Thyroid Strong

There’s so much that a strength trainer can do for you, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why I am thrilled to have one of my favorite people ever to on this episode to talk about some of what he does. When I had to learn to press overhead, Matt Semrick was who I was sent to and how I’ve trained has never been the same since. Just about all I know about strength training, I’ve learned from today’s guest.

Matt is an NSCA-CPT and Strong First Level I-certified kettlebell instructor. He’s been training clients for 21 years. Matt is an expert at adapting his instruction to meet his clients where he can help them the most.

Today we talk about the way strength training has changed over the years and how Matt has changed with it. Matt puts his focus on training for longevity and exercising to support his clients and himself over the long run, not just for short-term results. We cover that and so many important topics around training in this interview. I learned so much from it and I’m sure you will too!

How has your training regimen changed and adapted over time? What benefits have you found from lifting? Let me know in the comments!

 

In this episode:

• How strength training has evolved over the last several decades
• Common physical issues that come with a sedentary lifestyle
• Movement correctives and their importance in strength training
• The versatility of the kettlebell and why it’s a great starter tool
• The power breath as an essential part of lifting
• The qualities to look for when searching for a trainer
• Why everyone should weight train by lifting heavy things

 

Quotes:

“You can’t really train yourself to less pain through more pain.” [10:57]

“It doesn’t have to be crazy, complex, cool stuff to be really hard and challenging and produce a result.” [22:43]

“Heavy really does tell you the truth. If you know you can pick up a hundred and something pounds, then you know you can brace up against something and do it.” [39:01]

“There has to be a mixture of approaching heavy things and doing some really ferocious stuff with it, but with an eye towards protecting yourself.” [43:21]

 

Links:

Find Matt online

Enter the Kettlebell book

StrongFirst

Original Strength

National Strength and Conditioning Association

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Used by astronauts, athletes, and senior citizens in rehab, Vasper Technology is changing the way many people are strength training. It’s even becoming more popular in office spaces around the world. Sebastian Wasowski, one of Vasper’s creators, joins me today to tell us what Vasper is and how it can help people in all sorts of situations rebuild muscle.

Vasper is a game-changing technology that allows people in many different physical conditions to fight natural muscle loss. Sebastian has been helping people access the benefits of Vasper since he created it in a backyard in Hawaii. It has since been adopted by scores of fitness programs and organizations, including NASA and several major sports franchises.

Vasper stimulates the body’s production of anabolic hormones by utilizing vascular compression combined with cooling with interval training. With this technology, the user can mimic an intense two-hour workout in 21 minutes without the stress response of a normal high-intensity workout.

Have you used Vasper in your training regimen? Is it something you would consider incorporating into your workout? Tell me about it in the comments on the episode page!

 

In this episode

• What Vasper technology is and how you can benefit from it
• Who can best take advantage of a Vasper workout
• The role of growth hormones in preventing and reversing age-related muscle loss
• What the studies are saying about the implications of integrating Vasper into rehabilitation
• Combining cold exposure with a BFR workout
• The importance of active recovery and Vasper’s role in facilitating it by promoting better sleep

 

Quotes

“It’s through the combination of compression and movement that we’re able to mimic the physiology of a much more intensive workout and initiate some of those benefits.” [2:07]

“The burn that you would normally feel towards the tail-end of a workout, most users begin to feel that during the first three to four minutes, but without being out of breath, without being overheated, without having extensively overloaded their joints to get there.” [5:28]

“We’re also initiating some of the benefits you’d get from intermittent cold exposure.” [18:56]

“Just improving somebody’s sleep, just that one tweak, if you can effectively do that… there’s often so much quality of life that comes back.” [22:14]

 

Links

Find Vasper online

Follow on Facebook | Instagram

 

Cantu Concussion Center

NASA Ames Research Center

Bulletproof Labs

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Most people see physical therapy as a response to an injury. Corinne Croce sees it differently. To her, and a growing number of physical therapists, PT is a regular part of life that will help you maintain a strong and healthy body.

Corinne is redefining what the physical therapy industry is doing. She is a manual therapist who helps her patients integrate their therapy into different aspects of their daily lives. She is also the lead PT at SoulCycle where she trains instructors and helps them stay in top physical shape.

In this conversation, we discuss why most people only go use physical therapy when they are injured or hurting and why that is a mistake. This is especially important for trainers themselves. As someone who has trained hundreds of trainers, Corinne has helped disseminate her message of sustainable physical therapy throughout the industry.

Do you integrate regular physical therapy into your daily life? Tell me about it in the comments on the episode page! About Corinne

Corinne Croce is a Doctor of Physical Therapy.  Corinne received her BA in communications from Arizona State University and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from New York University. 

  Corinne has practiced for over ten years in Manhattan and currently has her own company, which is in the midst of a big expansion. Corinne is also the in-house SoulCycle Doctor of Physical Therapy.   Corinne prides herself on personalized care, client relationships, a whole body treatment approach and encouraging people to look at Physical Therapy as a regular part of their wellness routine. Corinne uses manual therapy and other specialized techniques to achieve great results with her clients: some of her most successful techniques are from certifications in ART, FRR, SMFA, FMS and ANF.     Corinne works with movement and strength coaches, and she has completed her Level 2 Precision Nutrition certification to offer clients expertise in all areas of health. Corinne has strong connections in the medical and fitness industry and prides herself on collaborating with the best to bring the best to her clients.     Through expert care, guidance and confidence in oneself Corinne trusts everyone is capable of meeting their desired goals and she will do whatever she can to get you there.

 

In this episode

• Why a physical therapist should be a partner in helping you maintain your health
• The importance of community and learning from each other
• What burn-out looks like and how to deal with it when it happens
• Learning from a wide range of disciplines so that you are armed with all the information necessary to help your clients
• Growing your own PT business

 

Quotes

“I don’t think physical therapy should be injury based. I think it should be something that is part of your life.” [00:38]

“You don’t have to necessarily have to have a physical career in order to need this stuff. Sitting at desks, as we know, can be one of the most straining things on your body.”[15:22]

“You’re only as good as you are if you’re taking care of yourself. If you’re burnt out, you’re not going to be good to your clients.” [42:48]

 

Links

Send Corinne an email

SoulCycle

Precision Nutrition

Rumble

Shoe Dog

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Nick Rolnick, a physical therapist who specializes in blood flow restriction therapy (BFR) shares how this technique, if properly applied, has a huge range of benefits for building and maintaining muscle using methods seldom applied through traditional training. After taking Nick’s course in BFR, I’ve started to integrate it into my own practice, and now want to share it with you!

Nick works with a wide range of clients to help them build muscle during athletic training or rehab using BFR. He is well versed in the latest research surrounding the topic and views himself as a “human performance mechanic” helping patients diagnose imbalances in their bodies and keep themselves in perfect balance.

BFR involves using a class-1 medical device wrapped around the arm or leg to increase muscle oxygen demand to get muscle mass and strength gains at lower intensities than you would need to otherwise. Maintaining your muscle mass is incredibly important. If done correctly, BFR allows you to exercise with less frequency and intensity than you would normally need to.

Since it originated in the 1960s in Japan, BFR has been used in rehab and athletic training settings around the world. The research into BFR’s benefits is ongoing and we are constantly learning more about how it can be extremely beneficial in many different circumstances.

Have you integrated BFR into your practice? Let us know how it’s going in the comments on the episode page!

 

In this episode

• What BFR is and who it is and isn’t a good fit for
• The reasons why maintaining your muscle mass is so important to longevity and quality of life
• What the research says about standardizing BFR therapy
• How this therapy can help people strength train during rehab
• How to explain BFR to patients so that they understand how it works and what its benefits are

 

Quotes

“What blood flow restriction does is it stimulates those muscles so we can get that adaptation with heavy strength-training and heavier lifting, but we can use much less weight and so we don’t put a lot of stress on the joints. That’s really cool from a rehab perspective and also a performance perspective.” [4:31]

There’s this sweet spot that BFR can accelerate which is getting to that period of time where we’re trying to create as much effort as possible in the contraction that slows down that contraction and that creates maximum overlap in the filaments in the muscle that signal hypertrophy.” [12:43]

“Muscle mass by itself is a predictor of morbidity and mortality, so how well we live our life and when our life ends. So the more that we can have, the better.” [13:59]

“Our bodies actually, for the metabolic stress that happens, the lack of oxygen severely stresses that muscle cell and forces the adaptation, which is great, but it's a very novel feeling.” [39:24]

 

Links

Follow Nick on Facebook | Instagram

The BFR Pros

Train with Nick at Phlex NYC

Training Think Tank

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

There are countless unintended effects of the industrialization of our food. From an animal’s stress hormones to an overabundance of sulfates, all the changes in our food supply have consequences. My guest, Teri Cochrane, has come up with a fascinating, novel, and healthy approach to keeping these harmful elements out of our bodies.

Teri is a nutritional counselor and an integrative practitioner. By using muscle testing along with genetic analysis she helps her patients discover their previously unknown imbalances and take action to address them. Her book, The Wildatarian Diet, is the number one new release on Amazon and definitely worth a read.

In this episode, we discuss so-called healthy foods that can actually be harming our bodies. You may never want to eat peanut butter again after listening (Sorry!). We also talk about her particular approach to the gluten-free diet which is probably not like what you’d expect.

Teri tells us all about her Wildatarian diet and how it can help address and prevent a whole host of problems that result from the modern food chain. She even shares her seared duck recipe!

What do you do to avoid the unhealthy effects of modern agriculture? Let us know in the comments on the episode page!

 

In this episode

• How the modern industrialization of agriculture has introduced many harmful chemicals into our diets
• The role that stress plays in our body’s health
• How you can figure out what type of Wildatarian diet is best for you
• How to structure your diet in a wholesome and well-rounded way

 

Quotes

“When you have an amyloid type protein, it’s misfolded, it’s less digestible, the body can’t break it down, and so it ends up accumulating in the tissue.”[2:10]

“Viruses are being turned on and off just like genes by our environment and part of that environment is our food supply.” [11:00]

“We haven't been able to adapt. Our body and our biochemistry has not caught up with our food supply, how it’s changed in the worst sort of way and also to how our lives have changed.” [12:22]

“Be your own self-advocate and listen to your body. The body has so much information to share with us and if you can tune in, you’ll be surprised at how much it’s telling you.” [27:36]

 

Links

Find Teri Cochrane online

Follow Teri on Instagram | Twitter

What type of Wildatarian are you? Take the quiz!

Sami’s millet and flax bagels

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Many people think of chiropractors as simple back-crackers. I know that that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The proper application of chiropractic medicine has many beneficial effects for anyone in training. My guest today, Dr. Richard Ulm is a perfect case in point as he tells us all about his particular approach to this field.

Dr. Ulm is a chiropractor with a background in strength training. He sees his practice as a way to treat patients and help them optimize performance. He travels all over the world teaching DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) and has developed his training programs around this model.

Dr. Ulm works tirelessly to bridge the gap between DNS and the performance industry. He is truly interested in getting to the bottom of the causes, mechanics, neurology, and anatomy behind the issues he works with. It was truly educational talking with him today and I know you’ll learn a lot too!

In this episode, we discuss Dr. Ulm’s particular approach to working with patients that addresses the whole body, not just the point of pain. We look at how many movement patterns are inborn and neurological. More than anything else this all comes down to early development. We also look at how to find your functional capacity and exercise efficiently within that.

Have you seen a chiropractor as part of your training? Tell us all about it in the comments on the episode page!

 

In This Episode

• What DNS is and how it relates to all the aspects of movement
• The importance of learning and developing movements from infancy and its lifelong effects
• The difference between moving efficiently and effectively and what that means for your athletic sustainability
• Which muscles and systems are the most neurologically fragile and how to avoid problems with them

 

Quotes

“A lot of time the movement patterns that we’re trying to train are so stubborn or resistant to change or they degrade quickly because of the neurology.” [13:53]

“When we’re born the skeletal system, the muscle system, the nervous system is under-developed and it’s going to take another two, three, five years to actually develop these systems and that process, if it does not go to completion, is going to manifest itself in movement dysfunction.” [17:44]

“When you challenge the nervous system to a certain point, when you exceed a certain threshold, they’re going to resort into a more primitive stabilizing strategy.”  [36:45]

 

Links

Athlete Enhancement

Follow Dr. Ulm on Instagram 

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Training smarter is certainly not the same thing as training harder. If you are a trainer, finding the right balance between the two so you can meet the needs of your clients and get them to their peak is not always an intuitive process. Performance expert and self-described gym-dork, Don Saladino and I discuss what it means to train intelligently to meet clients where they need you the most.

Don is a trainer of some big-name athletes and celebrities who you might have seen in big screen action hero movies. He is a pro at training his clients to excel in their areas of need instead of pushing them to fit some unadjustable plan. For Don, getting healthy is an internal transformation as much, if not more, than an external and ascetic one.

In this episode, we talk about how we define success as a trainer. We get into why it takes a supportive family and a great business team to excel in this field and why it’s important to level-up smartly and build a brand focused on creativity. With this in mind, Don shares some great tips on how to succeed as a trainer.

If you are a trainer or even if you just use one, this is an episode not to be missed!

How do you train your clients in a healthy and supportive way while also growing a sustainable business? Let us know in the comments on the episode page!

 

In This Episode

• The mental transformations necessary to getting fit and healthy
• Why it’s important to take a break from your training from time to time
• How to train smart by doing “the minimal effective dose”
• Why the focus on variability in a training program is overblown

 

Quotes

“Be the smartest coach but make things relatable to people. Allow them to have fun with their training.” [9:18]

“I do believe even if your body is feeling good you should scale back. You need to give your mind a little bit of a break. You need to go out, eat some burgers and drink a couple of beers and just detach yourself from it. Give your joints a little bit of a break.”  [18:48]

“I do believe now that if you want to get better at something you have to do it more frequently. But to do it more frequently you also have to cut back on the intensity a little bit.”  [38:37]

 

Links

Don Saladino

Follow Don on Instagram | Facebook

Playbook App

Drive495

Garden of Life

Epicured

On Running

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Low testosterone is a huge concern for many men. We’re still discovering the best science for diagnosing and treating this issue. With so many different voices and studies out there, it can be hard to know just where to start when approaching low testosterone.

Good thing we have Dr. Ralph Esposito in here to demystify this topic. He is a naturopathic physician, licensed acupuncturist, and functional medicine practitioner. It’s not every day we come across a practitioner with this much experience in so many different fields.

As he puts it, “I have a soft spot for hormones.” I’d say he also has an incredible amount of knowledge. One of Dr. Esposito's most impressive skills might just be his ability to explain complex concepts in a way that we can all wrap our head around.

Today we discuss many of the common, and not so common, causes of low testosterone, how to diagnose it, and some effective yet seldom used methods for treating it. If you are a man, or even if you just know one, this is an important episode.

Are you concerned with how low testosterone could impact your health? Leave a comment on the episode page!

 

In this episode

• The importance of managing stress in order to have healthy hormone levels
• How testosterone affects muscle growth and why androgen receptors are the key element in this
• Why he bucks the traditional option of supplementing testosterone as a first resort for treatment
• The top three things that men are doing that contribute to low testosterone
• Why getting regular full nights of sleep is perhaps the most important thing you can do to maintain healthy hormonal health
• Why socializing and forming healthy personal connections is more important to your hormonal health than many realize

 

Quotes

“So I realized that naturopathic medicine is the way to genuinely cure and heal the body using nutrition, diet, lifestyle, supplements, pharmaceuticals when necessary, surgery when necessary.” [5:41]

“You can’t understand male hormones without also understanding female hormones. But you need to  understand the differences in them.” [9:42]

“Sleep over everything. You do more damage if you wake up an hour early to try to get an extra hour of training in. If the end goal is to exercise more, then go ahead, wake up early and exercise more. But if the end goal is to improve performance and body composition, then get the extra hour.”  [40:40]

 

Links

Dr. Ralph Esposito’s Website

Find Ralph on Instagram | Twitter

Dutch Test

Kamwo Herbs

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Ben Pakulski, or ‘Pak-Man’ is an IFBB International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness professional bodybuilder and shares our belief in the importance of feeding your largest organ, the muscle. As Ben told us, the best nutrition in the world isn't going to be effective if you aren't moving those muscles effectively, and we couldn’t agree more.

His constant desire to keep pushing himself got Ben hooked on bodybuilding, and he uses his passion to help his clients focus on how to really challenge your muscles as efficiently and as effectively as possible. Today we talk about the importance of being challenged in your workout and creating a resilient body through variety in training. Ben believes in nutritional intervention to remove toxic burdens, focusing inward instead of on external influences, and why it's important to be uncomfortable in your workout.

Have you ever thought about diving into bodybuilding? Let us know your thoughts on Ben’s training regime in the comments on the episode page.

 

In This Episode

• Sympathetic stress and how it could be skewing your results
• Using nutritional intervention to remove toxic burdens
• Some elements that are commonly missing from people’s training programs
• Learning how to execute exercise specifically for your body
• Manipulating variables in exercise to gain total control and ownership

 

Quotes

“If we keep doing the same thing over and over and over again, then your only option is to work harder. But if you learn to work smarter and you learn to strategically vary your stimulus, you can very easily manipulate the stimuli with actually less overall work and thereby less overall stress on the system. (5:01)

“It all comes down to the autonomic nervous system, and if your body can't be in a parasympathetic state after the gym or when you are sleeping, because you are so riled up. And if you don't have enough time to kind of fluctuate through those natural daily circadian rhythms that require sleep for detoxification of the organs and detoxification of the brain and for optimizing the digestive track, you literally just cant build muscle, it's just an impossibility.” (15:23)

“Objectively you need to lay down and learn how to set yourself up to advantage that muscle that you are trying to train. Whether it's your quads or glutes or hamstrings or back, or whatever, you need to learn to set up for your body. And I’ve kind of made my business teaching people how to do that for their body and trying to simplify it as much as possible. And it's really not complicated, it just sounds complicated.” (20:35)

“The way we train is the most efficient because the objective is not lifting weights. The objective is how much can I challenge this muscle in the shortest amount of time possible.” (39:47)

 

Links

Ben Pakulski

Follow Ben on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram

The Urban Monk Book

International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

For many of us, our wellness journey is heavily skewed towards the physical, mental, and emotional, leaving us spiritually underdeveloped. As Greg Amundson explains, this is a mistake every bit as critical as failing to exercise our bodies and minds.

Greg is an authority at the forefront of the wellness world with a breadth of experience and knowledge. He’s a former DEA Special Agent, US Army Captain, CrossFit coach, seminary student, and four-time author. Today, we’re diving into the universal quest for meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. No easy task to be sure!

Based on historical teachings and the warrior mindset, Greg is a crusader for turning your attention inward and serving others by leading yourself. He believes that the greatest adaptation for any physical practice happens between the ears and uses his spirituality to inspire his clients and fans.

Greg walks us through his view on spiritual practice, how to master the productivity of your own thinking and the importance of being conscious in the words that you speak. He shares his personal journey to finding enlightenment in Christianity, what his newest book is trying to achieve, and how he is spreading a unified message that transcends spirituality and time.

What role does spirituality play in your life? Was there ever a time where you felt a lack of spirituality negatively impacted your life? Leave a comment on the episode page!

 

In This Episode

• How Greg’s parents influenced his outlook on life
• Rituals to help you tap into your creative process and spirit
• Understanding how to approach your own spiritual, physical and mental practice
• Embracing the warrior archetype and self-mastery
• Why seeking out spirituality is essential for your overall wellness

 

Quotes

“When I reflect on the most creative times in my life, when I was in what they refer to in the warrior tradition as mushin or without mind, without consciousness, in flow state, it's just allowing the Holy Spirit to freely navigate my life.” (5:44)

“I think God was up to more than simply reproduction of the species. I think to be fruitful and to multiply could also mean creativity. That your ideas are like seeds and they can sprout and bring forth an amazing harvest that can benefit humanity.” (8:07)

“When we embrace the warrior archetype we are more desirous of looking at what we do as much more meaningful. All of the sudden everything has greater meaning. There is no time for the luxury of idle thinking. There is no time for the luxury of idle action or idle speaking, in fact, the more progressive you develop yourself on the spiritual path the more self-aware you have to be” (19:34)

“So often we speak without thinking, without real consciousness. And that's such a shame because our words are potentially so full of creative manifesting power. Yet we tend to throw them around aimlessly.” (32:40)

“There tends to be great divide, great division, in spiritual path. And yet a true spiritual path seeks unity not division. So religion creates war, spirituality creates union.” (35:41)

 

Links

Gregory Amundson Website

Follow Greg on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

The Warrior and The Monk Book

Unbeatable Mind Episode with Greg Amundson

Dan Brule - Breath Mastery

The Greg Amundson Show

 

 

Check out the full show notes for this episode here

Urban Wellness Clinic

Follow Emily & Urban Wellness on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube