FiRE5 Podcast

Who doesn't want to know what it was really like in the NBA bubble and who better to tell us than world renowned PT and total boss Kimberly Caspare! Kim was selected to be one of the PTs who was in the bubble which is just one more accomplishment in her illustrious career. We will talk about what it was like in the bubble, how you can try and treat yourself like an NBA all-star, and also touch on what it's like to be a small business owner during this challenging time Kim will kindly answer on FiRE5: 1. How were you selected for the NBA bubble? 2. What did you learn in the bubble? 3. How do you increase performance while injured? 4. How do you view PTs in the sports medicine profession? 5. Can I take care of my body like an NBA All-star? I met Kim during a course that she hosted at her A+ facility PHLEX Health and Wellness Studio in NYC a couple of years ago. We briefly chatted about how if all the quality small business PT clinic owners teamed up we could help each other out and therefore help out NYC. After that I read her bio and realized I was talking to one of the most accomplished PTs in the United States, no biggie :) When I saw that she was going to be in the bubble I knew that she had to be on the show!

3:20 : World-renowned PT, Kimberly Caspare, shares her journey as a health and fitness professional

7:21 : Kimberly gives insight on her experiences inside the NBA bubble and explains how she was invited in the first place

13:30 : Kimberly shares the lessons she learned during her time inside the NBA bubble

18:20 : Kimberly shares her perspective on how the fight for social justice became an important theme for players throughout the NBA bubble

20:38 : Kimberly gives her take on how individuals can increase performance during injury

24:03 : Stephen shares his ideas on health monitoring devices while Kimberly discusses different ways health metrics were used during the NBA Restart

28:44 : How mental health affects one’s performance in sports and in everyday life

36:00 : Kimberly explains the role PTs play in the sports medicine profession

40:40 : The importance of trust in healthcare

47:12 : How to train like an NBA All-Star

50:00 : Kimberly gives a breakdown of her PT clinic and describes key features that help her care for patients in her setting

53:00 : Kimberly and Stephen touch on the challenges small business owners face during the COVID-19 pandemic

1:00:38 : Q&A Time

Your back hurts? We look at breathing. You feel stressed? We look at breathing. Poor digestion? We look at breathing. Breathing extends into so many realms of health it needs to be talked about thoroughly and often. Enter Kento Kamiyama. Kento knows so much stuff! He knows about breathing, he knows about exercising, he knows about breathing while exercising, he knows anatomy, he knows how to drive a manual transmission, he knows kinesiology, and the list goes on. Kento will be teaching us all about the good the bad and the ugly when it comes to breathing. Kento will kindly answer the following on FiRE5: 1. Why should you practice breathing? 2. I used to not think about breathing, why should I start now? 3. Can breathing help my core? 4. Breathing can help my flexibility…what? 5. How can I integrate it into strength training? Kento is a wealth of knowledge and also a great teacher and communicator. Kento and I met a while back when I was with Peter D'Aquino and he said "You gotta meet this guy Kento, he's great!" Sure enough, he was. It's always nice to meet someone who shares your passion and compliments your knowledge. Some of the courses I wanted to take at the time, he had not only taken, but he was TEACHING! How lucky am I?? I am just as excited to attend this one as you are :)

3:09 : Kento Kamiyama introduces himself

3:55 : Kento explains what fascia is

7:59 : Why you should practice breathing and how Kento became interested in breath

14:49 : How to start a conversation with a client about mouth and nasal breathing

19:33 : Why people should start to think about breathing now

20:57 : Kento shows a video of his breathing and posture

26:17 : The anatomy of the trunk and a video of 360 degree breathing, and explaining how to breath "behind the shield"

41:49 : Kento's thoughts and opinions on the breathing behind the shield, blowing out the candle, fogging up the screen breathing approach

45:00 : A different perspective on how breathing can affect your core

49:39 : How breathing can help flexibility

50:30 : A video on breathings effect on mobility

54:13 : Steves walks through a demonstration for those with hamstring tightness

58:24 : How to try and integrate breathing into strength training and examples of how to assess different individuals needs

1:05:55 : Kento's closing thoughts

Things are tough right now for small business owners, but imagine fighting a legal battle on top of it? At this time I think everyone has a sense of the concepts of risk vs reward and vulnerability. No one understands the vulnerabilities that health care providers can face and how to mitigate them better than Stephanie Rodin, Esq. Right or wrong my guess is there are going to be lawsuits against places of business if people believe they contracted COVID19 at their facility. Listen in on our chat and even have a chance to ask Stephanie a question that may help all of us out! Stephanie will kindly answer the following on FiRE5: 1. What do you find most challenging for your clients when they open up their practice? 2. Has Covid-19 impacted the way that your client's are providing treatment to their patients? 3. What can practitioners do to protect themselves against this new climate of patient care that we find ourselves in? 4. For practitioners who are just starting their career, are you finding any changes that they should be aware of?'' I didn't become a PT to learn about the legal side of healthcare, but once I opened up my own shop I had no choice. Enter Stephanie, who comes from a family of healthcare providers and knows that we all want to be able to practice our craft without having fear of leaving ourselves legally vulnerable down the road. After years of defending providers in alleged malpractice actions brought against them by prior patients, she has a real knack for explaining the "Why behind the What" and does it with patience and thoroughness. Getting the chance to ask her a question is a real gift!

1:30 : Stephanie Rodin Esq. gives her bio

4:07 : Common pitfalls of people starting out, and Stephanie's advice on getting what you need when you begin your practice

6:11 : What is most challenging for clients when they open their practice

8:25 : When should people make the leap to making their practice official

11:10 : How COVID 19 has impacted how clinics treat their patients

15:05 : The legal vulnerabilities of Telehealth

19:00 : What changes Stephanie would like to see or keep in the healthcare system when things are back to "normal"

20:19 : What can practitioners do to protect themselves in this new climate of healthcare

28:13 : The changes that practitioners who are just starting their career should be aware of

31:48 : The gaps that Stephanie sees consistently in already established practices

37:00 : Closing remarks and where to find Stephanie and her newsletters

I am so incredibly lucky to know a legit Guru! Forget getting a sandwich named after me (Horney Hero at Path Cafe) this is one of my greatest NYC accomplishments. Paula Tursi is so knowledgeable when it comes to yoga that she can tell you the good, the bad, the old, the new and everything in-between. Yoga has evolved, or devolved (depending on how you look at it), and it takes a true historian and practitioner to walk us through that path so we can figure out what works for us! Paula will kindly answer the following on FiRE5: 1. What is Yoga and what is it not? 2. Is it a god based practice? 3. Do I have to meditate to do yoga? 4. How can it actually help me? 5. Is flexibility necessary to practice yoga? Bonus: I lift weights so I don't do yoga, Right? Paula and I first started teaching together over 10 years ago and still learn from each other to this day. As you know we are big on the best way to cue exercises and how to create total body tension and one of my main influences has been Paula. Her expertise doesn't stop there. She has 2 Masters degrees (Psychology from Columbia and Education from Hunter) along with practicing Psychotherapy and Hypnosis. Also - she is a kind and caring human being which shows in every corner of her studio - Reflections Center for Conscious Living & Yoga

1:54 : Paula Tursi, the yoga Guru, introduces herself

6:05 : The recent continued education retreat Paula came off of and how it influenced her

9:36 : What is Yoga, and what is it not?

11:57 : The 8 limbs

13:28 : Whether or not Yoga is a god based practice

18:17 : Paula gives an example of how the amygdala works

20:43 : Do you have to meditate to do yoga?

21:30 : Breathings job throughout yoga practice

23:20 : Explanations and demonstrations of common breaths and what their purposes are

32:18 : How can yoga actually help you?

37:10 : Why flexibility is not necessary to practice yoga

38:34 : Steve shares his knowledge of the bandhas

40:24 : Why Paula cares of the bandhas

41:40 : Why those who lift weights should also do yoga

47:00 : Pauls closing remarks and where to find her

49:14 : Paula ends the conversation with a demonstration of third eye breathing

If a specific coaching technique can help someone stabilize their body and lift over 2x their body weight then you can bet it will help you to safely move a significantly lower weight. It's something I say to my patients all the time because I want them to understand that PTs can learn from power and olympic weight lifters as much as we can learn from medical doctors. Enter Dr. Mike Lella Jr., DPT - a unique physical therapist with a passion and understanding of both power and olympic weight lifting. Mike will kindly answer the following on FiRE5: How do you coach the power and olympic lifts? How do I gain strength without sacrificing safety? What makes you personally different as a Physical Therapist? How do you help athletes break through strength/performance plateaus? Why do you harp so much on “FEEL”?

2:01 : Dr. Mike Leila introduces himself, and Steve and Mike relate on PT graduate school and where they are now

16:27 : How to safely coach and cue power and olympic lifts 

29:41 : Dr. Mike walks through the hang clean movement and the importance of mobility drills and technique 

46:04 : Detailed breakdown of the dead lift and its cues 

53:09 : Steve explains his style when it comes to coaching and cues 

54:38 : Mikes squat notes when it comes to the knees, breath, and what muscles should be engaged 

1:06:38 : A deeper dive into cues involving the feet, tension, breath and mobility 

1:13:20 : How to gain strength without sacrificing safety or technique, and how essential recovery is 

1:22:58 : What makes Dr.Mike different as a physical therapist 

1:30:04 : How to help people break through plateaus

1:33:29 : The reason Dr. Mike works with feel and mindfulness 

1:46:32 : Closing remarks and where to find Mike

Greetings Beautiful People! Most people (should) take about 10,000 steps each day. Each time the foot hits the ground the body reacts and it can have a positive or negative effect. The person that I know who explains that the best is Lev Borukhov and he can also put that into context with another thing that we do thousands of times a day - Breathing! Lev will kindly answer the following on Fireside5: 1. How can the big toe impact low back pain? 2. How important is feet / weight distribution in assessing injuries/ rehabilitation? 3. ​​​​​​​What makes your practice different than others? 4. Breathing: How ribcage impacts shoulder blades? 5. What limits someone from being able to heal? I knew about Lev before he knew about me. I was doing a quick assessment on a patient and she said "Oh - this is great! since my PT moved to Hawaii I haven't been able to find anybody good" so I asked what their name was and she told me it was Lev. Fast forward 2 weeks later and I'm assessing another patient and she also says: "Oh - this is great! since my PT moved to Hawaii I haven't been able to find anybody good" to which I say "Is his name Lev?" and she says "Oh my god - you know Lev!!!" and I say "Actually, No - but I hear he's really good" :) After that I tracked him down and a friendship was born. You can see the two of us chatting here if you want a preview

3:47 : Lev Borukhov introduces himself and shares his story with Steve 

5:16 : Lev takes us through his schools of thought and foundations of movement 

12:18 : How the big toe can impact the lower back 

20:25 : Steve and Lev discuss the importance of knowledge in all systems, from Neurological to Mechanical, of physical therapy approaches 

22:50 : Why assessing feet, weight distribution, and injuries are necessary in rehabilitation 

32:39 : How Lev works with his patients from the first visit onward, and what markers he uses 

36:13 : What makes Lev’s practice different from other Physical Therapy practices

39:04 : Lev's aspirations from watching his PT partner

41:16 : How the ribcage impacts the shoulder blades in breathing

47:30 : What limits someone from being able to heal

57:58 : Healthy habits that can be of benefit

1:01:10 : Lev's closing thoughts and where to find him

Strength Strength + more Strength. We sound like a broken record because it is REALLY important for Longevity & Performance, but do you NEED the Barbell or can I just get by on Kettlebells, Bodyweight, Aerobic exercise, Martial Arts, or any other form of fitness? Jake Boly is the man of 1,700 fitness articles, 4 books, and countless informative instagram posts on anything and everything Fitness. If you have thought it, chances are he has written an article about it! Jake will kindly answer the following on Fireside5: 1. Online training, where do we go next? How do we improve the experience? 2. The back squat, is it overhyped? 3. How deep do I need to squat? Establishing realistic metrics. 4. How do I train as a strength athlete, but not run myself into the ground? 5. How much do I need to truly maximize strength and muscle mass gain? Jake and I met on a PATH train ride long ago. I was studying for a certification that he already had completed and he was kind enough to share with me some advice and also tell me that I would pass. He was right and a friendship was born. Since then Jake has gone on to co-found Pheasyque Lab which takes you from wherever you are, to wherever you want to go in Fitness.

2:25 : Jake Boly shares his story and info on Pheasyque Lab

7:26 : Where to go next with online training and how to improve the experience

13:15 : How can you give the feeling of an person experience while online

19:17 : Jake talks about his injury

20:41 : How deep you should go in a squat, and misinformation about the hip socket

26:39 : The danger of forcing your depth in a squat

30:11 : How to train as a strength athlete without running yourself into the ground

34:33 : Whether or not the Whoop or Ora Ring are popular in cross-training and how HRV is affected

39:21 : Methods Jake uses to get his HRV to a normal level

41:42 : How much do you have to do to truly maximize strength and muscle mass

56:00 : Closing remarks and where to find Jake Boly online

The psychological component of physical therapy is being considered more & more important so we asked one of the highest EQ'd PTs out there to help us out. Sometimes I think that people forget that the word "PHYSICAL" is before the word "Therapy" in our professional title, but that is understandable because in reality there isn't really a separation of mind & body which is something that Richard Symister understands better than most especially when it comes to Goal-Setting. Richard will kindly discuss the following on Fireside5: 1. Experience + Research + Listening = Positive Client Outcome 2. Short-term versus long-term goals 3. Keeping your client’s intrinsic motivators/incentives in mind 4. Scaffolding your treatment progression 5. Emotional blocks: Ego depletion, Performance anxiety, Shame Richard and I have known each other for a while. We were both taking the same course about 10 years ago and just gravitated towards each other. Since then we nerd out about manual therapy stuff, movement stuff, life stuff, business stuff ... all the stuffs! Richard has had a stellar career in PT and carved his niche early on with dancers & performers along with developing his love for Drumming Therapy + Sports Performance. He is a wise person and I welcome his advise on both the mind and the body. *apologies for the connection issues which caused me to cut off Richard at times - i deeply respect all words that come out of his mouth and would never intentionally obstruct :)

1:40 : Richard Symister introduces himself

3:49 : Richard shares more about his dance and drumming experiences

6:01 : Experience, research, and listening and the positive client outcomes that come from that

16:20 : Short term vs. long term goals

22:09 : How do you coach your clients while keeping their intrinsic motivators and incentives in mind and the importance of ego specific programs

25:26 : Steve gives answer on what he learned about himself over the course of the pandemic

28:53 : Scaffolding your treatment progression

34:44 :The emotional block of ego depletion

37:22 : Richards process in changing his and his clients health habits

42:09 : Richard opens up about his performance anxiety and shame

48:49 : Steve and Richard discuss how to be a good ally, where your intentions are at and white guilt

57:01 : Closing words from Richard Symister

Worlds are colliding all in an effort to keep you Safe and Healthy. Quality Movement and Consistent Activity are Queen when it comes to Health. That uniquely puts Physical Therapists out as the front line when it comes to bridging the gap and melding the worlds between Fitness & Healthcare. That's where Dr. Bo Babenko PT comes in and has been doing it before it was even cool :) Bo will kindly answer the following questions on Fireside5: 1. How do we measure fitness? 2. What is wrong w/ PT these days? 3. Can remote training be just as good, if not better than, in-person training? 4. Why should everyone know their grip strength? 5. Why does almost everyone breathe wrong? I wish that I could say that I was the best man at Bo's wedding or that we got into a fight on the playground in 2nd grade and have been best friends ever since, but the truth is I know him because he is good at what he does. Enough of his quality material was shared with me (yeah while everyone else is sharing cute cat videos we PTs are nerding out on Instagram) that I started following him and realized that we aligned and I asked him to be on the webcast. Excited to get to learn from him with the rest of you!

3:05 : Dr. Bo Babenko tells his story and his physical therapy path

8:45 : Steve relates to the pillars and foundations of health concept

10:54 : Bo's opinion on how we measure the full body of health and the shift to functional medicine

20:55 : Steves describes the difference in occupational and physical therapy models and tests

23:35 : The intersections of different health and fitness ideas

28:05 : How resting heart rate, grip strength and more are useful tests for meeting important goals

32:54 : What is wrong with the PT model these days

42:26 : Whether remote training can be as effective as in person

54:42 : Steve and Bo share their experience with the biofeedback of the Oura Ring and Whoop, and why everyone should know their grip strength

1:10:45 : Why and how people are breathing incorrectly

1:20:38 : Bo gives his closing remarks and where you can find him

1:25:57 : Q&A

Lives are being lost and that is way worse than losing any job. Everyone in the health, wellness, fitness, gym, training space has been through a roller coaster recently and it doesn't look like the end is near (still pumped about the new data out of Oxford). There are a lot of questions and it's important to ask them to the right people. David Tao is the Co-Founder and Editor of BarBend.com one of the nations top online strength and fitness magazines so he is uniquely qualified to give a look at how COVID effected the industry and where we go from here. David will kindly answer the following questions on Fireside5: 1. Have we seen the end of brick & mortar gyms? 2. Where will fitness content go next? 3. Which strength sports are becoming more popular? Less popular? 4. How will online sports coverage change in the next decade? 5. How will the business of fitness change in the next five years? I was studying a big ass text book on the subway a few years ago to get a certification and someone came up to me and said "you are gonna pass, don't worry". It was one of the writers at Barbend.com and since then a great relationship was born. David is the Co-Founder and Editor over there along with winning the "most eclectic human being in the world award" in my opinion :) He can tell you specifics, but he has done everything from fitness, to voiceover work, to being named one of the top 30 under 30 by Forbes.

1:56 : David Tao share his story and goes in depth into what BarBend is all about

10:45 : How Gym and wellness have adapted over COVID

13:05 : David and Stave share their opinion on whether or not we are seeing the end of brick and mortar gyms and their current models

15:52 : Why they both would like to see more outdoor facilities emerging, and improvements in Urban Planning

20:40 : The benefit of functional training

21:50 : Where fitness content will be going next

23:06 : Steve goes into why it's important to determine where you are at in your functional movements

26:46 : Diet through the lens of digestion, recovery and sleep

29:10 : How advances in testing and technology can help physical therapists

32:00 : Steve shares an anecdote on the pros and cons of MRI scanning

33:12 : What strength sports are becoming more or less popular

37:10 : A conversation over the the CrossFit stereotypes

44:38 : The things that are adapting and improving in the CrossFit industry

47:36 : How online sports coverage will change in the next decade

51:47 : How the business of fitness will change in the next five years

57:35 : What David Tao is most proud of in his life and the magic of NYC

1:03:10 : Q&A