S5E3– Ian Prior: How Professional Athletes Stay In the Arena

Ian Prior is MORE than just a professional rugby player with over a decade of ‘high speed collisions in confined spaces’. He’s incredibly well read and researched. He meditates and practices journaling. He uses ice baths and loves the beach. He’s about performance and optimisation, but uses that to improve his being a dedicated father and husband. This is also a story about tenacity. In the early stages of his career Ian was on the fringes of representative and first class rugby. But his determination and commitment to self improvement got him playing across three Super Rugby Franchises for over a decade. He talks about ‘how’ and ‘what’ he does. We also talk wicked problems and how they apply to Australian Rugby. Intelligence Summary (INTSUM) 04:00 Start the Bikram Podcast 05:10 Growing Up including in Africa 06:00 Media hasn’t been kind to Zimbabwe- what’s it really like? 08:10 Ian describes his physical stature- and how that fits into rugby 08:50 Superbowl/ NFL v rugby comparison 11:50 Back to Australia after Zimbabwe- school and sport (more of the latter than the former!) 15:05 Are the best sports people generalists or specialists? 16:59 Ian Prior’s three posters on his wall as a kid- Ricky Ponting, Matt Burke and Ben Pronk!? 20:32 Ian gets an opportunity in the Australian U20 rugby side 22:00 Ian Prior hangs up repeatedly on Queensland Red’s coach Ewan McKenzie … and interviewing for the Reds. What three questions did Ewan ask Ian? 25:00 What makes the best players? 28:00 Ian joins the Reds and wins a series 30:00 Does playing a lot of footy together (or anything together) really matter in success? 32:00 Ian moves franchises to the Brumbies…. Why? Life in Canberra. 37:15 How does leadership work in a rugby club? 41:10 Resilience Shepherds in rugby- some good examples 44:20 Ian moves to the Western Force 50:10 Ian’s journaling, meditation and grounding and its importance to performance 57:00 Ice baths? Stretching…. How to wind down 58:20 Talking strength and conditioning, loads and training blocks 1:06:00 Ian’s leadership- how did he Captain the Western Force? 1:16:20 Talking Australian Rugby and wicked problems. References: About Ian Prior Sydney Morning Herald Article on Australian Rugby ‘Wicked Problems’ article Rittel and Webber ‘Positive Visualization and Its Effects on Strength Training’ - Watkins and Turner Contact Us Email us at debrief@unforgiving60.com Instagram, Twitter: @Unforgiving60 Music …. With thanks to: The Externals – available on Spotify

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S5E3– Ian Prior: How Professional Athletes Stay In the Arena is an episode from The Unforgiving60 by Ben Pronk, DSC & Tim Curtis.

This episode is 96:24 long.

This episode was published on Feb 29, 2024.

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