field of nutrition as well as exercise resulting in Simon co-authoring nutrition book The ONE Diet. He was also the Fitness Editor of Reflective Image magazine and has written regular fitness columns for two local London newspapers. Simon’s current written work is regularly released online at HITuni.com/blog and through the HITuni courses.
To listen to my first interview with Simon, click here.
While we do touch on exercise and nutrition, I deliberately focus on stress management, productivity, goal setting and business in this interview. Having met Simon several times, he is a focused entrepreneur who is successful at balancing fitness, stress management and a social life with massive creative output. This is not typical with most entrepreneurs that I have come to know, who grind day and night and, in most cases, pay little attention to long term health, a social life, or other creative pursuits, etc.
Enjoy!
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This episode is sponsored by Hituni.com, the best online courses in high intensity strength training. I recently completed their personal trainer course to increase my knowledge and become certified in HIT. HITuni offer DIY courses to help you get better results from your training and personal training courses to help you start and grow your HIT Business. Visit HITuni.com and use the code “HIB10” to get 10% OFF.
Show Notes
- How has Simon’s beard and new haircut improved his strength and muscle mass? [5:20]
- Simon’s fasting protocol [6:20]
- Why has Simon decided to reduce his caffeine consumption? [8:05]
- How often does Simon drink coffee with fat? [18:12]
- How to find high quality eggs [21:30]
- What has changed about Simon’s workout? [27:38]
- A practical trick to eliminate the judgement of others for a healthier mind [39:20]
- Negative thoughts about self or others and their negative impact on productivity [41:15]
- How to optimise eustress (increase productivity) in a busy office environment [45:00]
- How does Simon structure his working day? [51:30]
- A very effective movement practice [57:20]
- Meditation techniques [1:03:30]
- What are the proven benefits of meditation? [1:10:15]
- Effective goal setting techniques [1:11:45]
- What is HITuni.com? [1:17:03]
- What have been the biggest challenges in creating HITuni? [1:21:55]
- Will/does HITuni.com provide neuroscience related content? [1:24:40]
- Simon’s advice for anyone starting an internet-based business [1:30:25]
- What has Simon changed his mind about in exercise in the last year? [1:32:50]
- In the last 5 years, when has Simon felt the most successful? [1:34:15]
- What advice would Simon give his 20-year-old self? [1:36:20]
- What is something that Simon considers true that no one agrees with him on? [1:39:15]
Selected Links from the Episode
- SimonShawcross.com
- 23andMe
- Choline Supplement (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life by Dave Asprey (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Green Pasture – Fermented Cod Liver Oil (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Swanson Vitamin D (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Has Bean Coffee
- Ocado (online food shopping)
- Clarence Court Burford Browns Eggs
- Body by Science: A Research Based Program for Strength Training, Body building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week by Dr Doug McGuff and John R. Little (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Bod Pod
- DXA
- A Balanced Life : Managing Stress, Nutrition, & Exercise by Simon Shawcross
- Tai Chi
- Qigong
- Headspace
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
Great podcast Lawrence and thank you very much for answering my questions Simon!
Quick follow-up – are you still doing the 2-3 exercises per workout, do you segment them by muscle group (e.g., chest day) and how often do you do workout (every day it sounds like) and train a given muscle group (every 2 weeks?)? Thank you! I love the idea of building a habit and reducing systematic fatigue.
Cheers Scott. I’m sure Simon will respond in due course 😀
Hi Scott,
I am not, back to doing 8-10 exercises full body atm as I have just returned from vacation and want to kick things into gear with a more systemic HIT 😉 Yes, when I was doing the mentioned routines of 2-3 exercises they were split by body part and I would train everyday unless I felt the need (systemically) for a rest. The same exercises would come around every ~9th day but the split would mean each muscle group would get hit to some degree every 4-5th day. I will likely return to that protocol at some point.
Simon
heyy
Hey Ashley! I hope you enjoyed the podcast
Did you ever act on the 23&me test/data?
Yes in terms of nutritional supplementation experimentation, not in terms of exercise. Too early to base exercise protocol on any genetic testing at this time.
Cool, just coincidentally I’ve been listening to Rhonda Patrick a lot recently and she’s really big on this. Lawrence? You promised to act on the kit that had been laying around for months…..?
Huh? I did. This what you mean:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/503db01f3a2bce60907418994640f4104da17f64d90ac7b08c83f06e878f1883.png
Nice