668: Endurance Lessons from an Anthropologist with Dr. Michael Crawley

In endurance sports, certain countries consistently dominate the podium. While many theories attempt to explain this, the most overlooked—and perhaps the most relevant—is culture. The influence of your social group and peers plays a huge role in shaping your choices and potential, yet we often assume that health and fitness are driven by gadgets, apps, or elite trainers. In reality, human connection, support, and a sense of adventure may be the biggest performance enhancers. This week's podcast explores high-performance endurance athletics through the lens of anthropology. Listen and learn: How training in Ethiopia differs from the rest of the world The power of fun, play, and variety in training Why community and social support might be the missing ingredient Link durham.ac.uk ABOUT OUR GUEST Dr. Michael Crawley is an anthropologist, writer, and accomplished runner. He is an Assistant Professor of Social Anthropology at Durham University and author of Out of Thin Air (2020) and To the Limit (2024). Like the Show? Leave us a review Check out our YouTube channel

You can listen to 668: Endurance Lessons from an Anthropologist with Dr. Michael Crawley online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

668: Endurance Lessons from an Anthropologist with Dr. Michael Crawley is an episode from The Lucas Rockwood Show by Lucas Rockwood.

This episode is 41:22 long.

This episode was published on Apr 16, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Lucas Rockwood Show when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.