vrss Podcast

There comes a point in every athlete's journey when the body is ready, but the mind isn't.
Why does that happen?
In this episode of the VRSS Podcast, psychologist and mental performance coach Anaïs Verny explains why pressure doesn't create new habits. It reveals the ones you've already built.
Together, we explore why athletes overthink under pressure, how genuine self-trust is developed, and why the goal isn't to eliminate fear, but to perform alongside it.
In this episode:
why overthinking disrupts performance
how CBT and ACT help athletes respond differently to pressure
why self-trust is built through evidence, not confidence
how visualisation complements physical training
why nervousness isn't something to fear
practical tools for building confidence before competition
routines, journalling, and success logs for improving performance
how to bounce back after setbacks and return to the process

Anaïs Verny is a psychologist and mental performance coach based in Bangkok. Drawing on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and her own experience as a competitive golfer, she helps athletes develop practical strategies for performing under pressure.
Whether you're a fighter, coach, or athlete in any sport, this conversation offers practical, evidence-informed strategies for building trust, regulating pressure, and performing closer to your true ability when it matters most.
This is Anaïs Verny, and this is the VRSS Podcast.
Like and subscribe to VRSS for conversations exploring the psychology, science, and soul of combat sports.

Puja Tomar didn't just make history. She made it from scratch.
No gym. No coach. No blueprint. Just a dream she saw on a screen, a friend to train with in a park, and a stubbornness that outlasted every obstacle her culture, her country, and her circumstances could throw at her.
In this episode, we sit down with the first Indian woman ever signed to the UFC - and we go all the way back to the beginning.
We get into:
What it meant to be born a girl in Uttar Pradesh - and the weight that came with it

Her father's death, and the secret newspaper clipping he left behind

Training in parks, watching YouTube, and building a fighting career with nothing

Her first MMA fight and what she did with her earnings

Stepping into ONE Championship with no corner and a stranger she'd just met

The walk to the UFC cage and what she was thinking

What she wants to open up for every girl watching from India

Faith, loss, and finding peace inside the fight

This is a story about what happens when the door doesn't exist yet - and you decide to build it anyway.
This is Puja Tomar, and this is the VRSS podcast.

This episode was recorded just days after Ben Woolliss found out he would be making his ONE Championship debut - stepping up on short notice to face former world champion John Lineker.

He had just under two weeks notice.

But this was 20 years in the making.

In this episode, we break down what it actually means to be ready at the highest level of combat sports.

Ben Woolliss is a two-time kickboxing world champion and professional MMA fighter, with over two decades of experience across Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA.

We get into:
Preparing for a ONE Championship debut on short notice

How 20 years of training shows up under pressure

Emotional regulation and why Ben feels most calm in the ring

How elite fighters use pattern recognition instead of reacting

Fighting with Crohn’s disease and managing a chronic condition as an athlete

What it’s like when your body won’t let you fight

Rebuilding your body, mindset, and identity after setbacks

The difference between obsession and discipline

Building a life and business alongside fighting

This is a conversation about readiness, resilience, and identity - and what it really takes to step into the moment when it finally comes.

This is Ben Woolliss, and this is the VRSS podcast.
🔗 Join Ben’s 365 community: https://www.skool.com/365/about

What actually happens inside the body when fighters train hard, restrict food, dehydrate, and push past their limits - and how do you fuel champions without compromising long-term health?
In this episode of the VRSS podcast, Liana sits down with Jordan Sullivan (aka The Fight Dietitian), one of the leading performance nutritionists in combat sports and the nutrition strategist behind multiple world champions, including Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.
Together, they explore both sides of elite performance: extreme stress and intelligent support.
In this conversation, they discuss:
How the body responds to extreme stress, restriction, and dehydration

Why weight cutting sits in an extreme physiological zone

The cultural and psychological reasons weight cutting persists

Why regulation alone doesn’t solve the problem

How chronic under-fuelling affects everyday athletes

What proper fuelling looks like in high-performance environments

Supplement strategy that supports performance rather than masks damage

Stress, nervous system regulation, and recovery

Individual variability, including female physiology and cyclesThe trade-off between short-term advantage and long-term health

This episode is a grounded look at how elite athletes push the body to its limits - and how the right strategy can support performance without breaking the system designed to keep us alive.

What actually happens in your brain when a movement finally clicks? And why does thinking about it sometimes make everything fall apart under pressure?

In this episode of the VRSS podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Timothy Carroll, one of the world’s leading researchers in motor control and motor learning at the University of Queensland.

Tim studies how humans learn to move, and his work challenges many of the assumptions athletes and coaches hold about training, feedback, and performance.

We explore why most skilled movement happens below conscious awareness, why thinking can slow you down, and why performance often breaks under pressure. We also unpack how the nervous system adapts through repetition and error, the role dopamine plays in learning and motivation, and why trust in your body isn’t a mindset trick but a neurological requirement.

This conversation reframes how we think about practice, coaching, and mastery. Not as a process of control, but one of adaptation, exposure, and timing.

If you’re an athlete, coach, or anyone trying to understand how skill actually develops, this episode will change how you see training and performance.