Ask The Prof: Your Questions Answered

Ask The Prof: Your Questions Answered

Welcome to the very first edition of Ask The Prof - a brand new video, podcast and blog series where it's Greg's turn to answer the questions! We've taken your questions and had the expert himself answer them right here across the U Perform Social Hub. 

The following blog is the audio transcript taken from a live recording. If you fancy watching or listening along instead you can do so by clicking either of the links below:

Podcast - click here!

Video - click here!

 

Ben @U Perform:

Hello, Greg. Nice to see you. How are you doing?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Morning? I'm very well, thanks. Very well.

Ben @U Perform:

Awesome. Right, for our regular viewers, readers and listeners, this is a slightly different episode of The Prof Talks, where instead of Greg asking all the questions, we have taken your questions and we are asking the Prof himself. So we're really putting him on the spot. We're going give him a bit of a challenge. Keep him on his toes. We've got some excellent questions from our U Perform family. Greg, are you ready?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Well, let's hope so!

Ben @U Perform:

Awesome. Right, we'll kick off with the first question from Craig, who is one of our newest U Perform ambassadors and a marathon ultra-runner. So very much up to your speed, Greg. Definitely not mine. And his question is actually quite a good one. Who was your sporting inspiration when you were younger?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Wow. Well, Craig, keep up the running. That's great work. To be honest, it's a really simple one. It was my dad, an absolute legend, sadly, no longer with us, but he was without any shadow of a doubt instrumental in my athletic career. Both my mum and dad were those sort of wonderful parents who were supportive, but not pushy.

 

My dad was an boxer, middleweight number one in England in his heyday. A great fighter by all accounts, listening to some of his mates. But he just had a love of sport and he just pushed me and my brother, my brother as an international track and field athlete and sort of created the opportunity, which enabled me to achieve what I achieved in sport.

Ben @U Perform:

That's all you need, isn't it it's just that opportunity and that sort of family connection. It definitely runs in the Whyte family for sure.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

It does. You know, it is an interesting one, because I always say it is about opportunity, but the critical thing is about taking that opportunity. I think many people sadly don't get the opportunity and that's why there are plenty of potential Olympic gold medalists out there who actually never get the opportunity to be exposed to sport. But equally I think there are an awful lot of people who do get the opportunity, but actually don't take that opportunity. It is having both of those in sport and when it does come together, it's a magic formula.

Ben @U Perform:

And here's just a slight tweak on Craig's question. Has your sporting inspiration, has your motivation changed as you've got older or has that family, father figure remained exactly the same?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

I think my dad has always remained my hero really. I don't think that has changed. I think the interesting thing for me now is that I'm now a father of three. And I think what I try and do is inspire my three kids in a similar way really.

 

We have one rule in our house and the rule is that you can give up anything, but you have to replace it with something. And so what that means is that they sort of bounce around and hopefully, eventually find something that they absolutely love and interestingly enough, it does happen that way. My eldest loves swimming. My middle one, she loves rowing. And my younger one who's only 10 is still sort of bouncing around finding the one thing that he loves.

 

But I think the most important thing in sport is loving what you do. You and I just chatting before this we've just come from swimming. Swimming is brutal. I mean, it's one of those brutal, isolating sports where you spend a huge amount of time on your own, even when you're part of the squad. And if you don't love it, then you simply aren't going to keep doing it.

Ben @U Perform:

Yeah. There's a little saying, I like to remind myself of... If you love what you do, you'll never do a day's work in your life.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

True enough, true enough.

Ben @U Perform:

Love what you do and do what you love, which for us is crazy sports and endurance challenges.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Yep.

Ben @U Perform:

Okeydokey. So Craig, there is your answer to your question. Thank you very much for sending this in.

 

The next question is from Jen, she is a triathlete and a physiotherapist for the NHS. So big thanks to her for all her work over the last couple of years. And her question's quite a good one. It's a bit more on the product side of things...

 

Is there a maximum dose of collagen you should or could take a day? For example, if you are doing two lots of training, which is very common for triathletes, is it ok to use before and after training?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

It's a great question and it's an interesting one. I was Director of Research at the British Olympic Medical Center and then the English Institute of Sport. And the one thing I know about athletes is that they have a mentality that if a little is good, then a lot must be better. And actually when it comes to supplementation, that is very rarely true.

 

What we're looking for is the optimum dose and that optimum dose from what we call bioavailability. So it's the uptake at the gut and then it's the utilisation of it. If we start to exceed that optimal dose fundamentally we do run into the potential for side effects from that excessive dose and on top of it and I think probably most importantly is that you don't get any added benefit from it.

 

So, what you are doing is you're increasing the potential for something to go wrong and you are spending more money doing it. So, when it comes to collagen, most of the research tells us that it is somewhere between five and 15 grams in a single bolus. So in other words at any one time.

 

Now that five to 15, if you take a look at the U Perform products, it is reflected in that. So our gels for example, are eight grams of collagen. Of course the type of peptide makes all the difference, not all collagen is the same. And indeed where that collagen comes from too. So the vast majority, in fact, all of the research on collagen that's been published is actually been on what we call bovine collagen, which is what we use; with none to my knowledge on Marine collagen.

 

So therefore, the type of collagen makes a difference and then the quantity makes a difference. So somewhere between five and 15, can you take it more than once a day? Yes is the answer to that and I think that really that, that five and 15 is created from research that looks at a single episode of exercise or a single episode per day, across time. And I think if you are creating a huge amount of demand on the body with training, so you are actually on multiple sessions a day, very high training volumes, intuitively you think, well, actually you probably need more. What I would do is a single episode is I would stick to that five to 15 grams, but if you are doing multiple sessions a day, you can repeat that dose throughout the day.

Ben @U Perform:

So, I think the key point here for you, Jen, is we're talking about minimum dose for the maximum results. Aren't we, so that optimum, and that's a big message for, for all of us here at U Perform.

 

So, another excellent answer, Greg. And I did like the point on not all collagen is equal, which is a topic we're not featuring today, but we're going to come back to future episodes of The Prof Talks as we've got some quite exciting news on that front!

 

Okeydokey. So next question is from John, he does a lot of running and he suffers from quite swollen knees if he runs a little bit too far and he loves the idea of using collagen. But he's just a little bit bothered about the potential cost of it using it daily. So how should we be looking at for optimum results for him, if he's looking to sort of reduce those aches and pains from exercise and improve his recovery? How long should he expect to be taking collagen to get those results?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

It's a great question. I think what's interesting is that joint pain per se, is multifactorial in other words, there are lots of different things that can cause joint pain and certainly associated joint swelling is actually unlikely to be linked to collagen.

 

So, what we know about collagen is that it's actually connective tissue. And so therefore within a joint, there are two things we're interested in: one is in the cartilage and the other is in the connective tissue of the ligaments and the tendons. And then of course, outside of the joint capsule, then what we are interested in is the muscle itself. And we know that there is collagen within muscle. Without seeing his knee, without knowing what the issue is I think it is very difficult to talk about the role of collagen improving performance of that knee, particularly when you've got swelling of the knee.

 

What I would firstly do is point you towards a diagnosis of that. It does sound potentially osteoarthritic. But again, this is from a distance without actually seeing it and knowing the full story. But I think identifying what the problem is in the first place is crucial to the way in which you treat that. Certainly without any shadow of a doubt, irrespective of to some extent of what it is, strength of the joint and stabilization of that joint is really key.

 

So, we've done a lot of work in osteoarthritis in my practice and my clinic. And in fact with Proto-col which is a sister product of U Perform. I designed a product called Osteo+. It is a combination of a whole host of different supplements, which we know impact on things like joint pain.

 

So hyaluronic acid, glucosamine, collagen, et cetera. What we know around that is that actually exercise is really the key intervention with osteoarthritis, but it's actually about stabilising the joint, the more movement you have in the joint, the more irritation you have. And so therefore the result will be in the more pain that you have.

 

Stabilising that joint comes to the musculature either side of it and making sure that you are strong and endurable. So you have got strength and strength endurance in that to stabilise that joint particularly if you're running prolonged distances which is really important.

 

So, taking the collagen will focus on the cartilage and connective tissues of ligaments and tendons. But there's no doubt about it that you need to back that up with prehabalitation work to stabilise the joint. And what I would do is recommend a diagnosis on that, just to check there's nothing underlying that does require a different treatment.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent. That's certainly a really great answer for John. And it's something that we like to sort of talk to people about. Collagen is another piece of the jigsaw and looking at all of those pieces of the jigsaw in context of each other. So doing the prehab, doing the rehab, sort of structuring your training in an appropriate fashion for your goals and what you want to achieve and your ability level; that's the most important thing wouldn't you agree?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

I've been in this game, I've been an athlete for too many years you know, for over four and a half decades. I have been a sport scientist for over three decades and a professor for almost two decades. I can tell you the one thing that I have never found, and that is the magic wand. It simply doesn't exist.

 

There is no one thing that's going to cure everything. So I think what's critical about it is understanding what the determinants of the issue is, whether it's performance or determinants of performance, I speak an awful lot about. But also determinants of injury or illness, and then actually targeting at source what the root cause of that is. And that invariably is multifactorial. So it's making sure that what you are doing, is you are ticking all of the boxes in order to reverse the problem.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent. Thank you very much, Greg. And the next question is on a similar vein, but moving away from sort of the use of collagen for knee related and joint pain, but more to Achilles related pain and Achilles related recovery. Is there any indication of how long we should be sort of taking collagen in that respect? And is there a particular type of collagen that might be more useful for this?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

I think it's a very interesting question. And I think actually it probably brings us back to our idea of peptides and, and we talk mainly about three types peptides; type one, type two, and type three. What we have in the gel is we have a slightly different formulation than we do in the tablets, for example. But in the gel we have one and three type one and three whereas we have in the tablets, type two and they really focus on slightly different areas.

 

So the gels, without any shadow of a doubt, focus on the connective tissue of ligaments and tendons and actually interesting enough on the skin, hair and nails as well. What we find in the tablets is actually focus on the collagen that is present in abundance in the articular surfaces, in cartilage.

 

So again, making sure that you've got the right peptides for the right job. And so therefore from a U Perform perspective it's making sure you've got the right product for the right job is really important. Most of the studies that we see, fantastic studies, looking at pain in particular, because I think one of the critical problems that we have with tendon issues, unless you've got a tendon rupture or a tendon injury that is treatable. A lot of people, a lot of athletes and certainly as we age, we do suffer from tendon pain and there's lots of things associated with that. It comes back to sort of my original point that we just made in the previous question is that again, it's multifactorial, but certainly one of those factors is collagen.

 

Some really lovely studies which have shown that actually taking this five to 15 grams of collagen daily, for a period of time and that period of time is an interesting one because obviously it depends where you start from, how long you've had the problem for and what the underlying problem is. Critically, I think what's really important here is that the studies have shown is that it's collagen in combination with rehabilitation. So invariably with strength work.

 

So if you think about the Achilles tendon for example, often some of that is going to be linked to soleus and gastrocnemius weakness but fundamentally lower limb and upper limb and potentially core; all sorts of different issues coming in. What certainly what we do know is five to 15 grams daily is important. And then making sure that you do that in combination with very targeted rehabilitation, strength and strength endurance work. Add on top of that flexibility, and then how long it takes will very much be dependent upon the nature of the problem, how long you've had it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

 

So, I can't really give it a duration or time, but certainly make sure that it's not just what you're not doing is assuming it's a magic wand. You have to do all these other things alongside it to ensure you get that active recovery.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent. And just bringing it back just a tiny little bit for the less well versed in physiology and sort of the parts of the body, the soleus there, that's the lower limb, that's like your calf that most people would associate with.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

So, if you think about your calf, you've got the big head, the large head that you sort of see; the posing bit of it, you know is actually the gastrocnemius. And then what you've got, in what we call deep to it. So just underneath it, you've then got the soleus. The soleus' job is an interesting one because when I explain it to you, immediately you will understand. It's job is to fully plantar flex the foot. So it's the pointing of the toes.

 

And if you think about it, often, the big problems that we get are actually in the coming months as we move into this pre-season period. What people do is that they erroneously, and I've written a couple of pieces in 220 Triathlon magazine on this, is that they move from long, slow distance and then literally within a day, they start smashing out the track work and they move into that really high intensity work.

 

The critical issue with that, to some extent is that the soleus comes under significant additional strain, additional stress. And if it is weak, and that's not necessarily just weak in terms of strength but if it lacks strength endurance, then effectively what you do is you overstress that soleus, and then that soleus becomes your calf problem, which is classic.

 

As we move into this preseason period this is a calf problem which you will carry all the way through to racing season. Then this also will translate down because with weakness up top, you just translate that load down into the tendon. Therefore it invariably means that the result is Achilles tendon pain as well.

 

So I guess two points to make there. One is make sure that you've got this progression through training and that you don't just suddenly smash into the high intensity. You shouldn't be going from no track at all into very heavy, long track sessions. It should be graded progressively in; number one. And then number two, actually comes back to a point made earlier about prehabilitation. My latest 220 article is fundamentally based on that. What you need to think is that prevention is always better than cure. So if you can avoid the injury in the first place, it is so much better.

 

So for the gastroc and the soleus, strength and strength endurance is key. So single leg toe raises both straight leg and bent leg as this will change from the gastroc to the soleus, making sure that they are strong and endurable will reduce the potential for injury. I think to my mind, I take collagen and I take it daily. I take it as a prevention. And I think sometimes what you think is, oh, I'm injured. So now I need to get some collagen.

 

But to my mind and actually from a cost effective perspective, never mind everything else, is actually if you drip feed it in and make sure that you are optimised on a continual basis; remember that we are losing collagen constantly around about 1.5% per year. And that is accelerated for women during the menopause; dramatically accelerated. But if you just keep dripping it in, you add on top of that pre rehabilitation exercise, and then you make sure that your program is progressive. Then what you do is you can avoid the injury in the first place and then you don't have to worry about trying to cure it.

Ben @U Perform:

Yeah. It's sort about keeping that battery full, despite all the stimuli that we are putting our body through: the training, the age related collagen loss. Despite all that we're keeping that battery full isn't it really.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

It is absolutely that Ben. And I think the interest thing is that I think we've now begun to understand the sort of energy battery, and so to some extent we wouldn't go into a high intensity training session depleted, because we know that it would damage the quality of that session. So I think what we really need to do is think about everything else as well.

 

So we need to think about hydration. We need to think about collagen. We need to think about protein and actually just again to these determinants, dissect it down to these various different pieces. It is complex, but at the same time, there are simple remedies to this. And without any shadow of doubt, prehabilitation is better than rehabilitation

Ben @U Perform:

100%. And I hope that answers both of those questions, to kind of merge two together in one long extended answer.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Sorry.

Ben @U Perform:

That's OK. The more the merrier.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Once I get started, that's it. We keep going.

Ben @U Perform:

Exactly. So we're going to move swiftly on to our next question from Jenny. She's been using U Perform collagen, for a couple of months now and unfortunately she's see on the internet, maybe a few urban myths that there might be a few nasty side effects like bone deposits in your hand that are related to the use of collagen. And she just wanted to know is if it is true. And if there are any side effects, what are they? Or if not, is collagen safe to use for the long term for optimising performance and recovery for an active person.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

It's a great question. Around Christmas time I answered a similar question from one of our ambassadors and it, the full answer is probably one for a blog. So maybe I should pull a blog together to answer.

Ben @U Perform:

I'll hold you to that!

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Yeah, happy to do that. And I think generally there are very limited/no side effects of taking collagen. What we're doing now, as we explained earlier on, if you take very high volumes of collagen at a single sitting then what you can get is, is tummy upset, but generally there, there are no side effects.

 

Now there are some little caveats to these, particularly one of the things that we looked at previously is with things like kidney stones and impact on the liver. And I think really what's happened there is that there's been a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the science. There's no direct link between collagen consumption and kidney stones, unless you have an underlying condition or unless you are predisposed to creating kidney stones effectively, and then collagen what we call contraindicated. So you should probably be careful of that.

 

Hyperoxaluria is one of the conditions which can create problems around kidney stone formation. You probably know if you've got that condition. And so therefore collagen is contraindicated. Interestingly enough, actually, if you could just increase hydration and increase calcium intake, optimise hydration, increase calcium intake. Then what that'll do is that reduces the risk of kidney stones.

 

When it comes to liver there's no real indication there, certainly in certain diseases like cirrhosis, um, you get increased collagen deposition but there's no evidence to suggest that consuming more collagen causes deposition of collagen in the liver. It's the underlying condition that causes it. So I think the general answer to the question is there are no side effects. Remember that collagen is a normal part of our daily diet anyway. Remember ours is from a food source and so in essence, there are no side effects unless you have these pre-existing conditions where it may be contraindicated for you as an individual.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent. Really good answer. So I hope Jenny, that, that helps you out with your recovery and put peace of mind, almost that, you know, you are safe to use collagen on a daily basis. And we've got another John, another question from another John, it may well be the same, John, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I am going to assume it's another John.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

There is more than one John out there though. I know that.

Ben @U Perform:

Well, we know quite a few ourselves. This may get confusing. I'm hoping in the next round of questions we've got another John.

 

So he is 59 and he is just wondering what the main vitamins and supplement products in order of importance or relevance, that will be the most beneficial for him at his age. And given that he is still relatively active.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Wow.

Ben @U Perform:

It's a big question.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

To some extent, it's a really tough question without actually knowing John and to my mind, food first is the way that we approach this. And I think that there are multiple reasons why we go food first. One of the phrases I often news is you cannot polish a turd and by that, I mean if your daily diet is dreadful, taking supplements is not going to make up for that.

 

It may for some of the issues associated with it, but the fundamental is, that you have to get the base layer. Right. If you think about building a house, or you know let's talk cake analogies. If you are, if you are making a cake, the supplements are the icing that you lay on top of the cake.

 

The point is that the cake is your daily diet. If that daily cake recipe is cooked badly or it's dreadful, then it doesn't matter how good the veneer of icing is on top of it, it will still be a dreadful cake. So I think the first thing to think about for John is make sure that what you've got is you've got a healthy, balanced diet. Now we could spend hours talking about that. But just a couple of pieces that I always point towards when it comes to diet are:

 

Number one is making it yourself. One of the biggest problems that we face to my mind from a diet perspective is, is highly processed and processed foods. And so that tends to be things that are pre-made. They contain all sorts of ingredients, some of those to fix it, to keep it on the shelf for longer. So things like salt, sugar those type of things. But also you've got things like flavorings and colorings and all that, you know, lots in there. If you make it yourself, you know, exactly what goes into it.

 

And I think the second thing is to eat the rainbow, when it comes to micronutrients. And this what John is talking about in terms of supplementation. Vitamins and minerals effectively come from colour. So the more colourful your plate and the more colourful your diet across time is you're much more likely to be making sure that you optimise the intake of those vitamins and minerals.

Next thing is indication. Where there is indication, what we should be doing is supplementing. So, for pregnant women, obviously we know that it's indicated. For various conditions things like osteoporosis and osteopenia it's clinically indicated. When it comes to collagen, for example, is it indicated?

 

Well, what we know is that we've got a reduction of around about 1.5% per year on an ongoing basis and accelerated at menopause. So therefore there is indication to top up that collagen and to keep that collagen topped up, particularly if you are engaged in very heavy exercise and training because the turnover is going to be that much higher. So food first. Indication and then probably coming down to what John is now asking, you know, what is most important. It's a really tricky one to say, you know, what is the most important?

 

I think there are things that to some extent you can do very little harm with. We call these water soluble vitamins and minerals. And you also have the fat soluble ones, which we can then start to accumulate if we take too much of. A, K, E and D for example, of the fat soluble ones. And so if we take excessive amounts of that, they can become toxic because we start to accumulate them in the body.

 

Things like iron in very high doses can be problematic for all sorts of reasons. It can be toxic, but also it causes things like constipation and can create problems for us. It's a really long answer to a question. I hope John is taking something from this. I think generally what I would say is if you've got concern, I would go for a multi vitamin. The critical thing about these is to make sure it's quality and it's not contaminated. We ensure that with our products.

 

A general multivitamin will cover just about all bases for vitamins and minerals. Once we go beyond that then what we are looking at is things like indication. Protein ingestion, I think is really high importance. Collagen, obviously incredibly high. Generally what would I take? Let's answer it in that fashion. I think what I would stick to in normal times is 100% protein and collagen. And then often, particularly when I'm traveling a lot it'll be a multivitamin, but generally I'm looking for those micronutrients to come from food.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent answer. I really hope John does get something from that. The takeaway is we're looking for that indication. And then the icing on the cake are those supplements as a sort of a stop gap, a safety net just in case. Some people might not have the breadth of their appetite nor the ability to eat certain foods. And that's where that icing on the cake, those stop gaps and safety nets really come in.

 

Fingers crossed John got something from that.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Let's hope so. Yeah. And I think the other thing is again, the reason why we've designed the sachets in such a way for the active collagen is exactly the same reason that we've got the whey protein with collagen. It's incredibly handy that once you've finished the session, you can carry these in your bag and away you go it's done.

 

Why take protein powder? Well, we do need the right protein. So the right type, in the right quantity, but crucially at the right time, and often it can be logistically difficult to get that protein on board immediately following a session. We may be a long way from home, et cetera. And actually to some extent appetite suppression means that we don't really want to eat a steak. Whereas actually what we can do is we can make sure that we've got that whey protein with us with added collagen, that gives us that extra benefit, and we can consume it. So we've got the right protein, in the right quantity, at the right time.

Ben @U Perform:

Excellent answer. So fingers crossed John, you've got something from that and by all means, send us in another question if we didn't quite cover it for you.

 

We're more than to answer another question from another John. It's absolutely fine. Right. I've got one last question. And this is from Rich. He is a triathlon and swimming coach, near you actually with Evo Tri Club. He's a big fan. So this is a really good question. And it's again, a bit like Craig's, it's completely off the topic of U Perform and it's more about you. So what is your favorite post swimming meal?

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Hi Rich! I know the Evo guys really well, fantastic club. Particularly when I open water swim, I see him an awful lot and often see him on the road a great deal as well, a great squad. What I love about Evo as well is actually it's across the age span. They do some fantastic work with the kids all the way through to the age groupers.

 

Thanks for the question. It's a really interesting one. I think I'm to some extent, really old school when it comes to post training. I'm very much a carbohydrate, I'm a pasta man with protein attached to it. My absolute favorite is a carbonara. But I could be pushed towards a salmon based creamy pasta as well.

 

To some extent I, like many people it depends on the intensity of the session. After a really, really hard session, appetite is quite suppressed. It takes a bit of time to bring it back. The worst times I think are actually after the really long session.

 

So, you know, in training for the ultras that I was doing last year and the year before. It's when you come back from a 22 mile run or a 90-100 miler on the bike, it takes a while to get any sort of appetite back. You can graze a lot of rubbish. But actually getting appetite back is really difficult. And for me, that's why a post exercise protein shake is completely integral to every session that I do. Much to my wife's annoyance cause because the shakers are always lying around the kitchen. I think the answer to the question is pasta. Generally a creamy pasta with protein.

Ben @U Perform:

I think that we are very, very different. I've not been quite swimming as long as you have, but I'm very traditional in the sense that any two hour session, when I was a lot younger as a swimming club competitive swimmer... Beans on toast. I grew up and I fueled swimming on beans on toast, essentially. Whether you are hungry or not, it just does the job and only takes two minutes. I can eat it cold in the back of a car at nine o'clock at night, driving home from Millfield School swimming pool.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Yeah, if you're desperate you're right. It's horses for courses, I think, if you were to do that sort of questionnaire across an entire squad you'd find everybody's got something slightly different. I think it's whatever works for you. But pasta has always worked for me. And that's sort of my go to.

Ben @U Perform:

Well, I think that's definitely worth a survey to all of our U Perform family? What does everybody like to eat after training? Bonus points if you do include a U Perform product. Of course!

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Absolutely. Right. Yeah.

Ben @U Perform:

Right. Well, thank you very much, Rich. That was our final question for this first round of Ask The Prof. We will be back very, very soon with another batch of your handpicked questions. We're going to try and include as many people as we can throughout the rest of this year. We get questions every single day. And we are very often getting Greg to answer them on a sort of a case by case basis, just in case they're urgent. But this is a good opportunity for you to ask anything and everything.

 

It can be to do with the work that we do with Greg, with U Perform, or it can be about Greg. It can be about training mindset, motivation, goal setting, which are all topics we will come to in future topic discussions as part of The Prof Talks podcast series.

 

So, if you are interested in following along, do make sure you like and subscribe to either our YouTube channel to our podcast, The Prof Talks check us out on social media and our emails to keep up with the flow of all the information and you don't miss anything.

 

So that's all for me for now. Thank you, Greg, for joining us.

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Thank you. Keeps me on my toes as well, which is great. I love it.

Ben @U Perform:

We don't like him to get bored. We need to keep his mind fresh and his body active, And we will see you on the next episode!

Professor Greg Whyte OBE (The Prof):

Cheers!