This is the Season 2 finale of Training and Tangents, and it’s a reflection episode. No guest and no game. Tom and Ben look back at a year of conversations and pull out what has stuck.

It isn’t a goodbye. It’s a pause, and an honest explanation of why.

In this episode:

• The gym belongs to everybody. Almost every guest said it in different words, and why it matters for anyone who has ever felt the gym wasn’t for them
• The long game: Lucas Hardy’s “there is no finish line”, why health is rented and never owned, and what a normal day-to-day routine looks like when you compound it for 20 years
• Why the people who last are the ones willing to restart, including Ben rebuilding his squat from a lighter weight and leaving his ego at the door
• Ben’s seven jogs, and why starting stupidly small beats starting ambitious
• What training goals look like across the decades, from lifting as much as you can to doing it for as long as you can
• Knowing when to stop: why Tom is launching Performance Dad, why Ben is moving towards YouTube, and why stopping on purpose beats letting a show fizzle out
• Would you rather: lose your sight or your memories, and a food fight vs a water balloon fight

What’s next:
Tom’s first Performance Dad episode lands in this same feed, so stay subscribed. Ben will be a regular guest on it.

Just Give It a Shot

Tarun Budworth, better known as Coach Tarun, is the founder of Different Breed Coaching. He joins Tom and Ben for a conversation about training that doesn’t have to be boring, one-dimensional or built around looking a certain way.

From a tricep injury at 15 that nearly stayed locked, to a client who went from struggling to pick things up off the floor to running again, the thread running through the episode is simple: try it, progress it slowly, and don’t accept the limit until there’s real evidence for it.

In this episode:

• Why Tarun went from BMX, freerunning, cheerleading and rugby to the gym at 15, and how a serious arm injury shaped his whole approach
• The second doctor who said “have you tried forcing it straight?”, and how one small push changed a recovery
• How a client was taken from barely moving to running again by starting very small and building up
• Why you should keep building towards the next thing and still be grateful for what your body can do now
• Why the game shifts from getting better to holding on for as long as possible, and what peaking at 45 looks like
• The biggest mistakes people make combining gym training with a sport
• What a generalist should do each week: strength, a bit of power, some cardio, and some sport
• Why the fear of losing size keeps people from training like athletes
• The “weird shit” Tarun programs once a client’s base is solid, and why it works
• How Different Breed approaches inclusivity, from pronouns on the intake form to internal team training, and why empathy is the real issue

Find Tarun:
Instagram: @coach_tarun
Different Breed Coaching on Instagram and YouTube

This week Tom and Ben are joined by Lucas Hardie of Range of Strength, Canadian coach, former competitive powerlifter, skateboarder, punk bassist, and one of the most thoughtful voices in the movement and flexibility space.

The conversation covers a lot of ground. From why mobility training became so overcomplicated and how to strip it back, to what physical freedom actually means when life gets in the way, to why the best thing you can do when you’re injured is keep moving — just differently.

And somewhere in between all of that, there’s a retro hockey video game where you can give your players steroids.

In this episode:

• Why mobility training became so watered down, and what a minimalist approach actually looks like
• The difference between lacking range of motion and lacking the ability to coordinate movement through range
• Why bubble wrapping clients has held the industry back, and why people just want to train hard
• What physical freedom actually means and why having more options matters most when things go wrong
• Why Lucas moved away from the weekly training schedule, and what a ten day rotation looks like
• The periods where Lucas lost his passion for training and what brought it back each time
• Why the most interesting people in the gym are never the ones whose whole identity is the gym
• There is no finish line, Lucas’s loading screen and the philosophy behind it

Find Lucas:
Instagram: @rangeofstrength
Website: rangeofstrength.ca
YouTube: Range of Strength