Raise The Bar

Osad

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  Coach to the Strongest Man Alive On Breaking Plateaus and Building Max Strength - Sebastian Oreb 02.08.2026 1t 31min

  Strength coach Sebastian Oreb, The Australian Strength Coach, reveals why maxing out every week is the reason you stopped getting stronger, how long you should really be resting between heavy sets, and the four-week model behind the heaviest deadlift in human history.Sebastian is the coach behind Hafthór Björnsson, aka Mountain from Game of Thrones. He coached Thor through breaking multiple world records, including his 510 kilogram deadlift and has since become one of the most sought-after strength coaches in the world. He is also an elite powerlifter in his own right, with multiple Australian records, who started as a 63kg 19-year-old too embarrassed to take his shirt off on Bondi Beach. He is the founder of Strength System and has coached everyone from professional fighters to the strongest people on the planet.Sebastian explains:Why maxing out every week is the fastest way to stall, and the four-week effort model that fixes itWhy the rest you take between heavy sets is nowhere near long enough, and the eight-minute window nobody can explainThe eight exercise categories every program should be built from, and how to audit yours tonightWhat a real taper looks like two weeks out from a world record attemptWhy getting very strong and staying healthy start pulling against each other at the top endHow he broke Australian records without ever believing he was the best, and why outlasting people beats out-training themIn This Episode You Will Learn:(01:37) — The Bondi Beach moment: how being a 63kg 19-year-old who was embarrassed to take his shirt off started the whole thing(13:26) — Why running the same program forever stopped working, and the plateau that made him quit lifting weights entirely(22:21) — What he learned from Ernie Lilliebridge Sr that mattered more than any programming: the coach-athlete relationship(28:04)— How a SodaStream seminar in 2016 accidentally put the strongest man on the planet in his gym(35:27) — 450 to 501 to 505 to 510 to 515: the long-game strategy behind breaking a world record in small increments(41:35) — Neural recovery, the mysterious eight-minute sweet spot, and how long you should actually be resting between sets(46:49) — Periodisation of effort explained: the RPE 7, 8, 9, send-it four-week model for breaking plateaus(01:09:07) — The uncomfortable truth about how he got the Australian record: he simply didn't stop when everyone else did(01:17:16) — The eight exercise categories he programs from for every single athlete, and this week's action step to audit your own(01:25:24) — Raising strong daughters: how a 16-year-old squatting 110kg built self-esteem that shows up everywhereResources:Connect with One Coach: https://one.coach/Connect with Sebastian Oreb:Instagram: @australianstrengthcoachYouTube: Australian Strength CoachWebsite: strengthsystem.com
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  Shona Vertue: The Psychology of Stress, Grief, and Staying Healthy Through Life's Hardest Seasons 26.07.2026 2t 28min

  Shona Vertue has built one of Australia's strongest fitness brands - over 600,000 Instagram followers and 25,000 people inside her online training system. At the height of that success, she went back to university to study psychology, and in this episode she explains why understanding the mind became just as important as training the body. Drawing on her path through competitive gymnastics, ballet, and personal training, Shona breaks down the biopsychosocial model and why willpower alone rarely explains why people succeed or stall.The conversation moves through the mechanics of behaviour change: the difference between cognitive load and allostatic load, why self-efficacy predicts whether someone starts a health habit at all, and why a motivation problem is almost always a strategy problem in disguise. Shona introduces behavioural activation - acting before motivation arrives - and makes the case for values-based movement over rigid, aesthetics-driven programming.She also speaks candidly about her own transitions:, the physiological toll of a difficult break-up, losing her mother, and becoming a mother herself. Across each, her throughline is consistent - health isn't just physical. It's biological, psychological, and social, and real progress means training all three.In This Episode You Will Learn:(00:22:10) Why the biopsychosocial model changes how you coach (00:34:42) Cognitive load vs. allostatic load, and why both matter (01:17:10) Why self-efficacy predicts habit change more than willpower (01:06:31) How behavioural activation builds consistency fast(01:43:15) Why motivation follows action, not the other way around (01:28:53) When to hold space for a client, and when to refer out (01:58:47) Why rest is part of progress, not the opposite of it Resources:Instagram: @shona_vertueYouTube: @shona_vertuePodcast: The Vertue Podcast (also on Spotify)
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  Raise The Bar Trailer 22.07.2026

  Health and fitness advice is everywhere right now — the problem is most of it contradicts itself. Raise the Bar is a new podcast powered by One Coach and hosted by Ariel Comeau and Matt Duncan, two coaches with a combined 30 years in the health and performance space, built for people who are tired of quick-fix answers and want to actually understand what works and why.Raise The Bar brings real conversations with coaches, experts, and high performers who've spent years in the trenches of their field. They dig into the research behind the trends, but they also want the human side — the mistakes, the setbacks, the things nobody puts in a caption. The goal isn't to hand you another rulebook; it's to give you enough context to make smarter calls for your own body and your own life.Meet the hosts and get a feel for what the show is all about: where the idea came from, what kind of guests to expect, and why they think most health content online is missing the point.Raise the Bar is a podcast from One Playground and One Coach. Subscribe to catch new episodes each week.