The Inner Armor Podcast

It's that time of year: everyone is heading back to school. What opportunities does that bring for personal and professional development? What does it take for students to perform at their potential? And what unique challenges does it present for growth, resilience, and mental health?

In this first of three installments, Dr. Royer speaks with Neil Binnette, (M.A., LMFT), a counselor and therapist to the athletics program at Liberty University, about what "back to school" means for college students, particularly student-athletes.

Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

We are facing a tidal wave, a tsunami, of mental health disorders in the United States (and much of the developed world). Anxiety, depression, substance abuse, PTSD, suicide–the numbers are staggering and growing. And like a tsunami, it threatens to overwhelm our systems and institutions. We don't have enough psychologists, counselors, and programs to manage all the cases. And so we resort to medications and self-medicating.

But what if we went upstream and helped people to regulate their autonomic nervous systems first? It wouldn't remove all life's stresses, disappointments, and tragedies, but it would strengthen us to become more resilient and require fewer medical interventions. 

Inner Armor isn't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can become more resilient and come closer to performing at their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

In our last episode, Doc's business partner and wife, Amy, explored the connections between nutrition and neuroscience. In this episode, Doc interviews his daughter, Dr. Kate Wierenga, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Tother, they explore the causes and effects of inflammation in the body, how that shifts the nervous system into the sympathetic state, and the underlying chemistry of our red blood cells. Particularly, they look at how variations in the ratio of Omega fatty acids in our blood affect our ability to fight inflammation and how to shift our diet to improve that ratio.

The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

Our nervous system isn't just an isolated network of electrical wires running through our body. It's dynamically integrated with every other system of our body, including our digestive tract. The state of our nervous system affects our digestion and vice versa.

In this episode, Doc welcomes his business partner and wife, Amy Royer, an RN and nutritionist. They do a deep dive into these bi-directional connections, exploring diet, digestion, inflammation, "leaky gut," sleep, and even what our poop can tell us about our autonomic nervous system and brain state.

The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

The Netflix Series “Quarterback” offers a fascinating look behind the scenes at the games, and lives, of three NFL quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota. Dr. Royer has trained Cousins since his college days (Kirk was a guest on our last two episodes), but Doc has worked or is working with 11 of the 32 starting NFL QBs (as of the time of this episode).

In this episode, Doc explains the science behind finding a player capable of playing this position in the NFL. What do they look for? What do they measure? What are the differentiators that indicate a player might make it in this role? What does it take to develop their abilities? How does Doc and the Inner Armor system help them to reach their potential? 

The lessons learned aren't just for elite athletes. Everyone, from children to adults in every field, can develop the ability to perform at their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins (Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, and featured in the new Netflix series "Quarterback") has been working with Dr. Royer for 13 years, since he was the starting QB at Michigan State. Kirk pulls no punches: he says that without Dr. Royer, he wouldn't be where he is today. In this episode, Kirk talks about how the work he has done with Dr. Royer can benefit everyone, from children to adults in every field, achieve their potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins (Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, and featured in the new Netflix series "Quarterback") has been working with Dr. Royer for 13 years, since he was the starting QB at Michigan State. Kirk pulls no punches: he says that without Dr. Royer, he wouldn't be where he is today. In this episode, Kirk talks about what it takes to be a QB in the NFL, what it took to get there, and how Dr. Royer and Inner Armor have been an essential part of his journey.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

We continue our conversation with Dr. Paul Gammage, exploring how visual acuity affects children's capacity to learn to read, and how different rates of ocular muscle development in children can often lead to misdiagnosis of learning disorders.

Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

One of the three pillars of the Inner Armor program is visual precision, which impacts neurological performance. In this interview with Dr. Paul Gammage, Doc explores how this impacts athletes at the highest levels, in very surprising ways.

Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.

We naturally adapt to our environment. Part of that adaptation is learning, both passive and active. We learn how to do or react, we learn what things mean, and why they are the way they are. But not all learning is positive: we can learn bad habits, misinformation, and to interpret things through faulty lenses.

In this second episode on learning, Doc and Greg explore how to use opportunities to learn for positive growth.

Inner Armor can help you perform, and even thrive, at your potential.

Learn more at ForgeInnerArmor.com.