The You Project

Rachel Berger is funny. Which is handy because funny-ness has been her job for a long time. Apart from being a comedian, she’s also a writer, therapist (of sorts), deep thinker, workshop facilitator and amazing teller of stories (hence the title of this episode). In the middle of her brilliant insights, humour, wisdom, compassion, down-to-earth-ness and a few self-identified issues, Rachel shares with us one of the most powerful stories ever told on TYP (and we’ve heard many). Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kyle Riley is back at TYP Central and this time we talk about confirmation bias, life in the echo chamber, the impossibility of objectivity, food and fitness cults, unconscious operating systems, finding ‘optimal’ for our unique physiology, why the generic approach doesn’t work, why there is no ‘average’ human, how genetics influence personality, thinking and behaviour, why inconvenience is often the answer and lots more. I loved this chat. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Rhys Mitchell moved to the US to pursue his acting, writing and producing dream, he literally slept in a cupboard at a friend’s house. Not a small bedroom, no, an actual cupboard. For months. Perhaps even more remarkable is that, after a night of socialising, he brought a girl home… to his cupboard! These days Rhys is best known for his work on the award-winning series, Upper Middle Bogan, Barracuda and Glitch. For his US debut, he completed a leading role in the FX series, CAKE. This was before starring in a leading role in the David Lynch produced feature film, The Happy Worker. Rhys completed a Bachelor with First Class Honours in Film & TV at University and as a screenwriter and producer and has gone on to make a number of films, some winning major international awards including the Best Live Action Narrative at the Academy Award qualifying, Palm Springs Film Festival. Rhys is in development on a number of projects as an Actor, Writer and Producer. He’s also a musician and member of the band, Mouth Tooth. Oh, and his dad is Con the Fruiterer (aka Mark Mitchell). Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this episode, Russ Jarret and I reconvene at TYP Central to talk about some out-of-the-box exercise ideas, why variety is crucial for progress, how adaptation happens, micro workouts, doing old things in new ways, optimal results with suboptimal resources and lots more. Enjoy. *Oh, and by the way, there’s a highly embarrassing story (shared by Russ about me, near the start) that I wanted edited out but apparently, it stayed in because Melissa and Russ think it’s hilarious.russelljarrett.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Resident TYP Exercise Physiologist Russ Jarrett and I sit down and discuss the science and philosophy of living in a healthy body for as long as possible; thriving (instead of surviving) into old(er) age. Lots of nuggets in this one. Enjoy.russelljarrett.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For whatever reason, I’m regularly asked about my personal health habits; how I eat, exercise, socialise, sleep, recover, manage my mind and emotions, stay lean and keep on track. And while there’s no real magic (and I wouldn’t recommend my operating system to anyone else), I guess what’s somewhat atypical (for an Australian male) is that I’ve never had a beer (or any alcohol), never smoked, never used a recreational drug, never been married (not good or bad, just atypical), haven’t had a ‘job’ for three decades, rarely get stressed and I’ve worked out almost every day of my life since I was fourteen. This is not a particularly ground-breaking or life-changing conversation but it answers some of the questions I’m asked often and some of you might find it interesting. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For more than 25 years Perry Cross has been unable to breathe. A ventilator does it for him 24-7. Neither has he been able to move any part of his body, other than his head. At the age of 19 Perry was severely injured in a rugby union tackle. He used the devastating quadriplegia diagnosis to launch an inspiring career, selflessly devoting his life to driving awareness and research into spinal injury. He set up the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation with the primary aim of finding a cure for paralysis. The Foundation has raised more than $11 million dollars to date, kick-starting several major research projects in Australia. For me, talking with people like Perry reinforces how precious life is, how amazing humans can be, the power of love and how light can shine through the great darkness. I feel very grateful and humbled to have spoken with him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Vanessa Lapointe is a Parenting Expert, Author, Researcher and Child Psychologist. Or as I call her, Kid-Ologist. Raising, guiding, empowering, teaching and understanding children, is her thing. The science (art?) of raising happy, healthy, functional kids (how to be a great parent) is her passion, research and career. This conversation covered a vast amount of territory and as a non-parent, I found her thoughts, ideas, stories and insights, fascinating. We spoke about brain stuff, mind stuff, nurture vs. nature, genetic stuff, programming, the education system and her son the orchid and her other son, the dandelion (it will make sense when you listen). You’ll love it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tara Diversi is a self-professed bogan. A funny, interesting, academic, intelligent bogan… but a bogan nonetheless. She’s also the President and Chair of Dietitians Australian. Fortunately (or not), we didn’t do another deep dive into nutrition (we’ve done enough lately) but we did talk about a sh*t-load of other fascinating things, like… (1) treating trauma with ice-water swimming (she is the first Australian woman to swim an ice mile) (2) a medical condition which means that Tara dislocates joints daily (and has had more than twenty operations) (3) sports which require fat gain to improve performance (4) Tara’s initial degree in beer and boys (5) why we both like work, but not jobs (6) creating a diverse career (7) connecting with an audience (😎 why she’s not sure how to say her own name… and lots more. This was really fun.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At sixteen, Ciara Nelson was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and given virtually no chance of survival. And then she met amazing Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, who had other ideas. We first chatted with Ciara on TYP as a cheeky nineteen year-old and now, as a fully qualified grown-up (21), she’s still cheeky and still giving me a hard time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.