Health & FitnessEducationSelf-Improvement

Chasing Excellence

Ben Bergeron & Patrick Cummings

Most people aren't stuck because they lack information. They're stuck because they know what to do and can't quite do it consistently. The slow drift keeps winning.

Chasing Excellence is for people who are already trying — working out, eating well, staying positive — but find themselves in the one-good-week, one-bad-week cycle.

Ben Bergeron, Patrick Cummings, and a crew of authors, thinkers, and doers explore the five factors of health — how we eat, move, think, connect, and rest — and what it actually takes to crowd out the drift and build the life you keep almost living.

New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

Beyond the podcast: the Chase Club brings together a crew for daily lessons, monthly challenges, and the real work of crowding out the drift. The ChaseTracker app helps you track the Five Factors daily.

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33 episodes
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Avg 42 min
English

Episodes 33

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#535
Friday · 15 min
Why Discomfort Means You're Growing (Not Failing)
We're revisiting a favorite conversation with Trevor Ragan to unpack his simple equation for discomfort: caring plus uncertainty. When we treat that discomfort as proof we're on the wrong path, we shrink from the exact challenges that build us - but when we see it as a signal that the work matters, we turn it into fuel for growth. We're building the awareness to name what we're feeling, the intention to reframe it as a rep instead of a red flag, and the action to keep showing up for a life of health, happiness, and purpose instead of drift. Keep Going 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker App ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club Reach Out ✋🏼 What questions do you have for us? 📧 Got feedback? Send Patrick an email. About the Hosts Patrick Cummings is the author of two kids’ books and has been building and making things inside the health and fitness world for two decades. Find him on Instagram. Ben Bergeron is the founder of CompTrain, a longtime gym owner and coach, and the author of the bestselling book, Chasing Excellence. Find him on Instagram. About the Show Chasing Excellence is a show dedicated to the daily pursuit of health, happiness, and living with our hearts on fire. Episodes drop Monday through Friday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#534
Thursday · 10 min
Am I Building Grit Or Burning Out?
We're exploring how to know whether we're building grit or slipping toward burnout when life leaves almost no room for training. By understanding allostatic load and finding our minimum effective dose, we build awareness of what our body and season of life can actually handle, intention around protecting the training we truly enjoy, and action that turns limited time into real progress - without letting drift and exhaustion win. Keep Going 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker App ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club Reach Out ✋🏼 What questions do you have for us? 📧 Got feedback? Send Patrick an email. About the Hosts Patrick Cummings is the author of two kids’ books and has been building and making things inside the health and fitness world for two decades. Find him on Instagram. Ben Bergeron is the founder of CompTrain, a longtime gym owner and coach, and the author of the bestselling book, Chasing Excellence. Find him on Instagram. About the Show Chasing Excellence is a show dedicated to the daily pursuit of health, happiness, and living with our hearts on fire. Episodes drop Monday through Friday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#533
Wednesday · 11 min
Life Is a Frisbee Balanced on a Pencil
We're exploring why we can't maximize every goal at once, and how picturing life as a Frisbee balanced on a pencil - instead of a seesaw - changes the way we chase what matters. By identifying the 20% of effort that drives 80% of the results across our health, work, and relationships, we build awareness of where we're overextending, intention around the handful of things worth our full focus, and action toward a life of health, happiness, and purpose - instead of the exhausting pursuit of having it all that leaves us drifting and dissatisfied. Keep Going 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker App ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club Reach Out ✋🏼 What questions do you have for us? 📧 Got feedback? Send Patrick an email. About the Hosts Patrick Cummings is the author of two kids’ books and has been building and making things inside the health and fitness world for two decades. Find him on Instagram. Ben Bergeron is the founder of CompTrain, a longtime gym owner and coach, and the author of the bestselling book, Chasing Excellence. Find him on Instagram. About the Show Chasing Excellence is a show dedicated to the daily pursuit of health, happiness, and living with our hearts on fire. Episodes drop Monday through Friday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#532
Tuesday · 9 min
Person First, Process Second, Goal Third
We're exploring how to pursue ambitious goals without making our identity dependent on the outcome. By placing the person and the process ahead of the goal, we build awareness around what we can control, intention around the habits and character traits we want to practice, and action toward a life of health, happiness, and purpose - even when reality doesn't match our expectations. Keep Going 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker App ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club Reach Out ✋🏼 What questions do you have for us? 📧Got feedback? Send Patrick an email. About the Hosts Patrick Cummings is the author of two kids’ books and has been building and making things inside the health and fitness world for two decades. Find him on Instagram. Ben Bergeron is the founder of CompTrain, a longtime gym owner and coach, and the author of the bestselling book, Chasing Excellence. Find him on Instagram. About the Show Chasing Excellence is a show dedicated to the daily pursuit of health, happiness, and living with our hearts on fire. Episodes drop Monday through Friday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#543
Monday · 11 min
Why Chasing Excellence Is Going Daily
We're kicking off an October Experiment, a shift from one longer weekly episode to short, daily episodes every weekday. Today, we explore why this change matters: showing up with something short to think about each day keeps us focused on today's choices, instead of waiting for one big leap forward. By building this habit of daily attention, we hope to help you build awareness around the small decisions that add up, intention around showing up consistently, and action toward a life of health, happiness, and purpose—instead of drifting through another week waiting for change to happen all at once. Keep Going 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker App ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club Reach Out ✋🏼 What questions do you have for us? 📧 Got feedback? Send Patrick an email. About the Hosts Patrick Cummings is the author of two kids' books and has been building and making things inside the health and fitness world for two decades. Find him on Instagram. Ben Bergeron is the founder of CompTrain, a longtime gym owner and coach, and the author of the bestselling book, Chasing Excellence. Find him on Instagram. About the Show Chasing Excellence is a show dedicated to the daily pursuit of health, happiness, and living with our hearts on fire. Episodes drop Monday through Friday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#531
September 28 · 55 min
Why Smart People Keep Outsourcing Their Diet to Strangers (w/ EC Synkowski)
What if the problem with your diet isn't discipline — it's that you've never learned to think for yourself about food? In this episode, our friend EC Synkowski (author of A Good Nutrition Book) joins us to explain why calories, macros, and micros — not keto, paleo, or intermittent fasting — are the real levers that decide your results. We break down her Three Pillars Method — the 800-gram fruit-and-vegetable challenge, a simple protein target, then a calorie baseline built from your real life instead of a calculator — and why it builds freedom instead of restriction. You'll also learn where cravings actually come from, and how to know when you've done enough and it's time to go learn guitar. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#530
September 21 · 49 min
Forever Fit | Why Your Fitness Feels Stalled (And Why That's Normal)
Plateaus, leaderboards, and the real reason most people stop making progress in the gym — we answer the questions you've been too afraid to ask. In part two of our training Q&A, Jamison and Ben explore why fitness follows the stock market (not a straight line), how to use the leaderboard as a tool instead of a verdict, and why the law of diminishing returns is actually proof you're advancing — not stalling. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#529
September 14 · 54 min
Forever Fit | The 2 Signs You're Too Sore to Train
Ever wonder whether that soreness means rest—or push through? If one bad night of sleep wrecks your training? Or whether all those YouTube influencers are right that rep ranges don't really matter? In this episode, Jamison fires community questions at Ben, and the answers are exactly what coaches and athletes need to hear — clear, direct, and rooted in how the body actually works. We dig into the frameworks behind recovery, pacing, and strength training that separate athletes who keep getting better from those who keep spinning their wheels. Health, performance, and the Awareness → Intention → Action cycle are all in play. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#528
September 7 · 1 hr 1 min
Why We Keep Choosing Work Over the People We Love (w/ Robert Waldinger)
What if the single greatest predictor of your health at 80 isn't your cholesterol or blood pressure — but how satisfied you are in your relationships? In this conversation, we sit down with Dr. Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development — the longest-running study of adult life ever conducted — to unpack what 85 years of research reveals about what actually makes a good life. Good relationships don't just feel good — they're stress regulators that protect your body from chronic inflammation and cortisol overload, directly affecting your Health and Happiness. We explore the concept of social fitness, the powerful difference between hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing, and how to take small, intentional steps to strengthen the connections that matter most. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#527
August 31 · 59 min
Annie Thorisdottir Talks Training Character, Consistency, & Collaboration (w/ Christine Bald)
What if the most important training you'll ever do happens nowhere near a barbell? Annie Thorisdottir and her co-writer Christine Bald join Patrick to discuss their new book, Iceland Annie: The Evolution of a CrossFit Games Legend — five years in the making and built on a prologue Christine wrote before Annie ever agreed to write it. You'll hear why Annie believes character is trained the same way fitness is: in private, repeatedly, often without immediate reward. And you'll hear Christine on the discipline required to prepare for moments you can't anticipate. Together, they make the case that what most people see on the podium is the smallest part of what it took to get there. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#526
August 24 · 1 min
Our 21-Day Happiness Challenges Starts Today!
Short and sweet this week: Our latest challenge is kicking off today, and we don't want you to miss it. ❤️‍🔥 More information on the Happiness Challenge 🐾 Join us inside the ChaseTracker app 👊 Jump into the Chase Club See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#525
August 20 · 18 min
Chase Challenge | Happiness Is a Subtraction Problem We’re Solving All Wrong
We’re kicking off our new 21-Day Happiness Challenge — and it's probably not what you expect. Instead of focusing on what you have to be grateful for, we flip the lens: what don't you have that you're grateful to be without? That single shift — from counting blessings to counting absences — sits at the heart of this challenge. We explore how modern culture, the "affluenza virus," and the pull of speed and convenience are actively working against our happiness, and how 21 days of focused attention can start to change that. 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#524
August 17 · 58 min
Ben’s Battle With Depression & What’s Helping Now (w/ Dr Rich Joseph)
What does depression look like when nothing in your life is actually wrong? Ben shares his first real experience with depression — not born of circumstance, but of chemistry — and why it changed everything he thought he understood about mental health. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Rich, Ben's physician and friend, to unpack the autoimmune response that attacked Ben's brain, the treatments that actually helped, and why the fitness buffer matters more than you'll ever know in the moment. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#523
August 13 · 35 min
3 Simple Principles for a Life of Health, Happiness, & Hearts on Fire
What if every day you could see — in real time — whether you're drifting or chasing? In this solo episode, Patrick unpacks the rebuilt ChaseTracker app and the foundational framework behind it: drifting is the slow, often unseen move toward convenience, comfort, and conformity, while chasing is the daily decision to organize your time, energy, attention, and money toward what truly matters. Learn how six key areas of life and four time horizons — daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly — give you a system to catch drift before it costs you months. Plus: why James Clear is right that you're not changing your habits as much as you're changing your identity. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#522
August 10 · 1 hr 16 min
20 Questions That Map Your Mental Fitness (w/ Chris Irwin)
What if you could assess your mental fitness the same way you track your lifts, your miles, and your macros — with honest data, asked on a regular schedule? In this episode, Patrick hosts Chris Irwin to build a practical self-assessment tool rooted in the Five Mind Killers: a set of diagnostic questions mapped across each mind killer that, asked honestly every three to six months, reveal whether your mental fitness is trending in the right direction. You'll learn why the sickness-wellness-fitness continuum applies one-for-one to mental health, how the language "I have anxiety" is quietly keeping you stuck, and what twenty questions — grouped across Oblivion, Storytelling, Suppression, Fear, and Stagnation — can tell you about where you actually stand. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here 🐾 Start your Free Trial of the ChaseTracker ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#521
August 6 · 11 min
Individual vs. Class Programming: What Actually Matters
What if the most important question in programming has nothing to do with the workout itself? In this episode, Ben breaks down how to design training that works — whether you're coaching a packed class or programming for a single athlete — and why the answer starts with one question most coaches never ask. Learn why compliance is the real metric, how logistical constraints shape every programming decision, and why the goal isn't a perfect workout — it's getting people excited to come back tomorrow. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#520
August 3 · 36 min
5x5 | Accepting Adversity & Eating Clean When Going Out
Hard things don't get easier when we pretend they aren't hard — they get easier when we stop wishing they were different. In this solo 5x5, Ben answers one listener question from each of the five factors: dealing with a chaotic home situation with a napping toddler, chasing a federal special agent fitness standard, eating clean on the road, deciding whether to have more kids in your 40s, and navigating a child's fear of the dark. Acceptance is not approval. When we stop spending energy wishing our circumstances were different, we free that energy for actual solutions. That's the thread running through all five questions — and the foundational move of the Awareness → Intention → Action cycle. 🖐 We love your questions! 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#519
July 27 · 55 min
Unconditional Love Isn't Soft. It's What Makes Our Kids Brave
How much responsibility do we actually carry for where our teenagers end up — and how much is simply out of our hands? In this episode, we dig into a powerful listener question from David about parental influence, the six factors that shape teenagers, and the three things fathers can genuinely control: modeling, connection, and agency. We explore why control and influence are two very different tools, why unconditional love may be the single most important input a parent can offer, and why the real enemy isn't bad peers or broken environments — it's an ego that's never learned it's safe to struggle. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#518
July 23 · 13 min
When "Did You Work Out?" Feels Like an Attack
What do you do when the person who loves you most says something that makes you feel shame — even when they don't mean it that way? In this episode, we answer a question from Chase Club member Ashton, who's 31 weeks pregnant and navigating the emotional complexity of a husband who keeps checking in on her workouts. We explore the gap between what someone actually says and the story we tell ourselves about it, why seasons of life demand fundamentally different things from us, and how to communicate your real needs clearly and without judgment. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#517
July 20 · 51 min
20 Simple Ways to Fight Drift — That Invisible Shift Away from Your Best Self
Twenty tactics. Five factors. One episode worth pulling back from the archives. In this replay, we walk through the four highest-leverage actions you can take in each of the five key areas of life — Move, Sleep, Eat, Think, and Connect — and unpack the why behind each one. Drift is the enemy of excellence, and this episode is one of the sharpest tools we've built to fight it. You'll leave with a concrete checklist of daily behaviors designed to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be. 👉🏼 Get the full Listener's Guide here ❤️‍🔥 Free Newsletter & the Chase Club 👋 New to Chasing Excellence? Start here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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