RUNGA Radio

Today, I talk kettlebells with my guest Karen Smith, a certified master instructor for the StrongFirst School of Strength founded by Pavel Tsatsouline. Karen teaches on StrongFirst’s kettlebell and bodyweight courses, and she is also about to release her own e-book on bodyweight training. As one of the first women to claim the Iron Maiden title (awarded on successful completion of a pistol squat, a press, and a pull-up with a 24kg kettlebell), Karen is an inspirational trainer who helps people train smarter and get stronger.

We chat about some of the outdated and limiting beliefs that still persist about women and weight training, and Karen completely debunks the myth that lifting heavy weights makes women bulky. Instead, she explains that lifting heavy provides a full-body strength and conditioning workout that tones and shapes the body, improves health, and increases self-confidence.

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In this solo show, I speak about how important it is to take a preventative and proactive approach to health rather than simply relying on doctors and pharmaceutical drugs to make us feel better. At a time when obesity rates are rising and physical fitness levels are declining, I believe we each have a personal responsibility to prioritize our health and fitness.

Of course, if you’re a regular listener to this show, I’m sure you’re already making a conscious effort to prevent obesity and improve your metabolic health by cutting out junk food and avoiding sugar. You’re probably also supplementing your diet with essential vitamins (such as vitamins C and D), which are both associated with positive Covid outcomes. On top of that, you’ve likely developed a regular exercise program and are keeping well-hydrated. Today, I encourage you to test your cardiovascular fitness by taking the three-minute YMCA step test. I also invite you to try the twenty-eight-minute strength and cardio workout (consisting of seven four-minute rounds of getups, presses, goblet squats, and swings) that I’ve been sharing recently on Instagram. 

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Today’s guest is Angelo Keely, the co-founder and CEO of Kion, a supplement and functional food company dedicated to helping people lead healthy and active lives. After studying religion, philosophy, and music at college, Angelo worked in France and India, where he completed an advanced yoga teacher training program at an ashram and volunteered at an orphanage. Prior to launching Kion with his co-founder Ben Greenfield in 2017, Angelo ran a behavioral health care program in Boulder which focused on helping young adults transition successfully into adulthood.

As well as discussing Angelo’s entrepreneurial journey and his approach to mental and physical health, we tackle the subject of childhood nutrition and consider how we can set a positive example for our children. We also outline the benefits of essential amino acids and describe how they help regulate mood, improve physical and mental performance, aid recovery, and fuel an energetic lifestyle.

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Today, a week after returning from the longest Runga event we’ve delivered since 2018, I reflect on the energizing and healing effect of combining super-healthy food with a structured exercise program, targeted supplementation, and therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF). The results are transformative; people leave revitalized and with a renewed determination to live more in alignment with their highest selves. However, even without access to specialist modalities (such as PEMF, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and NAD+ IV infusions), we can all optimize our physical and mental wellbeing. We just need to adopt a mindset that enables us to consistently prioritize our health and combine a nutrient-rich diet with regular exercise, nasal breathing, and time spent in stillness and in the outdoors connecting to nature. 

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In today’s episode, I chat with Lieutenant Mark Cucuzzella, a professor at West Virginia University’s School of Medicine and the author of Run for Your Life. Mark is a national-level Masters runner who has won the Air Force Marathon twice and has more than one hundred marathon and ultramarathon finishes to his name. He’s also in charge of the US Air Force’s Efficient Running Project and has presented running workshops at over fifty military bases across the country.  

We start our conversation with a discussion about the meaning of health and go on to explore a diverse range of topics, including childhood obesity, insulin resistance, the prevalence of junk food, and the amount of protein we should eat in our diets. We also talk about the healing power of nature and the grounding effect of walking barefoot on the earth.

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This week, I welcome Dr. Dennis Rebelo back onto the show. In our previous podcast, we spoke about story-pathing and connecting to our purpose, and today, we discuss Dennis’s new book, ‘Story Like You Mean It’, which sets out how to build and use your personal narrative to illustrate who you really are. To make the storytelling process even more interesting and collaborative, Dennis has created a book club on the ‘Story Like You Mean It’ website so that readers can work through and share their personal stories in a community setting.

We discuss how difficult it is for most people to talk about themselves and how taking the time to reflect on our lived experiences can help us understand who we truly are and make it easier for others to appreciate our value. Dennis explains how changing the stories we tell about ourselves can encourage us to develop a more positive mindset, challenge our limiting beliefs, and enable us to relate better to others. 

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Welcome to this week’s AMA episode, where I chat about some of the health, nutrition, and fitness issues I’ve been asked about lately. I also share the 5-day supplement program I’ll be using with the corporate guests attending our live Runga Event at Lake Austin this week. The supplement protocol focuses on maximizing sleep, hydration, and immunity and consists of two shots of Quicksilver’s Immune charge, three doses of Quicksilver’s Quinton 3.3 Hypertonic, and two tabs of Quicksilver’s H2 Elite Hydrogen per day. And (although they may not need it after a day of kettlebell training, yoga, and hot and cold immersion), our guests will be offered Quicksilver’s CBD Synergies and BiOptimizers’ Magnesium Breakthrough to improve the quality of their sleep. On a more general note, I also get into the benefits of a protein-forward, low-carb, no-sugar diet and explain how to do a 20-minute EMOM on a SkiErg.    

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My guest today is Dr. Jason Sonners, a certified hyperbaric practitioner and regenerative medicine specialist. Jason is the Director of NJ HBOT, a clinic in New Jersey that supports patients with various autoimmune and neurological conditions. Jason combines hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) with nutrition, exercise, and detoxification programs to guide his patients through their health challenges.  As a chiropractor and an exercise physiologist, he also uses hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help athletes improve their performance and take their recovery to the next level. 

Jason explains how hyperbaric oxygen therapy works and sets out the conditions it can be used to treat. He also describes some breathing and breath-holding techniques that train the body to absorb, deliver, and recycle oxygen more efficiently.

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On this Friday’s show, I’ve decided to share a twenty-minute workout that builds on the alternating EMOM of ten kettlebell swings and ten push-ups that I talked you through in Episode 101. However, this routine focuses on power, endurance, and stamina, and it has more of a metabolic component which means you’ll have to work a little harder this time. Today’s EMOM consists of ascending reps of five, ten, or twenty swings at station one, followed by ten push-ups (or preferably ten calories on a fan bike or SkiErg) at station two. If you’re doing the workout outside, you can substitute a 150-meter run or thirty steps of lightweight walking lunges for the time spent cycling, rowing, or skiing. Wherever you do the workout, remember to focus on your form. Make an effort to tighten your glutes, quads, and abs. And, as always, synchronize your breathing and try to breathe through your nose. 

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This week, I sit for a second time with Dr. Michael Rintala. Dr. Rintala is a chiropractor specializing in chiropractic sports medicine and rehabilitation. He’s also an international instructor for the Prague School of Rehabilitation who uses the principles of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) to help his patients recover from injury and improve their performance. 

Since DNS works by training the body to tap into the movement patterns that we learn instinctively as infants, we talk about the stages of movement that babies go through as they grow. As well as discussing developmental kinesiology and explaining how DNS helps improve stability and mobility, Dr. Rintala describes some of the simple mouth breathing techniques he teaches to align the diaphragm. To round off our discussion, we get into the health and performance benefits of kettlebell training, and Michael talks about his upcoming course on the Czech Get-Up, which begins on the 20th of April.

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