Between Sets: Where Sustainable High Performance Is Built
Between Sets is a performance lab podcast for leaders, teams, athletes, and high-performing creatives who want to sustain elite output.
Presented by Michael Schwartz, each episode breaks down recovery-first systems that increase capacity, reduce breakdown cycles, and protect long-term performance. From nervous system regulation and sleep architecture to load management and identity design, this show focuses on the infrastructure behind sustainable high performance.
Because more is more. Better is better.
Performance is tested under pressure.
It’s built between sets.
Between Sets: Where Sustainable High Performance Is Built
E1 | From Barbells To Backline: Where Progress Hides... The Magic Between Sets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if the real breakthrough is less about the rep or the riff, and more about the breath you take before the next one? We open the door to a different way of building strength and craft: by treating the pause as training. After twenty years coaching functional movement and performance mindset, and twenty-two making music from the kit to the studio, I’ve learned that the quiet space between sets is where intent locks in and results compound.
I share the origin story: farm-bred problem solving, stubborn practice, and messy action that became a method. We trace the parallels between gym floor and stage; how the drummer sets the heartbeat, why the band’s huddle saves the show, and how reading the room mirrors reading your body. Instead of chasing numbers or applause, we build behaviors: breath work, clean mechanics, better cues, and smarter recovery. That’s where athletes move more and hurt less, and musicians tour harder without burning out.
Mentorship threads through it all. The best coaches and the sharpest players taught me to listen first. Two ears, one mouth becomes a principle for progress, and music itself turns into a training tool... regulating arousal, setting tempo, and focusing attention. We talk about what to keep, what to cut, and what to limit, so you can protect capacity and perform when it counts. If you’ve ever wondered how to translate grit into sustainable growth, this is your map for both barbell and backline.
If this resonates, tap follow, leave a five-star review, and share it with someone who needs a smarter reset. Your support is appreciated as this show is people powered. tell me your best “between sets” ritual and what you’ll change before your next rep or next setlist.
That’s it for today’s set.
If something in this episode resonated, let it sit with you for a bit.
If you want to go a little deeper, I write about these ideas every Friday. You can get them delivered right to your mailbox, just click here: Between Sets : Field Notes.
And if you’re curious what this looks like in real life - on the gym floor, in the studio or in your own world- you can learn more about working with me at trainwithoutpain.ca. I'm constantly updating that page with free trial workouts, albums and other goodies to help folks out.
Until next time, stay sweet. Take care of what happens between the work.
Earlier today, I was daydreaming in my laundry room, folding shirts. When it occurred to me that this month I'll have been doing what I do professionally for 20 years. And man, that makes a dude feel old, I tell you. Even more if you consider my alter ego rock star career. That's wild. 20 years as a fitness professional, 22 as a musician. And man, that allows for a lot of time to make a lot of mistakes. 22 years worth, to be exact. And this show, Between Sets, is my little corner of the internet to which I can voice my insight and what I've learned over those years and talk to the rad humans that have been so kind to have helped me, inspired me, or you know, somehow affected me over these years. First of all, if you're tuning in, thank you. Today's show is an introduction to what I'm doing here in this space. And it's my goal to help you make a decision if it's the right thing for you. See if this is a cool space for you.
SPEAKER_01:Either way, in the next 10 minutes, you lucky individual on the other side of this microphone are going to learn all about me, your host, Mike Schwartz.
SPEAKER_02:A little bit about who I am, where I come from, what this show is all about, and whether or not it actually matters to you. And like I said, either way, it's all good. I will warn you though, this is not a typical podcast. We like to make shift fun over here. Even all that heavy boring stuff. I had a client once tell me I put the FU in functional fitness online. That was way back in the day, 15 years ago or so. And I'm gonna live true. All right. We're gonna put the F U into functional fitness and just the big fun. Just got to make it fun. Life is too short.
SPEAKER_01:All right.
SPEAKER_02:Now, here we are, ground zero again. And I say that because I've spent at least a decade balancing these two seemingly polar opposite careers: music, fitness. And in that time, I've probably had about seven iterations of this podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_02:Brief background. Basically anything I've ever done, I've been the student, the perpetual student, the zero training, hands-on, learned on the job kind of guy. I grew up on a farm, so I was pretty much born into it. You know, if you didn't know what to do, you had to figure it out. Same thing with sports. Wasn't the greatest hockey player, but kept on putting in the reps. Wasn't a uh a music theory nerd. I was I was definitely opposed to reading music. I thought I'd just pick up the drumsticks and start smashing away. Man. And my poor parents, they thought, you know, my older sister, she was doing singing lessons and stuff like the recorder and the woodwind out-of-tune instruments, and they thought, hey, I mean, at least he's into drums. They can't possibly be out of tune. Boy, were they wrong. Mom, dad, bless your souls. Um, not only could the drums be out of tune with Michael, holy smokes, they were loud.
SPEAKER_01:And that brings me to where we're at today.
SPEAKER_02:By day, I'm now the coach's coach. I maintain a roster of 16 active clients at the time of this recording. I specialize in functional movement and performance mindset. I'll get more into that later. I really love teaching. And my whole shtick is about making people harder to kill in the real world. You know, move more, hurt less. And the reason that I'm doing that now, it's after I had a thought while folding laundry, is I've come to realize that none of what I have done would be possible without all of the incredible humans that mentored me and taught me the lessons that I needed in the early years, especially on the gym floor, whether I knew it or not. And now I'm the guy that I needed when it first started, which feels really good. The mentor role, the wise old Gandalf thought leader, big brother, slash, I don't know, funkal. Somebody you can count on to help you out. And that is what I do cartwheels out of bed for every day. And interestingly enough, the same thing goes for my moonlighting career as uh professional musician. Self-taught, you know, picked up the drumsticks, total hack of a drummer, started teaching drums, loving it, playing in bands since I was in high school, turned producer, mostly because I was sick and tired of the workout videos and the music. So I had to make my own songs, and I thought, well, I can do this better.
SPEAKER_01:Sure enough. Here we are. Turned 100%er. Producer, singer, songwriter, musician of many instruments now.
SPEAKER_02:Personal favorite is a handpan.
SPEAKER_01:Also love the wood flute.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting.
SPEAKER_02:And again, I've been fortunate enough to work with some of the most incredible, like literally legends of the industry and shared the stage with these people. And you just learn by watching. Also seem to have been graced with the uh the gift of sponge, just learning things really quick and taking what I like to what I call messy action.
SPEAKER_01:I've made a career out of it, too, actually. Now, my whole goal with this podcast is twofold.
SPEAKER_02:Number one, I want to share all these lessons that I've learned to help the next crop, the young guns, avoid making the same mistakes as I did. And number two, as a way to connect with my mentors from all these years. That way, if you're tuned in, you can hear it straight from the goats, right? The inspiring minds that help me become the professional I am in both lanes, music and fitness, and also help me become the man I am. You know, it's hard to separate those two things when you when you think about it. Great people can inspire greatness inside of you in all aspects of your life. And strangely enough, music and fitness, those two lanes are quite similar, as I'm sure you will learn if you choose to stick around. All right, let's get into it. What is between sets, anyway, other than a clever way to talk about both music and fitness? Think about that, between sets. Now, between sets, if you're a coach, an athlete, or even just a gym rat, means the rest time between the lifts. You know, you're on the bench between sets, got four sets, the rest interval is between sets. And I've spent two decades now learning and stressing the importance of this time. This is where all the real work is done, where muscles begin to repair, and your nervous system gets back online and the whole body moves forward. When we neglect to pay respect to this time in the gym, we tend to lose sight of the overall goal. We instead focus on outcomes instead of behaviors. You know, we focus on the numbers instead of the little bits that improve each movement. We chase pain. And as a guy who's made a handsome living helping people correct those little things that impact the big picture, I can tell you with a hundred percent, a thousand percent even certainty that between sets is where the absolute magic happens. It's where, as a coach, the conversations happen, the client takeaways happen. Seemingly insignificant golden nuggets, you know, the stuff that just seems like normal, but can have a huge impact on somebody. And when I'm lifting as the athlete myself, this is where all the great ideas come pouring in, you know, like when you're in the shower, it's those shower thoughts. Because I find that my mind is no longer playing defense against all the internal battles, all the dialogue going on inside. And instead, my thoughts flow free like a river. Now, compare that. Hear me out. Compare the gym floor to the studio or the stage. All right. Stick with me. It's the exact same thing because between sets is where me and the band huddled up, where we regrouped. You know, if we were playing too much country or not enough country, and we had to spice it up and shake it up for the second set so we didn't get booed off. That's where it would happen. We'd have that huddle. We'd we'd regroup. And we'd fine-tune the set to give the people what they want.
SPEAKER_01:Now, you don't have to be a musician.
SPEAKER_02:You've probably heard of the phrase play into the room. You've got to know your audience, whether you've got a guitar in your hand or not, or drumsticks or a microphone, whatever. You've just got to have the discipline to show up on time, specifically. I mean, musician time, right? But I'm talking both physically and mentally showing up. As a drummer, I especially had to drive the set. I was the timekeep, the heartbeat. And what I found is that time between set was what gave us the that why we are actually touring, hell-bent to make the next major city eight hours away here in Canada on a tour, probably in a minivan, nearly cripples us year after year.
unknown:Right?
SPEAKER_02:None of that would have been possible if we hadn't taken the time to slow down, reassess, reevaluate in between sets. It's about knowing when to work in or work through instead of working out. It's about knowing when to call it a night and let your voice come back rather than push another vocal take. It's about asking for help and extending your hand and knowing when to step away from it entirely.
SPEAKER_01:It's about knowing what to keep, what to cut, and what to limit. It's about listening to your heart and your gut and making decisions with agency.
SPEAKER_02:All that happens in the liminal space I know as between sets. In the next episode, I'm gonna discuss the first principle I work from and the first pillar of both my coaching philosophy and my life. Sound. We were born with two ears and one mouth, and that's gotta mean something, right? And you might even learn how music itself is the secret weapon to becoming a high-performing human. Now, if you dig it and you think we'll get along, please go ahead and leave a five-star rating and review and share this show out with someone that you care about. Talk to you next time. Yo, if you enjoyed this episode of Between Sets, please go ahead and drop us a five star rating and review wherever you like to listen to your podcast. This thing is people powered, and your support is truly appreciated.