In this episode of the New Year's Revolutionary podcast, I had the privilege of interviewing Rich O'Neill, owner of Elite Functional Performance (EFP) here in Charlotte. 

Rich is a certified personal trainer with over 30,000 hours of personal training experience. He uses his skills to first evaluate each client's bio-alignment and functional mobility. He then begins to organize a system of movements designed to alleviate pain, improve functional movement and avoid further injuries down the road. I've experienced this process first hand, and am excited to continue working with Rich and his team on my own fitness development.

We covered a lot of ground in this episode. I was blown away by the depth of Rich's knowledge about physical fitness and nutrition, and his ability to distill and explain it in ways that made sense. We talked about Rich's unique entry into the field, and how that has shaped his approach and perspective. We discussed his thoughts on coaching, nutrition, books, routines, and the challenges of work/life balance as a business owner.

(One thing we did not talk about was coronavirus. We recorded this a few days before the response really started developing here in North Carolina. Hopefully this will be a nice respite from the news!)

Show Notes:

• How we got connected via Scott Wurtzbacher (episode 1) [00:45]
• How Rich first got introduced to fitness and nutrition, and overcame personal injury in the process [1:49]
• Rich's immersion into the "Fitness Longevity" philosophy through his mentor Sam Iannetta [10:35]
• How certain habits can lead to pain and injury down the road, and how they can be corrected in the gym [19.30]
• Coaching vs. DIY in personal fitness [24:44]
• Nutrition, and Rich's thoughts on recent trends (keto, paleo, Whole 30) [27:50]
• Intermittent fasting, and timing protein intake with your workouts [35:30]
• Two supplements that the average person might be deficient in [40:00]
• Book recommendations on fitness, and the importance of understanding both anatomy and physiology [43:10]
• Rich's morning routine which starts at 3:36 a.m. (a new record for the NYR podcast!) [50:00]
• Entrepreneurship, and the challenge of running a business while maintaining a work/life balance [53:40]
• Rich's plans to "Do Better This Year" [59:20]

References

• The Anatomy of Movement, by Blandine Calais-Germain
• Joint Structure and Function,  by Pamela K. Levangie and Cynthia C. Norkin
• The E-Myth, by Michael E. Gerber