Becoming UnDone – Episode 142

Guest: Dr. Josh Beaumont
Host: Dr. Toby Brooks
Air Date: November 15, 2025
Title: Josh Beaumont Talks Navigating Career Transitions From Pro Sports to Sports Science

Episode Overview

This deeply personal episode of Becoming UnDone explores the untold story behind high-level achievement in sports, focusing on the pain—and eventual transformation—that follows professional setbacks. Dr. Toby Brooks welcomes Dr. Josh Beaumont, former pro soccer athletic trainer turned sports scientist, as they discuss career pivots, identity loss, and how the process of coming undone led to new growth. It’s a candid conversation about burnout, recovery, the shifting landscape of sports science, and why sometimes the most powerful performance metric isn't found in your data, but in your own gut.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Navigating Identity Loss After a Dream Job

• Gut Feeling and “The Writing on the Wall”

  • Josh shares the moment he realized his time in pro sports was ending, underscoring the emotional challenge of separating work identity from self-identity.
  • “As I look back on it, you hit a key word: the identity. And I felt like my identity was my professional job. So here, all of a sudden, I am...out of work, but all of a sudden, my identity has completely changed because I was unable to separate the two.” — Josh Beaumont [00:03]

• Speed of Transition vs. Emotional Fallout

  • Even though Josh quickly moved from MLS (‘Major League Soccer’) to working with U.S. Soccer, the depth of identity loss and bitterness lingered.
  • “I wasn’t out long, but it was still this massive pit of it and a lot of bitterness...There was some certainly, undercuttings and untruths that happen at that level, and it was definitely a bit of a learning experience.” — Josh Beaumont [07:06]

2. Culture in Pro Sports: Glory, Pressure, and Burnout

• Reality Behind the Scenes

  • High staff turnover (four head coaches, three GMs, three presidents in five years), even amid team success, created a precarious environment.
  • “It’s always ‘what have you done for me lately?’... Every off season, nerve wracking.” — Josh Beaumont [05:45]

• Imbalance and Sacrifice

  • Personal sacrifices—getting married on an off day, returning to work after a child was born—are normalized, fueling burnout.
  • “It was very, very difficult to dissociate and put others first... I remember getting grief for being sick one day...Like, do you want me to spread the germs everywhere?” — Josh Beaumont [09:00]
  • Toby relates: “I got married on a Saturday afternoon and was at work first thing Monday morning. I too worked the day after our oldest was born.” — Toby Brooks [11:33]

3. From Athletic Training to Sports Science: Rethinking Performance

• Integrated Approach to Health & Performance

  • Josh has always viewed athletic health and peak performance as “going hand in hand.”
  • “Whatever is good for the health is good for performance. And that's how I approached a lot of what I did.” — Josh Beaumont [10:36]

• The Rise of Recovery Science

  • Transition from “grind culture” to prioritizing recovery.
  • “Today I see peptides, collagen...athletes using their Apple watch to log their sleep...Recovery is more of a focus and it's looking at nutrition, it's looking at the modalities, the proverbial biohacking...But you still have to listen to the athlete.” — Josh Beaumont [15:02]

4. Burnout, Self-Awareness, and the Pivot

• Recognizing Overload in Others—But Not Yourself

  • “I think there’s kind of a metacognition here...We can see overtraining and even overreaching in our athletes...but we're oblivious to it in ourselves.” — Toby Brooks [16:55]

• When the Title Isn't Enough

  • Josh describes a turning point where the job became “almost too easy”—the lack of challenge spurred him back to school.
  • “I was almost...I had so much experience in soccer that I felt like I could do the job blindfolded...going back to school kind of gave me that opportunity to have that stimulus again.” — Josh Beaumont [17:37]

5. Learning from Failure & Career Obstacles

• Research Fails and Problem-Solving

  • Josh reflects on the frustrations of research setbacks during his PhD:
  • “Sometimes failure is part of research...when you don’t meet your subject guidelines...For me that was probably a little bit of the failures: how do I problem solve this and overcome it...without essentially having to quit my job?” — Josh Beaumont [18:51]

• Advice to His Younger Self

  • “Probably play a little more nice in the sandbox...probably not being so brash and toning it down a little bit because I think a lot of people took that as cockiness...I'm actually not that cocky. I'm at times very insecure about my knowledge...I'm a jack of all trades in some ways but not...a specific expert.” — Josh Beaumont [20:22]

6. The Data Deluge: Art vs. Science in Sports Performance

• Drowning in Metrics—Finding Actionable Patterns

  • “I think it’s the classic art versus science aspect of it...If you are so rigid in your thought process, you’d be like, ‘he needs to do X, Y and Z...’ but it could be a takeoff. You can’t just be so myopic.” — Josh Beaumont [22:32]
  • “We're not just chasing outliers or cherry picking success stories. We're looking for actionable patterns, reliable trends, a consistent stream of data pointing to a deeper truth.” — Toby Brooks [23:51]

• Data Guiding, Not Deciding

  • “We tend to find patterns. And I've always liked to say the word data guiding, not data deciding.” — Josh Beaumont [25:21]
  • “Sometimes we become so fixated on data that we can’t make decisions that are right in front of us.” — Josh Beaumont [25:21]

7. Advice for Young Professionals Facing Burnout or Doubt

• Reflect & Plan Your Exit

  • “There’s a true period of self-reflection...am I doing what I need to do? Am I taking care of myself?...You gotta have a plan to exit, you know, and...then go for it.” — Josh Beaumont [29:23]

• Purposeful Over Emotional Responses

  • “You may be tempted to walk out the door on an especially hard day and never return...wait. Being strategic in purpose means not moving before we develop a plan and then not quitting until we execute on the plan.” — Toby Brooks [30:22]

• No Longer a Stigma in Stepping Away

  • “Athletic training’s changed enough...There’s better pay in some ways that I think you can take a risk.” — Josh Beaumont [31:07]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “My name is Josh Beaumont, and I am undone.” — Josh Beaumont [00:54], [35:34]
• “Reinvention is not just retreat, it's strategy. You're not weak for walking away, but you can be brave for choosing what's next.” — Toby Brooks [35:37]
• On actionable data:
  “We're looking for actionable patterns...If it matters, we should measure it...identify those actionable patterns first, then it’s just a matter of relentless execution.” — Toby Brooks [23:51]
• On music/motivation:
  “My favorite song is Kid Cudi, ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ (Steve Aoki remix)...It’s uplifting...it just motivates. The beat, especially the remix, it’s about getting after it.” — Josh Beaumont [32:36]

Important Timestamps

• 00:03 — Josh introduces his journey from pro sports to redefining self.
• 05:45 — Josh on “what have you done for me lately” culture and identity loss.
• 09:00 — The sacrifices required and normalization of burnout.
• 10:36 – 16:55 — High-performance, recovery, and integrating data in sports science.
• 17:37 — Realizing the title/job is no longer satisfying and the need to pivot.
• 22:32 – 25:21 — Wrestling with an overload of data: art vs. science and actionable patterns.
• 29:23 — Advice for those standing at a crossroads in their career.
• 32:36 — Josh’s “montage song” and what keeps him motivated.
• 34:07 — What remains undone: the evolution of sports science and impact of AI.

Conclusion: What Remains Undone?

Josh predicts the next major evolution for sports science is the integration of AI—how it will affect data analysis, decision-making, and whether professional intuition will still matter.

• “It’s...the undone component is that next level of AI and how it affects our data analysis and, you know, does it enhance what we do?...Are you still going to listen to the AI or are you going to go with your gut?” — Josh Beaumont [34:07]

Connect with Dr. Josh Beaumont

• LinkedIn: [search Josh Beaumont]
• Facility Website: proactivesp.com
• Email: JoshuaB@herbalife.com

Final Thoughts

This episode is essential listening for athletes, professionals, or anyone reckoning with career transitions and what comes after the “dream” ends. Through honest stories and tangible advice, Brooks and Beaumont underscore that becoming undone isn’t the end—it’s the beginning of reinvention.

Full show notes and resources available at:
undonepodcast.com/ep142