Hal Robson-Kanu: Natural 'shot' SAVED my career

0:00This is a global production. I still recognise because of that moment. I'm on the edge of the box. I end up croif turning and the entire Belgium defence go in the opposite direction. So I just end up one V1 with a quarter-oing goal and a real life-changing moment, but also an out-of-body experience for sure. It's the kind of goal that everyone that supports Scotland wanted to make to the World Cup. In a hospital bed, preparing to go through surgery and being told that I'd probably have to learn to live in pain. Yeah, my father basically began turning this into what initially was a paste, eventually got it into this golden blend. And yeah, I began consuming it religiously. From that point on, I was able to begin to play again, train again a year later. I made my international debut for Wales and a year after that, I made my Premier League debut and we got promoted to the Premier League and I was able to do all of that completely pain-free. Hello there, welcome to Rumpot,

1:02the Rung Club of the podcast world. I'm Jenny Falkner and well, my guest today is a footballer who has played for Arsenal Redding and represented his country. Well, both countries will get to that. Wales though, it was the one he played with when he scored one of the most memorable goals in Welsh football history, a snazzy little move, a croif turn against the World Cup. A croif turn against Belgium at the Euros in 2016 that helped take Wales to the semis. But what I'm interested in today is everything around that. So 15 years as a proofoot baller, what the body goes through to stay there and what he's built once he's hung up his bits. How Rob's and Cano welcome to Rumpot. Thanks, I have a meeting. You've got so much going on. Yeah, I was a former footballer, so I don't play football anymore, which is good. Not at all. Is it not once a footballer or was a footballer? Yeah, no, I think so grateful to have had a career.

2:03It's such a competitive industry and every boy and every girl today's age wants to be a footballer at some point in their life. So to fulfil that dream, yeah, I do feel really grateful for that. I know everyone, you know, kids growing up, they just see football as a circle, amorous as well. What's the reality of being a footballer? The reality is, is my son now wants to become a footballer and I'm actually like, well, do you really want to become a footballer? Because, yeah, the sacrifice that you have to make, the commitment that you have to make, the tenacity that you have to have. You know, sometimes I didn't like myself coming off a training pitch because I was so intense. You have to really have that winning mentality and almost win at all costs, which again, when it comes to sort of life and balance, it's not probably that that is conducive to leading a balanced life. But that's what it takes to play at the highest level and to achieve a career in professional football. And that's what I did. I mean, there's some amazing moments and some great memories

3:04I assume along the way as well. Yeah, amazing. You know, my personal memory of playing in the Premier League, I think every kid dreams of becoming a Premier League footballer and, yeah, sort of making my debut, I think I was 21, 22. We've got promoted to the Premier League with Redding Football Club and, yeah, sort of gracing that pitch, gracing the Premier League. It was one of those pinch me moments, which again, looking back is, yeah, without a doubt, one of the highlights of my career. Yeah, I'm not surprised. And it's, yeah, as you're right, so many people would dream of that moment. It's like a lottery-win moment. Yeah, I've came through the Arsenal Academy, so I was a schoolboy there from 10 to 15 during the period of the Invincibles. So you've got to go to the training ground, watch all of them train, you know, meet with Arsenal Venger. So it really gave you that sort of feeling, that taste of football at that level. But to your point before, you know, what do you have to go through, like physically, the demands of football and the demands of most sports, which are competitive and contact,

4:05it does take its toll and manage that on a day-to-day basis. I look back at my career now, 15 years. I think pretty much every single day, like I felt physically drained, you know, pushing yourself to the limit every single day, you're trying to give more than 100%, which isn't possible, but you're trying to do it. And yeah, I think it really does take its toll, but how do you manage that and be at an optimal condition, physically, is what I sort of took out of my career? Yeah, also I reckon, I mean, mentally, it's quite a tough game as well. I mean, you have to perform, you've got the fans to please, as well as you coaches and your managers as well. Yeah, in this day and age, there's obviously social media, you know, the whole digital world we live in. It's almost like information is exchanged instantly. So if you have a good game, brilliant, you know, everyone's talking about you, but if you have a bad game or you lose, you know, you'll be getting abused by the fans, they can message you on Twitter, message you on Instagram, and it is really hard to deal with.

5:06And I think back when I was a schoolboy, scholar coming through at Redding's Academy as a 17, 18-year-old, you know, Twitter wasn't really a thing then, but now when you look at the young players coming through, you know, they've grown up in this social age, where social media, the likes of TikTok, everything is right and how you manage that mentally is really difficult because you see everything. And as much as you're almost like, will they see that post that I've put on as a fan? But a lot of the players will see it, so it can be mentally really difficult. Yeah, and they can be really cruel as well. And sometimes for no reason, just for no reason at all, which is the hardest thing, I think, as well, with social media. And can we talk about the moment that we just mentioned there, Euro 2016, you were playing for Wales, and you did the CROF turn. Is this a moment that you kind of like will be reminded about forever? Yeah, that was nearly, well, over 10 years ago now,

6:07and I still recognize because of that moment within Wales, obviously, it was such a iconic moment for the nation. Wales is a minnow nation, and it was the first time that Wales had qualified for a major tournament for over 50 plus years. And so as a group as a squad, we were almost heroes already having got there. But then to have got through to the quarter finals where we're playing at the time, the number one ranked team in a tournament in Belgium, I think their squad was over a billion pounds in terms of value. They had the likes of Edden Hazard, to Rommel Lulacacou, Kevin DeBroyne, like Cautwell, all of the greats of football. And we ended up beating them 3-1. And the goal that I scored was when we were 1-1 in the game, second half, and I had a moment and out of body experience where I'm on the edge of the box or just inside, and I end up CROF turning inside of the box, and the entire Belgium defence go in the opposite direction.

7:11So I just end up 1-1 with Cautwell and Gold, and yeah, I end up putting it past him. And it was, as I said, a real life-changing moment, but also an out of body experience for sure. Yeah, I mean, the goal was impressive. It's the kind of goal that everyone that supports Scotland wanted to make to me, because the World Cup didn't quite happen for us. Precisely. And that's the thing that you can have, I think professional footballers and professional sports people, you can have careers in that sport, but it's not often that you get a moment that you're remembered by. So, yeah, looking back, I think that obviously was my moment. I mean, football clearly is a lot that takes its toll on the body. Was there a point when you just were like, right, I know, no, it's my time to bow out. Did you, was it, was it a choice? Or did you get an injury? Yeah, so my final game was in the Premier League in 2021. I physically felt better than I'd ever felt throughout my career.

8:11But simply because I had really looked after my body, physically I was in a real disciplined routine, whether it was stretching, yoga, plyometric stretching was key. The way I'd recover was very different to how most athletes or professional footballers would. And then from a nutrition perspective, I was almost optimal nutrition. I really was aware what I ate, very rarely processed foods would have a really clean diet, but I could also recover quicker than a lot of my teammates. And so the decision to retire in 2021 was really the fact that I'd set up a business within that sort of functional wellness space. And it'd been going for a few years, and I was kind of at a crossroads between, do I continue to play football? Or do I focus solely on the business and try and grow it into something meaningful? And so yeah, I made the decision again, grateful that you made that decision because a lot of professional athletes, the decision is made for them. And that's really tough to take

9:11because when you stop playing football or stop playing at a high level, mentally it's really challenging because you don't have that stimulus, you don't have that intensity in your life anymore. But yeah, fortunately for me, I replaced that with the business world. Yeah, and the business has grown very well indeed. It's fascinating. We will, by the way, hello to you wherever you are. If you're out running, especially now, we're going to keep you going, but we will touch on the business because it's incredible, and you may well know all about it. But there's something about athletes. It's like a lot of them are turning into nutrition and really focusing on wellness as, I don't know as a business or maybe as a way of gaining followers on social media. I mean, if you just look at Anders Townsend as well, who's trying all these different fitness and health fads as well, is that something that's new? Because years ago, footballers played football on the pitch and off the pitch, they were not so healthy.

10:12Yeah, and I think it's a sign of the times because everyone is looking to optimize their health. You think about the population as a whole, we've got an ageing population, but what's the point in living longer if you're not living healthier for longer? And so I think there's a real, almost like an awakening happening that your health is your biggest asset. And that's certainly something that I've seen being in that sort of functional wellness space as an entrepreneur is that, that shift in awareness from consumers, that they're almost realizing now that if they look after themselves and you look after your body, you look after your mind, you take the time that you deserve, actually you're gonna live a, not only a longer life, but a happier and healthier life. And it's almost like the days of accepting, waking up stiff or waking up, feeling down, like they're gone. Like there are tools out there, there are programs, there are nutritional protocols

11:14that you can really adopt. And I think it's just that awakening of the importance, that nutrition and lifestyle has on the outcome of your life. Do you know what, there's so many people that will have been listening to what you just said there and go, what, I can wake up and not hurt in the morning? So I think especially as you get older and you get those kind of like stiff joints, they can join, so you just like, oh, everything feels a little bit more of an effort. Recovery is not as easy. That is when more and more people are looking out for a fix, a quick fix, and I certainly, aren't I? Yeah, but I'm more of the firm belief that you don't have to wake up in pain. You don't have to wake up for teet. And when you begin to sort of like look into it, even you take running as an example, we've done some research in terms of run clubs. Like over 70% of runners will take a anti-inflammatory painkin or drug before or after a race. And so people are genuinely experiencing pain and inflammation,

12:14but actually the tools around how you deal with it, I think that's the age that we're in, how do you actually create longevity and begin to reduce some of the conditions that we've almost accepted as a society? Like you don't have to accept them, you can change your protocols. Yeah, I completely agree with that. And I think it's important that people realize it's not a scam necessarily, you know, to get you to try all these things. There's a lot of scams out there, there's a lot of scams out there. And even in that sort of functional shot space, there'll be products with like Apple juice or orange juice where it's like come and take this healthy product. And I'm like, as an elite, Premier League athlete, like I would never have had a functional shot with an Apple juice in it, right? But the scams are out there, the messaging's out there. So actually how do you decipher that? And I think the biggest thing that we've seen is it's actually about like that customer testimony, like really like what impact is a product or a service or a platform genuinely having on its users? And I think that's a really good determinant

13:16where in the whole age of AI and digital, it's like you don't really know what's real and what's not so finding authentic communities, real people having real experiences for me is as powerful as a research data piece which has been released by a company because they want to validate their product. I have to be honest, I completely agree. And also so many people are willing to splash the cash on different supplements and on different drinks or pills or whatever. Just if you're gonna spend the money, just make sure you're spending on the right stuff and do some due diligence and just look for those testimonials and also look at the studies and just make sure that what you're taking is the real thing. Anyway, look, we are gonna come to what you have set up but can I ask during your period of being an athlete were you ever injured in such a way where it kind of limited what you can do because every people listening now, myself included, we've all had an injury at some point and it is the most frustrating thing.

14:17Yeah, well I had as a 15 year old, I ruptured my anterior cruciate knee ligament, my posterior ligament, my medial ligament, I damaged all the cartilage in my knee. It was a bit of a horror tackle, my left knee went beyond my right knee. I was whisked to the hospital, went to see a specialist and they said, look, you've ruptured pretty much every ligament in your knee and you're gonna need reconstructive surgery. So as a 15 year old, I was in a hospital bed preparing to go through surgery and being told that I'd probably have to learn to live in pain. And so I went through the surgery, recovery was 12 months, so you do 12 months of rehabilitation and in my first game back as a 16 year old, I experienced the same injury. So exactly the same injury happened. This time it wasn't as bad a tackle but it was still. I bet your parents and particularly must have just been going all. Yeah, I don't know how they did it. Like if it was my son, I would have been pulling him out of the game completely. But I was really determined. My dream was, as I said earlier, to play in a Premier League. And so went to the same surgeon,

15:19he basically said to my dad, look like he needs to begin looking at a different career path. He's not gonna be able to play at the level that he thought he was gonna play at and he will now live in chronic pain for the rest of his life. And so as a headstrong, 16 year olds, wanting to achieve my dreams, I went through the second reconstruction on my knee, went through another 12 months of rehabilitation. But as I began to play in train again, everything the surgeon said came to fruition. So I would wake up in the mornings and my knee would be a balloon. I was living in chronic inflammation, chronic pain on my knee. And at that point in time, I was then prescribed painkillers, anti-inflammatories, things like paracetamol, ibuprofen, diglifenac, to try and subdue the pain. But after two weeks of taking the standard medication, my body had a complete adverse reaction to it. So I started pice and blood on my urine, severe nausea, couldn't sleep. And so at that point in time, my father and I basically began looking at natural ways

16:20to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling. Okay, and so what happened then? So we went to the public library. We were scouring the internet. You know, this is two decades ago now. So the internet isn't what it is today, but there was resources out there where they basically spoke about food as medicine, ancient herbs, a evadec praxis, ancient Asian cultures. And we began to identify these relatively readily available ingredients by ingredients that weren't in a convenient format, which anecdotally reduced pain, inflammation and swelling. Oh my God, I mean, this is amazing. So you've phoned some ingredients. I mean, yeah, not many 16-year-olds would think to actually go and do this. Yeah, well, my father was leading the charge. And his background is, you know, he's from Nigeria and his father was actually a herbalist. And so he kind of had that within him, but we were kind of, you know, they say true innovation is born from necessity, like I was in pure need. And we eventually identified these ingredients. So things like whole watermelon.

17:22So not just the flesh, it was the rind and the skin. And the rind and the skin were actually the most important parts of it. Things like pineapple, you know, everyone eats pineapple, but actually no one eats the pineapple core. The pineapple core was the most important part. Then things like pomegranate, whole ginger roots and then subsequently whole turmeric roots. And it was about having it in like a bio-available form and blend. So your body could absorb the active compounds within each of these raw ingredients. And yeah, my father basically began turning this into what initially was a paste, eventually got it into this golden blend. And yeah, I began consuming it religiously. So hang on, was your host just like pots on the hall and bombshell? It was absolutely carnage for several weeks because we were processing all of these raw ingredients. We had stains of turmeric absolutely everywhere. All of the utensils were stained orange, you know, blenders were ruined in quick succession. And so yeah, but eventually my father had perfected this blend

18:24of all of these raw ingredients. And yeah, I literally religiously used this blend for several weeks. And my usual routine after this period was wake up, roll out of bed, head into the bathroom, into the shower. And I realized that at a moment in time, that was the first time in over two and a half years I had woken up without any pain or restriction in my knee. No, wow. And so that was, from that point on, I was able to begin to play again, train again, build back up the strength in my legs, build back fitness, eventually made my first team debut. A year later, I made my international debut for Wales. And a year after that, I made my premier league debut and we got promoted to the Premier League. And I was able to do all of that completely pain free. But this is continuously taking the piece that you'd added me. Religiously, yeah. So eventually he got it into this golden liquor. So I was quite a fussy teenager. So he made it into this, essentially a small liquid golden shot. And yeah, like I was a religious user of this. And I used it throughout my career,

19:25almost as my secret weapon without fail. And yeah. Do you know what each of the ingredients do? What does watermelon do for you? So again, watermelon, it's a natural hydrator, but there is now research coming out that it actually is one of nature's most potent muscle sawness reduces. So it reduces sawness post activity. You then obviously have things like pineapple, inside a pineapple there's bromelain. And again, powerful antioxidant. And again, because the research isn't really robust, people don't really understand what it's doing. But ultimately, all of these raw natural ingredients, the same with ginger, because of the ginger oil, and obviously turmeric, because of its active compounds, which are called kercominoids. And the most renowned kercominoid is called kercomin. And again, that's what sort of marketed. You know, you can see kercomin capsules and tablets on Amazon, but actually there are dozens of kercominoids inside of the raw root. So everything that we were looking at

20:26was very much around this raw natural nutrition, and almost essentially treating nutrition as medicine, food as medicine. And I think that's the sort of disparity that I had throughout my career, because from that point on, I didn't use painkillers, I didn't use anti-inflammatories, and I almost became opposed to them, because I was like, well, there is a natural solution to the majority of medicines out there. So why not find that natural solution? And that's what I felt, you know, I had done in my career. And this is where it became a bit more, a bit more than just you carrying around the little golden liquor that your dad had made. So what happened then? Yeah, it was really funny, because throughout my career, like I was generally like recovering quicker than my teammates, we'd go into like winter season, and everyone in the team would get sick and run down. And I was almost like impervious to the cult. And it got to a point where a lot of my teammates were like,

21:28thinking that I was doping, they were like, how is he so robust? Like what's actually happening to him? And so eventually the majority of my teammates and some of the stuff realized that I was taking this home made blend. And so because it was all natural, obviously, it was fine. And so it got to a point where we sort of began to see this growth in functional wellness and functional beverage, you know, like this whole wellness industry was beginning to take off. And this was sort of 2017-18. And looking into the industry, I began to sort of see these like shots, these health shots on the market. And upon investigation, it was almost like, well, that shot is not really doing anything to you because it would be 98% apple juice. You know, it'd be marketed as something functional or something to support your immunity. Obviously had that knowledge through lived experience. And I was like, well, that's not what it's claiming to be. And so, yeah, my father and I essentially decided to bring this home made blend to market.

22:30And we went on this crazy journey of having to set up manufacturer, figure out how to scale this kitchen process into a sort of scalable semi-manufacturing process. The setup essentially was in my dad's garages, we flattened two garages set up and mini bespoke manufacturing unit. And we were ready to launch the Turmeric Co at the end of 2018, 2019. And yeah, we launched direct consumer because we wanted to sort of take consumers on the journey that we believed they would go on. And within four weeks of selling our first product, we had our first life-changing customer testimonial. And yeah, it's been a whirlwind journey since then. What do people say it does for them, especially when it comes to, you know, if you're living an active lifestyle, what difference can it be? Yeah, look, like, and again, this is so fascinating when it comes to food, nutrition and health claims. Like, pretty much the majority of our customers,

23:31like, the people who are living in a lifestyle are really, really, really, really, really, really, pretty much the majority of our customers will talk about a reduction in pain or reduction in inflammation and improvement in energy, reduction in lethargy. And we were almost like, well, what is actually happening when consumers are taking this range? And so, yeah, we eventually conducted some independent clinical studies to try and figure out what was happening to blood markers. And yeah, the studies that we did showed that when you use this blend over a sustained period of time, you know, six to eight weeks, there was a reduction in inflammation, blood markers, you know, by up to 75%. You know, and so when you begin sort of see data like that, it's almost like, well, wow, like, you kind of have to accept that food is medicine and medicine is food and what we put into our body for the most part creates the outcome of our health.

24:31And I think that's the disparity because when it comes to health for the last few decades, we've almost relied solely on medicinal compounds, pharmaceutical based drugs to almost provide solutions to health outcomes and actually we're firm believers that you can genuinely get the majority of the benefits that you're looking for from health through food. Yeah, I mean, it'd be amazing, wouldn't it, if just to never experience that pain, never to be stiff when you're trying to get up after doing exercise because there's nothing more joyous than working out and feeling good. Do you agree? Right, 100%. And actually, you know, we've done, we're really passionate about this area, you know, we've recently released a white paper on pain, you know, we've kicked off a whole healthcare strategy of actually beginning to build awareness of functional nutrition and functional medicine. But when you begin to look at a lot of people in the UK, actually live with pain and we did this white paper

25:36where we independently delivered a research piece on 2000 participants and it showed that over 60% of people at any given time in the UK are living in chronic pain. Like that's a scary statistic. Yeah, like there's really scary. And so it's almost like a hidden illness, like no one's talking about it. I think over 30% of people said that they had told someone they were okay when they weren't physically okay. And so you begin sort of look into that. It's like, well, we need to begin to do more to build awareness around why people are in pain and actually what mechanisms can reduce that pain and the biggest thing with pain is that it stops mobility. It stops people moving, you know, so obviously on the run pod. You know, if you're in pain, it's so much harder to be motivated to run than when you're not. But it's actually the stopping of movement, the stopping of mobility that causes the onset of the chronic ailments, you know, the bigger issues that we face, whether it's obesity

26:37or whether it's chronic tenopathy, like a lot of the time, it's because we have stopped moving that range of motion, stop building strength through our body that causes the longer term negative impacts. You do, I mean, you get it. There are some people just think, I don't want to cause a fuss. It's just a little sore elbow or just, you know, a sore knee, it's fine when I run though, when I run it kind of eases off, but it shouldn't be something that people live with. If you can find a solution, you should absolutely go with it. What do you do now exercise wise? So I do one day a week, I'll do resistance training and then one day a week I'll do cardio, whether that's a run or whether that's a row. But yeah, I'm in a good routine. Within that, I will then, like mobility is really important. I'll learn that through my career, but not just mobility, not just stretching, it's actually range of motion and then the strength through range of motion. So yeah, I focus a lot of my physical routine around that.

27:41Yeah, I think that's something that lots of people forget. I mean, I overlook it a lot as well because it's like you want to do the fun stuff and you forget about the slower, maybe, you know, the more important. Precisely. And one of the most simple exercises I'm thinking about setting up a campaign around this is squatting, like if exactly, Jenny, there we go. So if you can do a full range, if you can do it, no, no, sorry, I want to actually retract that statement because I don't mean squatting with a bar. Oh, thank you. I'm not talking about that squatting. Just sitting down. I'm talking and I'm going to show Jenny. Okay. This is a squat. Oh, just sitting down in a squat position. Full range. Yeah. That is. So that foot, I just showed Jenny a full range squat. That is the one and the most powerful exercises you can do because it is a full range motion. Now the reality is that the majority of people cannot get into that full range squat position. And that from a flexibility perspective, from a strength perspective, would help so many people with whether it's sciatical,

28:42whether it's stiff ankle, stiff calves, tight glutes, like all of that has to, all of those have to be functioning from a biomechanic perspective optimally to be able to do that. Oh my God, that helps sciatica. That's what I have sciatica. It's really annoying. It's, it's, it's, it's excruciating sitting on a chair for too long. Yeah. But I find that squat position quite comfortable. Sometimes I just sit. I have been doing sit and watch telly like that for a minute because it feels like a good stretch. It is a great stretch. But is that help sciatica? I will be doing that a lot more from now on. I mean, it doesn't look the best. I'm not going to lie. Especially if you're watching telly like I do. I'm not positioning. People like what you do. What you doing, yeah. In that we're positioned. I'm helping my range of motion. That's it. I like that. And nobody is important to do whatever it is that you can to kind of prolong your movement, prolong your activity. And the last thing I want to not be able to do is to run or go to the gym or do all the things I enjoy. Yeah, precisely. And I think again, a lot of, a lot of people just accept not doing it.

29:44And it's such a shame. It's like, you know, there are solutions out there. Like, but you have to, like you said, do your due diligence. Like you almost have to empower yourself. And that's really what we're doing at the termicose. Like how do we empower like a real community of people who have taken their health into their own hands and are allowing themselves to live as optimally as possible. And yeah, I think in this day and age, it's more important than ever. So are you, I mean, you must be really healthy. Everything you, you obviously, I've got a very good nutrition. Like diets or sauce laughing though. I'm laughing because people will think I'm like this health obsessed freak, but I'm very much about balance. OK. And like I will, you know, I'm not T total, you know, I will have a takeout every once in a while. But one thing that I'm aware of is like the impact that it has on my body. So I'm able to balance the ramifications

30:44of having a ultra processed meal or having a high sugar, you know, drink with an alternative which then balances it out. And all that we've seen in society is that because there hasn't been that balance, there hasn't been anything to counteract the ultra-process foods, you know, the nutrient depleted foods with nutrient rich foods, you know, anti-inflammatory natural ingredients because there hasn't been that balance. We are now so imbalanced based on our current lifestyles, current nutritional system, that it's creating an onset of increasing chronic disease, increasing chronic ailments. And so my point is is actually if you live a balanced lifestyle, that's where, you know, almost utopia is because you can enjoy, you know, a soda, you can enjoy a takeout meal, but actually you understand what that's, the impact that that's having on you as a human being and you can offset that with an alternative.

31:45I think it's important as well to enjoy life and enjoy what you want, but yeah, balance is absolutely key if you're spot on. So what would you say to anyone listening now who does kind of have a nickel or who is living with us a bit of pain and they'd never even considered that there was something they could do about it? Yeah, well, my message is that we should not have to accept pain as the norm. Like as I said before, like I genuinely believe that, obviously there are ailments and there are diseases out there, disease diseases out there, but the majority of ailments and chronic illness that we have in societies today are preventable and they are preventable through functional medicine, through understanding the importance of lifestyle, understanding the importance of nutrition, understanding the importance of stress. You know, everyone lives this high stressed life and we are not offsetting it in any way, shape or form. You know, spike cortisol leads to increase inflammation

32:46in your body, like and again, when you begin to look at disease, the majority of disease is driven through inflammation of cells. And so when you begin to sort of like break it down, it's almost like, well, if you look at the foundations, the fundamentals, you can begin to make changes which have a meaningful impact on the outcomes. And at this moment in time for people living in pain, their current outcome is pain. So what can you change in terms of the inputs to change it? And there are solutions and tools and protocols out there which do have significant effects. Isn't it funny when you think that when you're younger and you want it to be, you know, a footballer and you know, you know, you've got this amazingly successful company, would you have ever thought that would be the direction you'd have gone down? Not at all. People say, you know, you're an entrepreneur now, you know, CEO, business leader. And I'm like, I never, ever wanted to do this, like ever. But I was almost, yeah, it kind of became,

33:49not a responsibility, but I almost sort of obliged to do what I'm doing because I genuinely see the impact that we could potentially have on society at scale. Like, and again, that education, that awareness, all of that is genuinely growing. But fundamentally, like we are in a place where the NHS, like it's hundreds of billions of pounds of cost on the NHS annually, like it's not sustainable, you know, the outcomes of health, like we have never had more chronic disease than we do today. And so something has to change. And for me, you know, I genuinely believe that it's businesses, brands, products like ours, communities like ours, you know, building that awareness, building that education outside of the norms that we've come from, which can make a difference. So, yeah, we're on a journey, but yeah, we still feel we're very much just getting started. And no, obviously, turmeric is kind of like the key ingredient in your products.

34:51I guess, me included, I've never, I mean, you don't really use it that much on a day to day basis in your cooking. What the hell does it taste like? Yeah. So, I wouldn't recommend just chewing down on a turmeric root. It's not the most convenient or appetizing thing, but having it in a blender or a format. Traditionally, a lot of people would use turmeric for cooking, you know, it's a spice. Yeah. But when you begin to even look at civilized populations or countries where they've used turmeric as part of their cooking India being one of those, it doesn't necessarily correlate to the health, you know, so there's high levels of diabetes in India as an example. And so, it's actually the active compound. It's the way that you're consuming the functional ingredients that matters. So, you have to have it in like an absorbable format. So, your body can absorb these active compounds.

35:53And so, yeah, it's a ingredient which is really potent but in the right format. And yeah, as you said, like this supplement space, there are capsules and tablets out there, which again, a kind of riding off the back of the potential benefits that turmeric can have. We're firm believers that having it in its rawest form in a biorevailable format is where you really begin to experience the potential benefits. Okay. All right. Well, look, it has been fascinating. And obviously with all these things, if you are going to start taking it, don't expect one shot. It's going to make a difference. That's the thing. A lot of people just want instant results but it is through consistency. It's consistency over time. And that's the thing like anything natural unfortunately takes time. And, you know, you're building that resilience, you're compounding it within your body. But also, you're also beginning to make better choices because if you're going to wake up every day and have a turmeric shot, you're then more likely to walk to work

36:56as opposed to catch the bus. You know, you're likely to walk up the stairs as opposed to get the elevator. And so it's almost that compounding positive habituation that taking and making positive decisions has on the outcome of your health as well. Absolutely. It's been amazing to chat to you about all of this. Obviously, you're here on Rumpods. You're going to have to do the Rumpod, not so quick, quick fire road. If you're up for this. Definitely. Okay, now, I'm curious to you, how much running do you do now? Well, now. So I came from obviously professional football where you're running, yeah. It's 50, 60, 70 kilometers every week. So I don't do as much running now. So maybe five to 10. Isn't it funny how a lot of footballers when they leave football, they're like, I am not doing that again. I don't have to. Yeah. It is when you're doing it as a profession, you kind of view it differently. And like I said before, like you really are putting your body through it. And running is, it's a phenomenal exercise.

37:59It builds so much strength within your body. And running correctly by mechanics all very important, you know, preparation for running. Like all of that has a big impact on your ability to run. What was your training schedule when you were kind of at your peak fitness? Yeah, I would train. I would do a lot of stretching, a lot of proprioceptive work. You know, so half an hour of stretching in the morning, 45 minutes of proprioception, you know, and that's how you're feet and you're balance and you're movement and you're strength interact with the floor basically. You're then going to training so you're trained for one and a half, two hours, you'd finish and then you'd do a lot of explosive exercise, you know, weight training, but through range of motion. I would finish most days as a professional footballer really shattered. And so a lot of the, a lot of competition at the highest level of sport is really how well you recover. Because you're always pushing your body to the limit.

39:00So if you can recover better, whether that's through, you know, hot and colds, ice baths, you know, whether you're wearing, you know, tight compression leggings, like all of those have one, two percent difference and then nutrition, stress, sleep. All of those are massive. So if you get all of those in a really strong place, like you begin to recover quicker, which allows you to compete at a higher level. Yeah, I know everyone sleep as well. It's so important. It makes a difference, doesn't it? Yeah, it really does. Okay, right. Well, let's get to the question, then which trainers do you run in? So I run in A6. Okay. And what is your favorite time of day to get out there to do exercise? Oh, I love early mornings. However, with kids, it's a little bit difficult. So probably later on in the evenings now. How old are you, kid? 11, 8 and 7. Okay, all right. You got to feel spectra of ages there, okay? And favorite time of year to get out there. I'm a winter runner. I love winter running.

40:01And I think because of training in the winters, like there was something about, you know, waking up with that frosty, you know, due on the grass. And yeah, that brings about memory. So winter running for me, although obviously, running on a beach is lovely as well. Are you the kind of person that will take all your sports kit on holiday? Do you train when you're away? No, I've actually not. No, I actually do not do that, personally, only because my wife probably wouldn't let me. So yeah. And where is your favorite place to go for a run? Favorite place to go for a run? Probably along the River Thames, there's some really nice places, Southwest London, onesworth, Barnes, Richmond. So yeah. See, I am out on those paths quite regularly. I'm going to keep an eye out for you, no, that's it. And when is it that you get a runner's high? I think when you get to a point where you feel your lungs are about to explode, you go a little bit further and you complete whatever distance it is that you're doing.

41:03But then once your heart rate has resettled, you almost have that euphoria within your body. Yeah, that's, it is a great feeling when you get that as well. It may not last long, but you'll get it eventually. And the last question really is, how why is it that you, is it for it to say that you love running? Yeah, I would say I have loved running and I see the value in running. And yeah, why is it? It's because yeah, like we were giving our bodies to move. And I think running is an expression of that. And I think it's obviously gaining massive attention and momentum now because of the impact that it has on the mind. It has on stress, releasing of so many hormones and chemicals in your brain. And it is really an important activity to do. How would you feel if you were told there's no exercise anymore? Ooh, I would be cutting back on my calories, that's for sure.

42:07Thing is, it does, for some people, it's just, it's not the fact that you're doing something to necessarily burn calories. It's also just the fact that it just makes you feel so blooming good sometimes when you do it. Yeah, precisely. It's been a joy to have you on Rumpwood. Thank you so much for anyone coming to a hill right now. What's the best way to get to the top without stopping? Keep going. That's it, simple, don't stop. And Hal, thank you so much. You are now in the Rumpwood Run Club. Amazing. Thank you for having me, Jenny. Love it. Thank you. This has been a global production.