Ryan Wilson completed a long and challenging career in the Australian Army spanning 18 years, primarily in the Special Air Service Regiment, where he gained extensive experience leading teams in highly complex and uncertain environments on multiple combat tours.

During his time in the special forces, Ryan experienced many life-changing and challenging situations that sparked his interest in resilience, high performance, and operational management. Following his military career, Ryan commenced his journey into the whiskey industry, starting in 2020 as Business Development Manager for Whipper Snapper Distillery, and is now the General Manager overseeing the entire operation.

Ryan is active in the veteran support space. He is on the Board of Directors for the Veteran employment non-profit Working Spirit and is the WA manager for the veteran charity Wandering Warriors. He has recently founded a new charity called Working Paws Australia, which aims to raise money and provide financial assistance for medical bills and other areas associated with retired military and police working dogs.

He holds a BA in Politics and International Studies from Murdoch University and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Western Australia. He is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Course.

Ryan spent much of his career living and working throughout Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, and is fluent in Bahasa Indonesian.

More about Ryan:

You can learn more about Ryan and the charities he’s involved with at his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanwilson_1984/

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Introduction to Ryan Wilson

00:01:55 Career Overview

00:04:16 SAS Selection: What makes people quit?

00:07:32 Mental Preparation: How to Keep Going and Stay Out of Your Head

00:10:40 Keeping An Internal Compass

00:13:40 Segmenting: A Thousand Manageable Steps, One At A Time

00:15:56 Stories of Selection & Low Points

00:19:13 What Are My Odds of Making It

00:22:20 End of Selection: Three Sentences and You're On Your Way Home

00:24:08 The Sword in the Stone Mentality

00:27:21 Selection Starts When the Stress Sets In

00:28:46 Sponsor Note: Mindfulness in Training App

00:31:32 Rationale for Snapping & Trainability

00:36:04 The Ability to Deal With Failure & Setbacks

00:39:30 How Powerful Nutrition Is & Can Be

00:43:23 Foundation for Metabolic Flexibility

00:45:32 Team Dynamics in Selection: Knowing When to Follow & When to Lead

00:47:21 Building Trust and Rapport With a New Group

00:50:32 Career Progression After Selection

00:54:06 Work/Life Balance Compared to the Army

00:58:23 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received

01:01:39 Outro

Daniel Allen is a doctor of clinical psychology and a strength and conditioning coach specializing in preparing candidates for military and special operations service in New Zealand.

He spent 6 years as a medic in the NZ Army before leaving to fulfill a dream to compete as a professional Muay Thai and MMA athlete and embark on a decade-long formal training in clinical psychology.

He has worked with people ranging from Olympians, professional and world-class athletes, to beginners starting out for the first time to successful New Zealand SAS candidates.

Dan’s wide-ranging academic background spans undergraduate study in Health Science, Exercise Science, master’s and doctoral psychology programs, and much to his wife’s dismay, he is currently in a 2-year neuropsychology program.

Dan’s doctoral research focused on factors that reduced PTSD and increased flourishing among military personnel in the years following deployment, including nutrition, sleep, exercise, social support, and leadership support.

His psychology background is similarly wide-ranging, including working as a high-school counselor, in a drugs and addiction service and, more recently, in a private psychology service.

Dan is passionate about understanding the relationship between nutrition, psychology, and performance and how these things facilitate resilience.

You can learn more about Dan at his website, drdancoach.com/ or on Instagram at @drdancoaching



Timestamps:

00:00:22 Introduction to Daniel Allen

00:01:46 Sidequest to Be Professional Muay Thai Fighter

00:06:40 Training in High-Level Gyms Around the World

00:09:15 How Did Daniel Allen’s Training Impact How He Coaches?

00:11:39 How to Separate Pain from Suffering

00:14:02 Exercise Science and Psychology Degrees

00:14:59 New Zealand SAS

00:17:49 What Would Daniel Change About How He Coached in the Past?

00:21:09 How to Balance Being Good at Running and Rucking

00:24:05 Predictors of Success

00:26:58 Most Common Mistakes in Prep

00:29:31 Test Within a Training Cycle

00:31:53 Fundamental Skills to Develop People’s Abilities

00:34:04 Sponsor Note on Segmenting

00:34:28 Questioning Your Sense of Belonging

00:41:02 Common Success Factors from Olympic Athletes to SAS Operators

00:45:21 Cognitive Flexibility and Growth Mindset

00:47:45 Operational Longevity

00:52:33 Limiting Factors During a Course

00:54:04 Candidates with Cushie Backgrounds

00:57:43 Gaining Awareness of the Landscape of Your Mind

00:59:43 SAS Candidates Do’s and Don’ts

01:02:31 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received

01:05:29 Outro

One of the most common training questions we answer, particularly in the winter when people’s kids are going back to school and concocting new diseases, is about training when sick.

While the answer is obvious if you’re bedridden or can barely feed yourself (Do not work out), how you manage yourself from when you begin to feel symptoms to when you’re back to 100% will make a big difference in your rate of recovery.

This episode covers what to do and not do when you're sick, how to transition back to full-intensity training, and factors that speed recovery and influence your propensity to illness.

You may want to refer back to portions of this episode so we have it published in written format on our website, broken down by sections.

You can read it here: https://www.buildingtheelite.com/training-when-sick/