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The most requested topic from a recent round of surveys, how to train around minor injuries is a real and pertinent issue for all of us at some point or another. Whether you wake up one morning with a crick in your neck or you twist your ankle while running, learning to train with limitations is a skill that can be learned.

In this episode, we dive into what constitutes a minor injury, why it's important to keep moving, and how to assess your situation and stay productive so you don't feel like you're wasting away while you heal.

Key Points:

• How to Define ‘Minor’ – the criteria to distinguish what’s “minor”
• Why It’s Important to Keep Moving – what the body needs to heal correctly
• Know Thyself – the ability to assess your needs and tendencies is invaluable
• How to Continue Training – the smart way to adjust your focus to continue training in a productive way
• Reading Your Internal Barometer – learning to track and trust your subjective experience for longevity and autonomy
• The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next

Resources:

• Body Maintenance Guide – Our head to toe solutions for aches and pains
• Your Guide To Moving Better With Less Pain – Our article and episode about active recovery
• Easy Self-Assessments to End the Guesswork – Our article on using a scale for ease and quality to make measurable progress
• Dealing With Injuries – Our episode on the not-so-secret key to recovery that everyone tries to ignore
• Overcoming Chronic Pain with Exercise – Our article on the science of pain and how to break the pain cycle
• How To Make Progress, Even With Limitations – Our article on strategies for working with pain and injury
• It’s All in Your Head – our episode on owning your subjective experience of exercise
• Bronnie Lennox Thompson on Fibromyalgia and Living Well With Chronic Pain – a great episode on Todd Hargrove’s The Better Movement Podcast
• Bronnie Lennox Thompson’s website – resource for on chronic pain self management

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"It's time to make the Donuts."

In a few recent polls, we found that about half of you say you move on from a training program when it gets boring. Given that repetition is basically requisite to any physical training, we thought we’d tackle this topic and vouch for the grind of donut making.

Boredom is part of the process. Whether you learn to get interested in the details or just accept the repetition and cruise through it, sexy results come from unsexy efforts. As do delicious donuts.

Key Points:

• Who Gets Bored? – most of us do at many points, but learning how to continue is essential to real progress
• How to Define Boredom – assess first why you think you’re bored
• Goals & Expectations – figure out if you are making values-based intrinsic goals vs. failing at arbitrary external goals or expectations
• Staying Engaged is a Learned Skill – we can develop the capacity to notice nuance and grow our capacity for boredom
• Progress Is Non-Linear – we often can’t see our progress while we are in it or without an external marker
• Know Yourself, Plan for What You Need – set up what you need so you have support for when you do plateau
• Progress Is Not the Next Step – why progress isn’t the next progression, movement, or fancy add-on
• The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next

Resources:

• How We Keep the Basics Interesting – Our episode on the two things that’ll help you give the basics the love they deserve
• Fighting Boredom in Your Workouts – Our other episode on working through the grind
• How to Build a Training Routine – Our article on how to make an exercise plan you actually look forward to
• A Not-Boring Article on Walking – Our article on how “boring walking” can lend itself to integrating movement, awareness, and breathing
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of why skills-based fitness is more efficient and interesting
• Want to Stick to Your Training? – Our article on how to tap into your long-term internal motivators
• Avoid Exercise Burnout – Our article on how to autoregulate your training so you can stay on course

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On any given day, we get dozens if not hundreds of questions on our YouTube videos, social posts, and via email. And we enjoy answering them because we never want you to get stuck or give up. Most of our answers have carry-over to whatever situation you find yourself in, so we thought we'd share the love.

In this episode, Ryan and Andy answer a handful of commonly asked questions.  Some of these are about advanced skills and others are about how or where to begin. So whether you've been sitting on the sofa for the last decade or are working on your Bruce Lee kip up, we've got you covered.

Questions & Answers

• Question #1: Muscle-up Transition — how to build up the strength, range of motion and control so you don’t get stuck
• Question #2: Seal Walk; Wrist Mobility & Strength — how to slow down, assess your pain or weak points, and make adjustments
• Question #3: Out of Shape, Where to Start — how to start if you’ve been sedentary for some time but not overdo it
• Question #4: Kip Up — how the hell Ryan does this in jeans and movement tips so that you also can skip the Lycra one day
• Question #5: Walk to Squat — how and when to get creative, use props, and use progressions that allow you keep to working on whatever is difficult for you now

Resources

• Dealing With Injuries – Our episode on the not-so-secret key to recovery that everyone tries to ignore
• Overcoming Chronic Pain with Exercise – Our article on the science of pain and how to break the pain cycle
• How To Make Progress, Even With Limitations – Our article on strategies for working with pain and injury
• How to Get Started with Training – Our article on how to make an exercise plan for beginners (or anyone wanting to get active again)
• DOMS – they suck!– Our episode on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of the AAA Framework to help you assess what you need to work on
• Your Guide To Moving Better With Less Pain – Our article and episode about active recovery
• 8 Exercises to Fix Hand & Wrist Pain – Our article on wrist health and wrist routine video

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Nike says that "if you have a body, you're an athlete." That's BS, and it can lead to poor decisions and wasted energy that don't benefit you.

Of course, you may be an athlete. We've worked with clients competing at all levels in just about any sport or activity you can name. But the vast majority of people we work with are definitely not athletes.

What does that mean? Are we saying they're not good enough? Serious enough?

No. Simply that their lives don't revolve around their training.

This episode talks about the choice to become and athlete - and the choice not to. The latter gives you freedom to make different choices and to enjoy your practice in the best way for you.

Key Points:

• Why We’re Not Athletes: Calling yourself an athlete can be destructive and limiting
• How to Differentiate: The difference between hobbies, sports and workouts; Andy gets spicy about CrossFit and Cupcakes
• Freedom & Fun: By not being an athlete, you get make the best decisions for you and enjoy your activities

Resources:

• Physical Autonomy – Our favorite topic, figure out what to do to meet your own needs
• The Fundamentals for Success – learn the foundational attributes necessary to be successful at any sport
• How to Develop the Athleticism You Need – be prepared and train for any level of activity or sport
• What We Teach – what, why and how we teach, and how these principles can help inform any training you do
• How to Make the Most of Your Time – make choices not compromises in training and everything else in your life
• Tap Into Your Long-Term Motivation – make sure your training is driven by motivations that are meaningful to you

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Play is a topic that is often left out of the conversation in fitness.

This is in spite of the fact that experimentation, exploration and going off script is at the core of many physical training disciplines—dance, martial arts, acrobatics, any sport you play. However, play is not just free form improvisation or what children do on the playground; it requires a foundation in what you are practicing.

In this episode, we get into a subject that is near and dear to our hearts and some of our other parts: how to play with yourself.

 

Key Points:

• What Play Is: It’s not just what kids do, what Play is in the context of training and skill acquisition 
• How to Play Effectively: Play with what you already know; examples of how to explore what you are practicing
• Safety & the Unknown: Learn specific ways to maintain safety while doing something new
• Other Tips: Keeping an open mind and noticing opportunities can help you create more options 
• The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next

Resources:

• The GMB Method – A breakdown of the 5 P’s including Play
• Balancing Goal Oriented Training with Movement Exploration – Our article with strategies to work exploration and play into your routine
• Why All Adults Should Play – Our article on why Play should be part of an exercise routine
• Playing with Movement – Our video on adding movement exploration to your practice
• Transcript of this Episode
• Turning Unconventional Play into Lifetime of Fitness – Our episode with Mark Smith of Asylum Fitness about Play as fitness
• Play Your Way to Any Skill – Our episode with Josh Vogel about mastery through Play
• Learning to Incorporate Play – Our episode on why anyone can play and how

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Chances are if you like what we do at GMB, you don’t want to spend hours each day working out. Like us, you want to focus on just the essentials in order to help you better enjoy the things you love to to do like practicing your martial arts and being active with your families. 

In this episode, we were happy to be able to chat with Philip Chubb, otherwise known as the Mindful Mover, in which we discuss how to minimize the time you spend training while maximizing the range of gains you make.

This is not just the cliché of "less is more," but practical things everyone can apply to their training to get a life beyond the gym.

Key Points: 

• Do Fewer Exercises: We are mortal and have limited time, do exercises that have carry over to other ones
• Do Less Reps Less Often: Learn how to use Accommodating Resistance to maximize every movement
• Stop Over-training: Training injuries aren’t worth it, find the minimum effective dose
• Cardio: Sprint drop sets are miserable but you only have to do them once a week
• Get a Life: Training is fun but it shouldn’t be everything

Resources:

• The Mindful Mover – Philip and Martina’s website
• @the_mindful_mover – Philip on Instagram
• Mindful Mover – Philip on YouTube
• Body by Science – a book by John Little and Doug McGuff on complete fitness in 12 minutes a week
• Breathing Exercises – Learn how to make your workouts better and help you recover faster
• 3 Steps to Autoregulation Training – How to not burn out
• How Many Reps, Sets, Exercises, and Workouts You Should Be Doing – Our episode on how much is enough
• Our Articles on Injury Prevention – Our best posts on recovery, prevention, and building resilience

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Martial art has its history in combat, so as a company founded by three martial artists, Rule #1 (Don't Die) is fundamental to GMB. 

If you die, you don't get to do anything else. It's over. That's the end.

It might sound dramatic but self-preservation is key to making any kind of progress. While this seems like a fairly basic and obvious fact, it is one that often falls to the wayside when we start taking on new challenges.

In this episode, we talk about how everything comes with a trade-off and how to assess your training in order to not make irreversible decisions.

Key Points:

• Don’t Die: It’s a metaphor, don’t do anything that has lasting or permanent negative implications
• What to do Instead: Reassess what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and why
• Challenge Doesn’t = Pain: Don’t conflate pain with progress, there are many ways to make gains
• Our Advice: Examples of avoidable mistakes + two tips to use for any movement
• Irreversible Decisions: Challenges are good, but don’t go past the point of no return
• The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next

Resources:

• 3 Steps to Autoregulation Training – How to not burn out
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of how to Assess, Address, Apply to make progress on anything you’re working on
• DOMS – They Suck! – Our episode on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
• Breathing Exercises – Learn how to make your workouts better and help you recover faster
• Transcript of this Episode
• How Many Reps, Sets, Exercises, and Workouts You Should Be Doing – Our episode on how much is enough
• Our Articles on Injury Prevention – Our best posts on recovery, prevention, and building resilience

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As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply.

So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear out all her hair, so she’s got a lot to say about parenting girls in today’s world.


Key Points:

• Body Image: You don’t have to be a size 2 to wear spandex, tactics to instill body positivity
• Role Models: There are many measures of success, role models can show what is possible
• Sex, Porn, Difficult Conversations: This conversation is going to happen when you least expect it, have it early
• Letting Go: Your children’s job as they grow is to learn how to separate from you, letting go of them and your own expectations

Resources:

• The Ready State, formerly MobilityWOD
• San Francisco CrosSFit, Juliet and Kelly’s Gym
• Juliet on Instagram
• Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Juliet and Kelly
• Standup Kids, their non-profit
• Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Sexuality Guide by Heather Corinna
• Raising Strong Girls, Part 1 

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As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply.

So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear our all her hair, so she’s got a lot to say about parenting girls in today’s world.

Key Points:

• Relationships & Community: Participating in the community, modeling good relationships
• Social Media: There’s a thousand ways to do social media as a parent, it’s possible none of us are getting it quite right
• Technology, Self-Regulation, Sleep : Phones are like heroin, how to make a constrained environment

Resources:

• The Ready State, formerly MobilityWOD
• San Francisco CrosSFit, Juliet and Kelly’s Gym
• Juliet on Instagram
• Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Juliet and Kelly
• Standup Kids, their non-profit
• Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Sexuality Guide by Heather Corinna

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We get it - you were born before the turn of the millennium, so much of your knowledge of health and fitness comes from the Jane Fonda Workout VHS and watching interviews with Arnie in junior high PE class. But you’re a grown-ass adult, and you’re still capable of learning new things.

It’s time to learn how to prepare your body for a productive training session.

“But I heard warming up is a waste of time!” I’m sure your buddy with the bad back who told you this helpful tidbit had your best interests in mind, and we completely agree that warming up like a recreational jogger in 1983 isn’t going to help you much. But if you spend most of your day in a low exertion environment and try to immediately transition into a high-exertion training session, you’re going to have problems.

This episode is about the right way to prepare yourself for training - how to get your mind in the right place, how to prepare your body to maximize the benefits of training, and how you can organize your environment for productive training.

Is it OK to skip prep and just start training? Sure, and you can also eat a frozen sausage without taking the wrapper off. But you’d be acting like an idiot, so cut it out and learn how to do things right.

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