April 17, 2024 • 46 mins
Have you ever found yourself caught in the grip of a high-pressure work environment, dreaming of a path that aligns more closely with your core values? Sam Kwieraga, a Doctor of Physical Therapy turned entrepreneur, certainly has. Sam joins us to recount her remarkable transition from the hustle of outpatient orthopedic clinics to the birth of her business, Unleashed Athletics, a haven for former female athletes seeking a more holistic approach to wellness. Through our conversation, we uncover the difficulties Sam encountered in traditional healthcare settings and how the pandemic's sting of job loss became the catalyst for her innovative online physical therapy and coaching venture.
Navigating the terrain of online physical therapy may seem daunting, yet Sam paints a picture of the rich tapestry of benefits it offers over its traditional counterpart—daily communication with clients and a broader focus on overall wellbeing. As we delve into the nuances of form analysis and the empowerment of self-review in movement correction, you'll see how Sam's clients are reaping the rewards of this modern approach. Shifting gears, we also tackle the emotional hurdles athletes face when hanging up their competitive jerseys, discussing how Sam's unique four-phase training program aids their journey toward a new identity and rekindled passion for an active lifestyle.
In the final stretch, we zoom out to appreciate the overarching theme of athleticism in life as portrayed by Sam's philosophy. It's not just about setting records or competing; it's about preparing for life's hurdles with confidence and resilience. Wrapping up our illuminating discussion, Sam leaves us with an open invitation to join her on Instagram at DocSamFit for a treasure trove of fitness insights and an offer to engage with her directly, encouraging anyone on the path to a pain-free, empowered existence to reach out. Join us as we celebrate the confluence of physical therapy, entrepreneurship, and the unyielding spirit of athletes in every walk of life.
Instagram: @docsamfit
Wedsite: https://unleashedathletics.co/
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2B84NqR6XqtXWKFB0M21lA?si=00506e8ff1b34b95
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If you have general questions about pain you're experiencing send us a DM on instagram or email at wellinformed24@gmail.com
Michael Stant has also launched a weekly blog, Well-Informed. If interested in following. You can subscribe to the following link: https://wellinformed24.substack.com/?r=5o7rl0&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the GFY podcast, a podcast by healthcare
professionals providing insighton how to navigate your health
so that you can go fix yourself.
The GFY podcast is hosted byMike Bruno, a chiropractor and
athletic trainer, and yourstruly, michael Stant, an
athletic trainer and certifiedstrength conditioning specialist
.
Although we are healthcareproviders, we are not your
healthcare provider.
We will discuss general healthinterventions in this podcast,
(00:23):
but you should not take that ashealth advice that works in
every situation.
Before doing anything on yourown or making any lifestyle
changes, please consult withyour own physician.
This podcast and views fromthis podcast are separate from
our full-time jobs and our ownopinions.
Today, we'll be discussingathletes transitioning to what
some would maybe call the NARPlife, and we can discuss what
(00:44):
that actually means.
Acronym wise, but we'll bediscussing that with Sam Coraga
Probably screwed that last nameup.
Still, sam is a graduate ofSpringfield College, with her
doctorate in physical therapy.
During that time, she obtainedher strength conditioning
certification.
In August of 2022, she openedup her own business called
Unleashed Athletics.
Unleashed Athletics specializesin helping former female
(01:06):
athletes who have been plaguedby injury and re-injury to get
back to high-level activitiespain-free, while building the
physique of their dreams.
So that was my quick LinkedInstalking of you.
So you know, sam, if you wantto kind of elaborate more so of
how you got to where you're attoday and kind of you know,
(01:30):
because I think when you thinkphysical, therapy, you think the
?
traditional outpatientorthopedic, working with I don't
know, three to four people atonce and things like that.
So you kind of want to you know, because I think when you start
your own business there'susually I don't want to say
jaded, but there's usually areason, a reason why, where you
go, you know what that, thatthing that I was trying to do
before just wasn't for me.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My company honestly startedunder a different premise.
Um I, when COVID hit, I hadthree jobs, lost them all.
They were all like working insome kind of healthcare
environment where the patientswere compromised, so I couldn't.
They didn't want outsiders.
Um, so lost all my jobs and Iwas like, oh, what do I do now?
(02:09):
I have to pay for school.
I was in the middle of mydoctorate program, um, and I was
like okay, so I guess we'regoing to try to find a way to
make money on my own.
I was already passionate abouthealth and fitness.
I had an eating disorder inhigh school and what really
saved me was learning aboutnutrition and strength training.
So COVID hit.
I had already been liftingsince 2015.
(02:31):
So I'd been lifting for fiveyears.
I was really passionate aboutit and a friend had reached out
to me and said hey, like whatare you doing?
And I was like literallynothing, trying to figure out
how to make money.
And he was like why don't youcome do a CSCS internship with
me?
Like nobody's in the clinic,we're just going to run it, just
me and you.
And I was like dope, why not?
So did a CSCS internship withhim, got my CSCS.
(02:52):
He was also a doctor ofphysical therapy and had his
CSCS.
And then from there, I juststarted building out online
because it was COVID, so youcouldn't really be in person.
I started training my friendsfor like 20 bucks a month like
dirt cheap, just trying to getstarted, and from there it just
kind of started to grow.
I started posting stuff onInstagram.
(03:12):
People were following me, theywere liking my post, and so it
started as a strength training,gain muscle, like physique
development company.
Then, when I graduated schooland I had more physical therapy
knowledge under my belt in 2022,I was like okay, how do I now
incorporate this into mybusiness?
Because physical therapy is mybiggest passion as well, and I
(03:36):
started working in a clinic,like you said, seeing four to
five patients in an hour,absolute rat race.
I couldn't keep my head onstraight, like felt like I
couldn't give my patients thequality of care that I wanted to
give.
I didn't get to know them aspeople.
It was like, oh, I have myAchilles coming in, I have my
ACL coming in, and it's like Idon't want to be knowing people
by their injuries, I want toknow them for themselves and I
(04:00):
couldn't touch on.
You know, some of my patientswould come in and I'm like, how
much sleep did you get lastnight?
Five hours of sleep.
I'm like, all right, that's nothelping us here.
Like you need to sleep, youneed to eat.
There's like your stress isthrough the roof.
No wonder why you still havepain, no wonder why it's injury
after injury.
And I simply did not have timeto give that education because
(04:21):
it was back-to-back patientsbetween patients, notes, calling
doctors, calling insurances.
There was just no time to givethe quality of care that I
wanted to give.
So I only worked in outpatientphysical therapy for a year and
a half after school until I waslike I can't do this anymore.
My online business wascontinuing to grow, I had got
some more continuing education,I got my pain-free performance
(04:42):
specialist certification, andI'm currently in a program
called Active Life Professional,where I am still learning to
bridge that gap as well.
So that's kind of where mybusiness started and where it is
now.
And now I'm really passionateabout helping former female
(05:03):
athletes I actually do work witha couple of males, mostly
females, though rediscover theirconfidence and strength and
love for an active life, becausethey feel like, you know, pt
didn't do what they needed forthem.
They didn't get the care thatthey needed.
It was like, if they haveAchilles issues, okay, stretch
your calves, do calf raises.
And it's like, okay, what aboutthe hamstrings?
What about, like, thepositioning of the subtalar
(05:25):
joint?
Like, do we know what thatlooks like?
And again, it's just, I don'tthink it's a like ignorance of
the physical therapist, I thinkit's a simply a lack of time,
and that is just how theindustry is built right now.
So my real, like biggeroverarching goal in this life is
to help shift healthcare to bemore of that personable.
(05:49):
You know kind of forceinsurance companies to adapt, or
else they're going to crumbleBecause we're finding that a lot
more of the really greathealthcare professionals are
cash-based, because in order toprovide that quality care, we
have to go cash-based to havemore time with our patients.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So that's in a nutshell Can you hear my snaps?
That was great.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, that was awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Go ahead, Bruno.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I was, you're, so we are so on the same page.
Props to Krista for likerecognizing and then putting us
together.
Um, but there's there's so muchthere that I want to dig into,
but first, first and foremost,congratulations, love it.
Um uh, second of all um, telleveryone where you're located.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I'm in New York.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Nice, and so do you have people who are mostly local
, or is it because it's online,you have people spread across
the country.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I actually have people spread across the
country.
I also do have a couple ofclients in Canada, Australia.
Our reach is pretty far, whichis pretty awesome.
I actually don't have manyclients near me which I wish I
had more of, so we're prettyspread out which I wish I had
(07:07):
more of.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So we're pretty spread out Very cool.
So, from the dynamic of theonline presence versus the
physical presence, walk usthrough a little bit on how you
help bridge that gap, like youwere saying.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, so at times I do miss the in-person.
There's a give and a take within-person versus online.
Again, online I'm just.
I talk to my clients almost ona daily basis, so we have that
back and forth communication.
I know when they're having agood day, I know when they're
having a bad day.
I know when they just passedtheir oral exam to get their
(07:37):
master's.
I know when they are justhaving a down day and they need
more mindset work that day thanphysical work.
And for me, because of that, Ican really help change their
lives and change their mindsetand their perspective on pain,
on training and on what healthreally means.
(07:59):
In person, Like I said, there'sjust not enough time and when
you do like in-person training,you don't.
You're with your patient oryour client for an hour.
And what about the other 23hours in a day, like?
And if you're with them for,like, if you have one to two
sessions with them a week, soyou're with them for two hours a
week, like, and what is that?
I think I think I've done themath before I think it's like
(08:19):
168 hours in a week, like.
What else are they doing withthose other 166 hours?
And that's important and that'swhat I feel like is missing in
the rehab space is we focus somuch on foam rolling, soft
tissue work, stretching,movement, which is all very
important, but without the otherstuff it's it's kind of a moot
(08:42):
point, like you're going to keepdoing the same stuff and you're
still not going to feel goodbecause you're not actually
addressing the reason you'refeeling tight or the reason
you're in pain.
The reason you're weak isbecause you're not eating enough
, you're not sleeping enough.
Um, so that's why I love theonline, because I talk to my
clients on a daily basis.
Um, it does get tricky with, youknow, analyzing their form,
(09:03):
because some clients at firstare like I am very scared of
filling myself in the gym.
So there's another barrier thatwe have to overcome.
But it's also educating themthat filming yourself in the gym
is not only just for me, it'sfor yourself, because you can't
watch yourself while you'redoing a movement.
So if something doesn't feelright to you, if you don't know
what it looks like, then how areyou going to know what to
(09:27):
correct or what's going wrong,and you might just give up the
exercise altogether, when wecould have made a simple tweak
to fix it so that you can feelgood and continue to do that
movement.
So there is sometimes a barrierto overcome.
Sometimes I'm lucky and I getclients who come in already
recording themselves, so it'seasy.
But some clients I have toreally get through that barrier
with them of like hey, nobodyelse cares that you're filming
(09:50):
yourself in the gym, um, andkind of get over that aspect of
it.
But I have them send me formvideos.
Obviously sometimes the anglesaren't great so I'm like all
right.
I need a different angle nexttime.
Can't really see anything here.
So you know there's somebarriers to online when it comes
to form analysis.
I feel like, outside of that, Ijust feel like the online
(10:10):
allows me to really connect withmy clients on a deeper level
because I can talk to them everyday.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I think too, like it just allows you to, you
know, right, when you're in thatoutpatient setting, or like,
right, you're seeing all thesepeople you kind of talked about
it, it's like one.
Like there's that barrierpurposely that's supposed to
kind of also protect you as aphysical therapist of, yeah, you
only see them there, and that'sit.
And it's like kind of awork-life balance, the same
thing.
But then, but then, like yourealize, oh yeah, I don't sleep,
(10:39):
I don't get enough to eat, um,yeah, those are the real issues
yeah, exactly, I mean going backin the college setting.
For me it's uh, when I was thereit was same thing.
It was, like you know, we werethere, we treat in like on the
athletic training world.
We did have regularcommunication.
But, like you know, we we wouldhave an uptick in acls one year
and and he'd be like, well,what happened?
(11:01):
I'm like, and it'd be like,okay, well, in October we had
three or four of them forwhatever reason.
And I'm like, okay, well,october's midterms.
So like there's a lot of stressgoing on.
They're not sleeping.
Oh, guess what happens whenthey get done midterms?
They're going out and boozing.
So like how am I supposed to beable to stop any of that?
So, any of that.
(11:27):
So I think you and Bruno see alot of the same stuff, because I
think both of you end up kindof seeing the people that the
traditional side maybe failed orlike, hey, I went to someone
first, it wasn't working.
I'm going to explore somethingelse.
Do you feel like that'ssomething you see regularly?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, because I think that the other issue is again
in person.
You're capped with time andresources and insurance is like
kind of has a chokehold on you.
So if you have a patient comingin for ankle issues, you got to
treat the ankle.
If you're exercising theirshoulder, the insurance is going
(12:01):
to be like I'm not coveringthis.
They're here for ankle issues.
Why are you doing anything totheir shoulder when really the
shoulder was the issue?
Because compensation up anddown the chain right Like right
shoulder issue could be actuallya left ankle problem or left
ankle problem like vice versa.
So when you're in the physicaltherapy clinic, you can't be
treating the shoulder for anankle issue because insurance
(12:23):
doesn't see that as correct.
So they're like why am I payingfor this?
And then you also can't treatmultiple body parts at once.
So I see a lot of people whohave back pain, knee pain and
shoulder pain and you go to PTand they're like well, we can
only treat your back first, thenwe have to treat your knee,
then we have to treat yourshoulder and that's if you have
enough visits.
Then we have to treat yourshoulder, and that's if you have
(12:44):
enough visits and theninsurance caps you on visits.
So for me, I take a full bodyapproach, like when my clients
come into the program, whetherthey're currently dealing with
pain, whether it's mobilityissues, whether they just want
to get strong, they all gothrough the same assessment
process and it's a full bodyassessment process.
So we do full body mobility.
So I'm looking at OK, are welacking mobility anywhere?
(13:04):
Are we hyper mobile and needmore stability?
And then I also do a strengthbalance exam where I'm looking
at left versus right sides inthe upper body and in the lower
body, taking that informationand designing a program for them
.
And it might look like, youknow, like I'm designing them a
full workout program.
So it's not like people are likecome in and they're like, oh,
we're going to do physicaltherapy exercises.
(13:26):
Why am I barbell back,squatting?
And I'm like because that'swhat you actually need.
Like you don't need to dobanded like band abductions with
your freaking knees.
Like you need to squat, youneed to.
We need to load the tissues, um, so that's where I think I see
a lot of clients come in.
Is that what they did beforewasn't working?
(13:48):
Because it wasn't actuallytargeting what was wrong.
So, like I said before, ifsomeone's going in for calf
issues, a lot of PTs againbecause capped on time, like not
necessarily because they'reignorant, just capped on time.
Oh, calf, okay, we're going todo calf raises, we're going to
do foam rolling back issues.
Okay, core and glute, core andglute.
And I fell into that.
I'm not going to lie, like whenI was in the clinic somebody
(14:10):
came in for back problems.
I'm like that's easy, just coreand glute work, no problem.
And now as I'm learning like,and I have more time to analyze
my clients and work with themreally one-on-one, I'm able to
see that everybody with backpain actually doesn't always
need core and glute work,sometimes, like, they need ankle
work, sometimes they needshoulder work, sometimes they
need thoracic spine work.
But for me in the clinic,capped on time, I was just like,
(14:33):
all right, core and glutes,that'll help you.
Like that's easy for me, youknow, and I hate that I fell
into that.
But that's why I left, becauseI didn't like the therapist that
I was becoming, because I wasjust kind of putting everybody
into the same bucket, because Ididn't have time to really sit
and think critically about thesituation yeah, I actually had a
very similar conversation witha guy um yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
He was like he really come in for like long history
of knee and back problems and hementioned his shoulder like a
couple it's only like firstcouple visits and he was like
telling me something more andmore about his shoulder.
I was like that's like limitingyou in x, y and z.
Like why have you not likebrought that up as a priority?
He's like, oh, because like I'mhere for and Z.
Like why have you not likebrought that up as a priority?
(15:18):
And he's like, oh, because likeI'm here for my, my back, I'm
here for my knee.
Like I didn't think you couldeven help me with my shoulder.
I was like I was like all right,let's throw that thought in the
garbage, because anything thatwe can do we will do.
I tell clients all the time likeif you're going to commit to
this process, like working withme, like I'm equally as
committed to you as you are tome.
So it's a very much teamworkthing, maybe like quarterback
(15:42):
running back type situation, butit's not like like I am this
like exercise at home and like Ididn't get it, or like I
thought this was stupid.
Like when people come in andgive me like honest feedback
that's so helpful, because ifyou're not going to actually do
(16:04):
it at home and you're just likeworried about hurting my
feelings or like sounding dumb,like oh, I can't do it at home
without your guidance, thenwe're wasting our time.
So we have to get stuff that'slike simple, effective and
enjoyable all bundled togetherand then you can like take that
and run with it, and then that'swhere we really start stacking
skills.
I don't know if you agree withthis or not, but my, my whole
(16:28):
thing is like it's really likethe education and skill
component is really where like80% of the physical is, but like
the entire problem, like you'vekind of alluded to already is
like could even be outside ofthe physical pain, right, like
if you're having like a crappyday at work and your girlfriend
dumps you and like all this kindof stuff like that, the weather
(16:49):
like all that stuff like addsup in a weird way where in
isolation, it seems like doesthat?
actually mean anything, but itis really useful.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, I mean, you know I have I use this like stub
your toe analogy.
You know like if you're havinga great day like life's good,
and you stub your toe, you'relike whatever, like rub it off,
like it obviously doesn't feelgreat.
But if you're having like ashit day weather sucks, like
said girlfriend dumps, you, likework was terrible, and you stub
(17:22):
your toe at the end of theworld like that could cause a
meltdown.
And like and it's happened to mebefore, I've noticed it.
So stress really plays a rolein how you.
It really does decrease yourpain tolerance, so it really
plays a role in how you feel andhow you perceive pain.
Um.
So yeah, I completely agreewith that nice cool um go
Speaker 1 (17:48):
ahead.
I will go, um, so kind oftransitioning into all right, so
you deal with the pain andwhatnot.
I think kind of what we'rewanting to dive in a little bit
more today.
Which kind of that.
How, how are you helpingathletes kind of transition out
of sport?
Um, you know, I I mean I Ithink we've talked about it
before on this podcast about youknow there's a lot of identity
(18:08):
that goes with these athletesfrom sport.
You know their whole identityis I was a college soccer player
or I was, you know, the bestplayer on my, on my high school
badminton team or something likethat.
So so you know, I just I kindof want to talk about how you
kind of approach that and kindof what you've seen as you know,
(18:29):
some things that are commonthemes around those people or
those athletes or those nowpossibly non-athletic regular
people narps that's what nartmeans by it full circle.
Anyone who's?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
curious like you just dropped that out of nowhere,
non-athletic regular person um,yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So I see a lot of former athletes who want that
competitive edge back andthey've gone from playing sport
to CrossFit, training formarathons, triathlons, spartan
races, you know all of those funthings that give you that
competitive edge, or simply justplaying in their sport,
(19:09):
depending on what their sport isLike.
My sport was lacrosse.
There's not a lot of adultlacrosse leagues around.
I'm trying to start one Ifanybody's in the Westchester
area and wants to start.
Was lacrosse.
There's not a lot of adultlacrosse leagues around.
I'm trying to start one Ifanybody's in the Westchester
area and wants to start alacrosse league with me, please
let me know.
So having them transition out oflike sport to that competitive
(19:30):
like, still having thatcompetitive edge, and helping
them train for the new demandsof their new sport Because going
from playing lacrosse toCrossFit are different demands
on the body and even though ifyou played high school, college,
like whatever it was and someof them do give you like a
strength training program evenif you had that program like,
(19:50):
you never designed it foryourself, you never really
learned the meaning behindanything.
Your coaches just kind of saidhey, come in, do this lift and
leave.
You know, do this conditioningand leave, play this game and
leave, and you didn't reallylearn the why behind things.
So my part of my role in mycompany is to help our athletes
(20:12):
learn how to do this on theirown.
So we have a four phase processand the last phase is our
unleash phase, where I actuallyhave our athletes create their
program on their own, send it tous for review and then we talk
them through what feels goodabout their program, what we
might change, so that this waythey start to learn how to build
it themselves and they don'tfeel like when coaching ends
they're just confused and leftfor their own again, just like
(20:35):
they were after sport.
So there's a lot of education,like you said, bruno, like
there's a lot of education thatgoes into it, you know, and then
it also comes down to theperson who maybe didn't have
that competitive edge aftersport ended and they suddenly
develop back and shoulder painbecause they transitioned from
(20:56):
two a days to a desk job andthey're like why am I in so much
pain?
Oh, it had to have been thefact that I played sports for
the last decade and it's like no, because you just went from
training six days a week tositting at a desk for 10 hours a
day and not training, and maybetraining like twice a week or
not training at all.
So it's helping them get backinto that and find the
(21:16):
competitive edge within the gym,within themselves.
Like some of my athletes don'tdo marathons or CrossFit or
whatever, they're just trainingin the gym but they're always
looking to hit new PRs becausethey have that competitive edge
and that's what makes us like asathletes, training brings us
back home, because that's thething that makes us feel like
ourselves, being able to compete, whether it's with other people
(21:38):
or with ourselves.
So it's also kind of helpingthem find their identity again
outside of sport, or simplyathletes who have been to PT
before still dealing withrepercussions of injuries.
Like I literally worked withsomeone who was like I tore my
ACL seven years ago and I'venever felt the same since and
(22:00):
I'm like, okay, red flag.
So we're working together torebuild up her strength and
essentially it's just that sheneeds more single leg strength.
Like in my mind it's not thatcomplicated what she needs, but
in her mind she had no idea.
So it's teaching her what sheneeds to feel like herself again
, to be able to hike again andnot feel like she's going to
(22:20):
hold the group back, to be ableto, like, say yes to a run with
her friend without feeling likeshe's going to be in pain all
the next day.
So it's helping with thattransition out of like you're
forced to show up to lifts,you're forced to show up to
conditioning and games andwhatnot, and now you're on your
own.
How do you make that happen onyour own and be able to do it
(22:42):
confidently and do it pain-free?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I love the script flipped of like write your own
program and let me review it.
I might steal that.
That's so good.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Do it.
I mean, like that's what peopleneed, because if I'm just
writing you a program for a year, most of my clients sign on
with me for nine to 12 months,and majority of them is 12
months.
So if I'm writing you programsfor a year, when we're done, how
are you going to know to do iton your own?
You know, I want to make sure,like my goal is not to keep you
forever, like my goal is to helpyou do this on your own, and
(23:16):
that's the best way in my mindto have them do it.
It's like you do it yourself.
Send it to me and I'll let youknow what I think.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, that's like You're like the hinge of
healthcare designed to be firedafter 12 months, so-.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
I'm surprised.
You know what hinge is, Mikey.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Only because of you All right.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fun hinges, mikey, only because of you all, right,
uh, fun fact, that is how I metmy fiance.
But um with, with the athleteslike transitioning out I know
you mentioned I kind of say thesame thing too when you were
like are they competing withsomebody or like competing with
themselves?
Do you have um like, do you seethat more often, where people
are like I just want to getbetter for me, or like I need to
(24:02):
run an Ironman, or like dowhatever like the thing is, and
they're like competing againstothers.
What do you see more commonly?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
First I see them coming to me for decreased pain,
improved strength and overallwanting to feel better for
themselves.
Then, once they build thatconfidence, they'll like trickle
in little things like, hey,what do you think about me
running a marathon next year?
And I'm like, is that somethingyou want to do?
Hey, what do you think about medoing this spurt and race in a
(24:31):
couple months?
Okay, let's start training.
So it it's.
It usually starts with the forthemselves, but then happens to.
They build the confidence andthey're having that competitive
edge in the gym with themselvesagain that they're like what
else can I do?
And that's my goal is to helpthem like unleash their inner
(24:51):
athlete again and find that lovefor an active life again that
they might have lost after sport.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Ah, I see the name, I see the branding there.
That's good, that's real goodWith the way that, like it
sounds like you're you mentionedyou.
They have like four phases.
Can you talk us through, likeyou mentioned, a couple of
different spots.
Can you walk us through theentire process on, like how a
typical client starts and endswith you?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah.
So, like I said, we go througha pretty intensive assessment
process.
So our first week I have themdo a seven-day startup.
So every day they have aneducational video to watch
around training and aroundmindset, and then they have.
On day two they have a breathwork assessment to send to me.
(25:43):
On day three they have amovement assessment and on day
five they will have anyadditional testing I might want.
So if their mobility assessmentis pretty clear, I'll have them
do a strength balance exam.
If there's a lot of red flagsin their movement assessment,
we'll focus there first and thendo the strength balance later
on down the road.
(26:04):
So this is our first phase.
It's called our uncover phase,so we're uncovering limiting
beliefs around your ability totrain pain-free.
We're uncovering your mobilitylimitations, your strength
limitations and any holes inyour foundation.
So I also have them do a timeaudit, a habit audit, where we
look at what does your daysactually look like?
Like you feel like you don'thave time.
(26:25):
So where can we create the time?
Like where?
How much time are you spendingon social media a day?
You know, I have them tell me,walk me through a day in their
life and they tell me an entireday in their life, Um, so that
this way I have a goodunderstanding of what is going
on, what are their demands?
You know, I get on a sales callwith someone, we're talking,
and then they fill out theironboarding form and all of a
(26:46):
sudden I find out that she's gottwo kids and a dog at home and
I'm like you didn't tell me thatin the first place.
So I would have never known ifI didn't ask Um.
So knowing those things, likesomeone who has two kids or
someone who has no kids that's adifferent scenario.
Um, so this is where the firstphase is really finding where
the gaps are and figuring outhow to fill them.
(27:09):
We're really the first phaselasts like about a month where
we are really building up thefoundation.
So priorities are sleep, stressmanagement, nutrient quality,
building a routine in the gymand working on those mobility
deficits.
So they still have a program,but the focus is not training
intensity yet.
The focus is get consistent,focus on your foundation.
(27:31):
Our second phase is our unfoldphase and that's where we really
dive more into training becausenow they're in, ideally, their
foundation is stronger it's notideal yet right Like we're going
to be building on it throughoutthe whole process.
But their foundation isstronger.
So now we've hopefully raisedtheir capacity a little bit to
(27:52):
be able to handle more in thegym.
So now we're able to pushharder in the gym, push more
range of motion, because they'vedeveloped mobility through
their program and we're reallyworking on any linchpins that
they have.
We're doing a lot of single leg, single arm work to work on any
imbalances and really workingon whatever their deficits are.
(28:12):
Then we have our unlock phaseand this is kind of where the
expectation is.
We redo our movement assessment, we redo the strength balance
exam and there's improvementsand we kind of repeat the
process.
So wherever there is stillkinks in the hose, we are going
to work out those kinks.
In this unlock phase reallyhone in on training intensity,
(28:34):
strength building.
This is where they might belike I'm feeling good, I want to
go do a marathon, I want to godo an Ironman, I want to do this
, and so this is where we getreally specific with training
for something specific.
Or if they don't have anythingspecific they want to train for,
we just continue to push PRs.
Maybe we have some physiquegoals, and then this is where
we're really developing anathlete again.
(28:57):
And then our unleash phase iswhere we're transitioning out of
tracking macros to intuitiveeating, from me programming to
them programming, so now theycan go and do this for the rest
of their lives and staypain-free and not come back and
see me, because the number oneindicator of future PT is past
(29:17):
PT for the same region.
So my goal is to stop thatright Like that's a red flag.
So this is how, why I have thefour phase process and why I
have my clients stay with me fornine to 12 months, because
realistically, that's how longit takes to build these habits
that are going to last alifetime.
And in the grand scheme ofthings, like nine to 12 months
in what like a 80 year life islike minuscule, but that's if I
(29:45):
can make a change in that timefor them to be able to continue
and stay younger longer.
That's my goal.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I love that off the bat because I think this is what
you run in all the time.
People come and see you,they're looking for that quick
fix, rich scheme type type ofdeal, like how can I get fixed
quickly?
And like, right off the bat,being like this is a longer
process than you think.
There's no six weeks of pt thatare going to address all of
your issues.
There's, you're right, like the9 to 12 months, like each of of
(30:16):
those phases you know right,it's like a three month each
phase.
Right, if they're with you for12 months type of deal.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, back, and you know back and forth depends.
I always tell them it's about amonth for Uncover, unfold and
Unlock kind of depend Unleash.
I like to be the last twomonths of us working together so
they can build at least liketwo programs for themselves, so
they can feel really I don'twant them to just build one
program, I want them to buildtwo and feel really confident
(30:43):
about continuing to do that downthe line.
So it really varies person toperson and I actually have a lot
of clients that end upresigning for another year.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
So really most people stay with me for like one to
two years yeah, because I theyrealize how much, how much it
takes.
And also like even in one yearyou're not going to learn all
the things that happen.
Like because you can stilltrain, you could be running your
own program.
Something happens and they'relike I don't know how to adjust
my own program because now thisstarted so I'm sure that's
something that they run into,because like, no matter how
(31:16):
perfectly you do, stuff shouldhappen, so like something's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I was just having this conversation with one of my
athletes yesterday Cause we hada benchmark call.
I also do one-on-one zooms withall of my athletes once a month
and we were on ours and we weretalking and she was like, yeah,
I tweaked my back yesterdaydoing deadlifts.
And I was like perfect.
I was like, aren't you so gladthat it happened right now,
(31:44):
while you're working with me, sothat I can teach you how to
handle it, instead of thishappening when you weren't
working with me?
And she was like, oh, yeah, Iguess.
And she was like I don't evenknow what happened.
I was like, honestly, me either.
Your deadlift form looked great, your sleep was great that day,
your nutrition was great and,like, you've been keeping up
with your stress management,your sleep, your nutrition.
(32:05):
So, honestly, I don't know whathappened either, but all that,
all we can do, is move forwardfrom here.
So here's what we're going todo the next week to get you back
to feeling good.
And it really helped calm herdown to not like freak out over
tweaking her back, but it's likeokay, good, I'm glad that it
(32:26):
happened when you were with me,because now, when it happens
again when you're not workingwith me.
You know what to do Because,like you just said, mike, like
tweaks are kind of inevitable,right?
If you're training hard, you'replaying a sport.
Tweaks are kind of inevitable,right?
If you're training hard, you'replaying a sport, shit's going
to happen, and you want to havethe tools and the resources to
be able to handle that on yourown.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I have two things.
There's a.
There's like a frame that Iheard recently that I really
liked, where you're like itsounds like you're very much on
the same page here.
Where you have a conversationwith someone, it's like who
cares if you were in shape forsix weeks, six months a year,
like who I get in the totality.
You take that big zoom out likewho really cares, right, and
(33:06):
when you think about it likethat because all these like gyms
and everything, it's like sixweek challenge, body
transformation, this, whatever,and that's the easy part Like
that like focus, attention, dialin whatever, like a lot of
people can get a lot of quicksuccess there.
It's the afterwards.
That's where you hear peoplelike bouncing back and forth and
(33:27):
like riding that wave.
So your approach sounds muchmore sustainable where you might
not get the quick peaks andvalleys.
You might not get the quickpeaks but you also don't get the
detrimental valleys.
That like that's why peoplelike leave the gym or leave
wherever they're, they get boredor they get hurt.
Those are like the two bigthings that I see is when they
(33:48):
stop pursuing some sort offitness related goal, and the
way that your approachencompasses both of those in a
very in a very like easy way.
It's like when you, we, when wetalk about it, it's like, oh
duh, but like some people likedon't have that.
You know what I mean.
So definitely a great likementor, coach, on top of being
(34:11):
like very educated on both sidesof the spectrum, is super cool
to see.
I know we keep saying athlete alot and I actually have this
debate with a lot of people, soI want to know your definition
of athlete and then we'll gointo that.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah.
So I've actually recently beenreally intentional about calling
my clients athletes and notclients.
Um, and the reason being, someof my athletes don't eat like
didn't play a sport before theyare actually not former athletes
, but they want to like.
They come to me and say I wantto feel athletic, I want to feel
free to do whatever I want todo, like I said, go on a run, go
(34:49):
on a hike, say yes to all ofthe fun activities.
I want to be able to get on thefloor with my kids.
I want to be able to throw theFrisbee with my kid, throw the
Frisbee with my dog, likethere's things that people want
to do that, in my mind, likethey're athletic activities and
I think it gives my athletes asense of confidence when I call
them an athlete versus a clientbecause, like in my opinion and
(35:13):
I know people have differingopinions on it If you're going
to the gym and training hard,like I said, maybe you're not
competing with somebody else,but you're competing with
yourself.
And if you're trying to hit PR,you're trying to get better and
you're you're training.
So, in my mind, if you go to thegym, you're an athlete and
that's what a lot of my athletescome in, they want to feel
(35:34):
athletic.
So in my mind, calling themathletes helps with that mindset
shift, because mindset is avery big part of this.
If that's why I have the sevenday startup, where we do mindset
work, I have them um writingdown what their um, writing down
what their values are, writingdown what their priorities are,
writing down their why fortransformation and really
(35:55):
getting deep with like why areyou here?
Like why does this even matterto you?
And part of that mindset ishelping them realize they're not
broken.
They can be the athlete thatthey once were.
And you know, like theirathletic career is not in the
past, or just because theydidn't play sports as a kid they
(36:17):
can't doesn't mean they can'tfeel athletic now, you know.
So I think that that wordingshift gives them the confidence
to be like fuck, yeah, I am anathlete and show up harder in
the gym.
So that's why I've been veryintentional about my language
recently.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Love that, the, the, the like.
The stark comparison that Ialways make with people is like
athleticism is more prepared,prepared for life, and like
being able to do anything thatyou get thrown your way.
So I love.
I'm a giants fan, so like I useeli manning in his example.
Like eli manning is a greatquarterback right, I'll argue
(36:58):
that to the grave.
But like you put him in adifferent athletic scenario.
Like he might not be very goodat like being like very
versatile there.
Like he's very good at onespecific skill because he's
trained his ass off to do that.
But you put him in anotherenvironment and he might like
not even know how to like likechew gum and walk at the same
time.
Like he like seems like I don'tknow.
(37:20):
Like if, eli manning, if you'relistening to this, I'd love to
see you get like on thebasketball court or something.
But the like, that's the wholepoint.
When I see someone, I'm likethat guy's athletic is like he
might be playing basketball, butI know if I put him on a soccer
field, like he'd be able tohold his own or like transition
into, like all the like, run,jump, sprint, like, do all these
things that like.
(37:40):
That's how I define athleticismand I think that the way that,
like taking an approach to makepeople prepared and confident to
go, do I have the similarconversations all the time where
people are like I have thisthing, I want to go do my
Ironman Great, let's do that.
But at the same time, I don'twant to step off the curb and
(38:05):
feel like I'm going to likebreak my leg.
You know what I mean.
So, like there's those soundlike two very different people
if you heard them in isolation,but it's the same person because
, like they're very fearful ofdoing stuff that's like outside
the norm.
So being prepared to be, beingprepared for all types of thing,
and like ready to go, like thatis really where athleticism is
(38:27):
in my mind and it's like not aslike intense as you think.
Right, like not all athletesare LeBron James.
It could be a grandma, it'sit's all.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah absolutely yeah.
And one funny example I have ofthis is just last week I had a
doctor's appointment in the cityso I had to catch a train.
And I get to the train withtime to spare and I'm like
beautiful because I'm alwayslate for the train and I'm
sitting there and I'm likehaving a good time just waiting
(38:55):
for my train and I'm like Iforgot my wallet in my car and
the train is going to be here intwo minutes, so I have to
hightail my ass from thisplatform to my car and back in
two minutes and I did it.
But the only reason why I wasable to do it is because of the
way that I train.
(39:16):
Because I train to be athletic,because sometimes life demands
you to be athletic, and thinkabout simply crossing the street
Like that's something we talkabout in physical therapy.
As you get older, your gaitspeed, your walking speed,
decreases therapy.
As you get older, your gaitspeed, your walking speed
decreases, so you need to beable to walk at a certain pace
in order to cross the street andin enough time to like make the
(39:37):
walk signal.
So if you're not training thatway, like you can't cross the
street.
I have actually talked topeople when I worked.
I worked in um, a physicaltherapy place in New York, and
there are people who live in thecity who are like, yeah, I just
like can't go anywhere becauseI can't cross the street in time
and I'm like, okay, so this isimpacting your life and that's
(39:57):
being athletic, that's trainingfor athleticism, because now
we're not just making your kneepain go away.
We need to get you more speed,more power, more explosiveness,
so that you can cross the streeton time.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, I've heard walking speed is called the
sixth vital sign, or seventh, Idon't know my vital signs.
But it's called the sixthbecause you got to walk at least
like two miles per hour to getsomewhere.
You didn't see that one coming,bruno, did you?
No, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Last thing I'll say on this.
And Bruno did you um, no, Ididn't.
Last thing I'll say on this.
Have you guys seen that viralvideo of the?
Woman with the stroller andlike she has her baby in the
stroller and then she trips andshe falls and the stroller
starts rolling towards trafficand like she physically can't
get up and like get to thestroller in time, so stranger
had to come in and like swoopand save the baby, I did see
that that was a while ago,though, right yeah, yeah, yeah,
(40:48):
it's old oh my god yeah, like inmy like that is a lack of
athleticism, like you don'tthink.
You don't think that, like youwouldn't define that as
athleticism.
You think sports, but like thatright there, being prepared to
like do something that is superimportant, right, like yeah,
like it's a freak accident, butyou got to be able to do that,
(41:11):
you know that's it's crazyabsolutely, mikey.
What else you got for ourfriend sam here, as we're
running out of time?
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I think, yeah, to wrap it up, you know, we kind of
always end with this if you gotone thing that you want to give
, one of your page, one of yourathletes, uh, to go fix
themselves.
What is it?
I mean, I think you already doa great job Like go write your
own program.
Pretty much is go fix yourself.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Don't give her answers, dude.
Oh, I'm sorry, but it was.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
You already said it.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
You mean like my athletes inside of my program or
like anybody?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Or anyone.
Yeah, I mean, like what's thenumber one, a common theme that
you're like yep, most peoplejust miss the mark on this sleep
yeah like, honest to god, theamount of people that come in
that I talk to in a day.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
They're like, yeah, I sleep like five hours a night
and I'm like that's like justnot enough.
Like if you want to have moreenergy throughout your day, if
you want to lose weight, buildmuscle, be pain-free, like
literally just function betteras a human being, have better
relationships, like be better inyour career because you show up
better, you need sleep.
(42:21):
Like it's just, it's the numberone thing that I feel like
people are chasing.
You know PRs in the gym, but weneed to really focus on our
sleep.
So I'll tell my athletes in thebeginning again when we're
building that foundation hey, Iknow you want to work out four
or five days a week.
We're going to work out twice aweek to start, and they're like
what, what?
What I got to be nope, nope,nope.
(42:42):
Because you sleep five hours aday a night right now and I'm
not going to have you alsotraining on top of that.
First, we're going to build upyour sleep.
We're still going to have youtrain so that you're still in
the gym and getting the benefits, but I need you to sleep first
and I'll also tell my athletesif they have been having off
sleep and they need to wake upearly one morning to get into
(43:02):
the gym before work, I'm like,nope, you're skipping your gym
session today and you're goingto sleep, because that's what
your body really needs, becauseyou don't build muscle in the
gym, you build muscle when yousleep.
And again, that's why, like Ihave, I have an upper hand with
my athletes because we worktogether for a year.
We have the ability to do thatand go slower and build the
foundation the right way, justlike.
(43:23):
Did you guys ever this is ananalogy I just thought about Did
you guys ever see that showwhere they like built a house in
like a day?
Speaker 3 (43:31):
No, but that sounds cool.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
No, sounds like a kind of like the community
service work.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Habitat for Humanity stuff that like that's kind of
how those houses go up or likein a day sometimes.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, I got to figure out what it's called now,
because this is a really awesomeanalogy that I just thought of.
Figure out what it's called now, because this is a really
awesome analogy that I justthought of.
But there's there's a showwhere they would build a house
for a family in need in like aday or two, and then years, a
couple of years later, thosehouses have horrible problems
and the people have to move outof the house and that's why the
(44:03):
show got shut down.
And it's the same thing withyour health and fitness journey,
with your pain-free journey.
Like, if you rush building thefoundation and you don't do it
right, you're going to crumblevery quickly, whereas if we take
the time to build yourfoundation, it's going to stand
for years to come.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Right, I'm stealing that too.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
No, it's fine, that's great.
It's already been submitted forcopyright too late I gotta find
the show so I can let you knowwhat the show is called yeah,
that'd be awesome but yeah.
So I think the biggest thingoutside of training would be
improving your sleep, decreasingyour stress.
Like I'm also going throughthis right now.
(44:46):
I just got blood work backwhere my testosterone's low.
My thyroid levels are low.
I've been very stressed outlately.
I'm not getting the sleep Ineed, so I know where my efforts
need to be focused right now.
Um, as much as I want to betraining hard in the gym, my
priority is sleep stressmanagement.
Um, I'm actually taking a fulldigital detox this weekend
because I'm done with some video.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Got to walk the walk right, yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Well, sam, this has been awesome.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
I don't know if you mentioned it at the beginning, I
can't remember, but where canpeople find you if they want to
get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yeah, I'm on Instagram at DocSamFit.
Threads is the same thing,youtube is the same.
I also am actually hosting aTrain Without Pain Masterclass
today.
If, like, obviously, peoplearen't getting in from this
podcast today, I'm going to be.
It's going to be available forreplay.
(45:45):
So if you guys are interestedin that, link will be in my bio.
If you have questions, you canask me on instagram.
I'm pretty open on instagram,sweet all right.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
That about concludes this fantastic episode yeah of
course, appreciate your time allright, mike, you ready to send
us home?
Yeah, yep, go fix yourselves.
Welcome to the GFY podcast, a podcast by healthcare
professionals providing insighton how to navigate your health
so that you can go fix yourself.
The GFY podcast is hosted byMike Bruno, a chiropractor and
athletic trainer, and yourstruly, michael Stant, an
athletic trainer and certifiedstrength conditioning specialist
.
Although we are healthcareproviders, we are not your
healthcare provider.
We will discuss general healthinterventions in this podcast,
(00:23):
but you should not take that ashealth advice that works in
every situation.
Before doing anything on yourown or making any lifestyle
changes, please consult withyour own physician.
This podcast and views fromthis podcast are separate from
our full-time jobs and our ownopinions.
Today, we'll be discussingathletes transitioning to what
some would maybe call the NARPlife, and we can discuss what
(00:44):
that actually means.
Acronym wise, but we'll bediscussing that with Sam Coraga
Probably screwed that last nameup.
Still, sam is a graduate ofSpringfield College, with her
doctorate in physical therapy.
During that time, she obtainedher strength conditioning
certification.
In August of 2022, she openedup her own business called
Unleashed Athletics.
Unleashed Athletics specializesin helping former female
(01:06):
athletes who have been plaguedby injury and re-injury to get
back to high-level activitiespain-free, while building the
physique of their dreams.
So that was my quick LinkedInstalking of you.
So you know, sam, if you wantto kind of elaborate more so of
how you got to where you're attoday and kind of you know,
(01:30):
because I think when you thinkphysical, therapy, you think the
?
traditional outpatientorthopedic, working with I don't
know, three to four people atonce and things like that.
So you kind of want to you know, because I think when you start
your own business there'susually I don't want to say
jaded, but there's usually areason, a reason why, where you
go, you know what that, thatthing that I was trying to do
before just wasn't for me.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My company honestly startedunder a different premise.
Um I, when COVID hit, I hadthree jobs, lost them all.
They were all like working insome kind of healthcare
environment where the patientswere compromised, so I couldn't.
They didn't want outsiders.
Um, so lost all my jobs and Iwas like, oh, what do I do now?
(02:09):
I have to pay for school.
I was in the middle of mydoctorate program, um, and I was
like okay, so I guess we'regoing to try to find a way to
make money on my own.
I was already passionate abouthealth and fitness.
I had an eating disorder inhigh school and what really
saved me was learning aboutnutrition and strength training.
So COVID hit.
I had already been liftingsince 2015.
(02:31):
So I'd been lifting for fiveyears.
I was really passionate aboutit and a friend had reached out
to me and said hey, like whatare you doing?
And I was like literallynothing, trying to figure out
how to make money.
And he was like why don't youcome do a CSCS internship with
me?
Like nobody's in the clinic,we're just going to run it, just
me and you.
And I was like dope, why not?
So did a CSCS internship withhim, got my CSCS.
(02:52):
He was also a doctor ofphysical therapy and had his
CSCS.
And then from there, I juststarted building out online
because it was COVID, so youcouldn't really be in person.
I started training my friendsfor like 20 bucks a month like
dirt cheap, just trying to getstarted, and from there it just
kind of started to grow.
I started posting stuff onInstagram.
(03:12):
People were following me, theywere liking my post, and so it
started as a strength training,gain muscle, like physique
development company.
Then, when I graduated schooland I had more physical therapy
knowledge under my belt in 2022,I was like okay, how do I now
incorporate this into mybusiness?
Because physical therapy is mybiggest passion as well, and I
(03:36):
started working in a clinic,like you said, seeing four to
five patients in an hour,absolute rat race.
I couldn't keep my head onstraight, like felt like I
couldn't give my patients thequality of care that I wanted to
give.
I didn't get to know them aspeople.
It was like, oh, I have myAchilles coming in, I have my
ACL coming in, and it's like Idon't want to be knowing people
by their injuries, I want toknow them for themselves and I
(04:00):
couldn't touch on.
You know, some of my patientswould come in and I'm like, how
much sleep did you get lastnight?
Five hours of sleep.
I'm like, all right, that's nothelping us here.
Like you need to sleep, youneed to eat.
There's like your stress isthrough the roof.
No wonder why you still havepain, no wonder why it's injury
after injury.
And I simply did not have timeto give that education because
(04:21):
it was back-to-back patientsbetween patients, notes, calling
doctors, calling insurances.
There was just no time to givethe quality of care that I
wanted to give.
So I only worked in outpatientphysical therapy for a year and
a half after school until I waslike I can't do this anymore.
My online business wascontinuing to grow, I had got
some more continuing education,I got my pain-free performance
(04:42):
specialist certification, andI'm currently in a program
called Active Life Professional,where I am still learning to
bridge that gap as well.
So that's kind of where mybusiness started and where it is
now.
And now I'm really passionateabout helping former female
(05:03):
athletes I actually do work witha couple of males, mostly
females, though rediscover theirconfidence and strength and
love for an active life, becausethey feel like, you know, pt
didn't do what they needed forthem.
They didn't get the care thatthey needed.
It was like, if they haveAchilles issues, okay, stretch
your calves, do calf raises.
And it's like, okay, what aboutthe hamstrings?
What about, like, thepositioning of the subtalar
(05:25):
joint?
Like, do we know what thatlooks like?
And again, it's just, I don'tthink it's a like ignorance of
the physical therapist, I thinkit's a simply a lack of time,
and that is just how theindustry is built right now.
So my real, like biggeroverarching goal in this life is
to help shift healthcare to bemore of that personable.
(05:49):
You know kind of forceinsurance companies to adapt, or
else they're going to crumbleBecause we're finding that a lot
more of the really greathealthcare professionals are
cash-based, because in order toprovide that quality care, we
have to go cash-based to havemore time with our patients.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So that's in a nutshell Can you hear my snaps?
That was great.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, that was awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Go ahead, Bruno.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I was, you're, so we are so on the same page.
Props to Krista for likerecognizing and then putting us
together.
Um, but there's there's so muchthere that I want to dig into,
but first, first and foremost,congratulations, love it.
Um uh, second of all um, telleveryone where you're located.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I'm in New York.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Nice, and so do you have people who are mostly local
, or is it because it's online,you have people spread across
the country.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I actually have people spread across the
country.
I also do have a couple ofclients in Canada, Australia.
Our reach is pretty far, whichis pretty awesome.
I actually don't have manyclients near me which I wish I
had more of, so we're prettyspread out which I wish I had
(07:07):
more of.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So we're pretty spread out Very cool.
So, from the dynamic of theonline presence versus the
physical presence, walk usthrough a little bit on how you
help bridge that gap, like youwere saying.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, so at times I do miss the in-person.
There's a give and a take within-person versus online.
Again, online I'm just.
I talk to my clients almost ona daily basis, so we have that
back and forth communication.
I know when they're having agood day, I know when they're
having a bad day.
I know when they just passedtheir oral exam to get their
(07:37):
master's.
I know when they are justhaving a down day and they need
more mindset work that day thanphysical work.
And for me, because of that, Ican really help change their
lives and change their mindsetand their perspective on pain,
on training and on what healthreally means.
(07:59):
In person, Like I said, there'sjust not enough time and when
you do like in-person training,you don't.
You're with your patient oryour client for an hour.
And what about the other 23hours in a day, like?
And if you're with them for,like, if you have one to two
sessions with them a week, soyou're with them for two hours a
week, like, and what is that?
I think I think I've done themath before I think it's like
(08:19):
168 hours in a week, like.
What else are they doing withthose other 166 hours?
And that's important and that'swhat I feel like is missing in
the rehab space is we focus somuch on foam rolling, soft
tissue work, stretching,movement, which is all very
important, but without the otherstuff it's it's kind of a moot
(08:42):
point, like you're going to keepdoing the same stuff and you're
still not going to feel goodbecause you're not actually
addressing the reason you'refeeling tight or the reason
you're in pain.
The reason you're weak isbecause you're not eating enough
, you're not sleeping enough.
Um, so that's why I love theonline, because I talk to my
clients on a daily basis.
Um, it does get tricky with, youknow, analyzing their form,
(09:03):
because some clients at firstare like I am very scared of
filling myself in the gym.
So there's another barrier thatwe have to overcome.
But it's also educating themthat filming yourself in the gym
is not only just for me, it'sfor yourself, because you can't
watch yourself while you'redoing a movement.
So if something doesn't feelright to you, if you don't know
what it looks like, then how areyou going to know what to
(09:27):
correct or what's going wrong,and you might just give up the
exercise altogether, when wecould have made a simple tweak
to fix it so that you can feelgood and continue to do that
movement.
So there is sometimes a barrierto overcome.
Sometimes I'm lucky and I getclients who come in already
recording themselves, so it'seasy.
But some clients I have toreally get through that barrier
with them of like hey, nobodyelse cares that you're filming
(09:50):
yourself in the gym, um, andkind of get over that aspect of
it.
But I have them send me formvideos.
Obviously sometimes the anglesaren't great so I'm like all
right.
I need a different angle nexttime.
Can't really see anything here.
So you know there's somebarriers to online when it comes
to form analysis.
I feel like, outside of that, Ijust feel like the online
(10:10):
allows me to really connect withmy clients on a deeper level
because I can talk to them everyday.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I think too, like it just allows you to, you
know, right, when you're in thatoutpatient setting, or like,
right, you're seeing all thesepeople you kind of talked about
it, it's like one.
Like there's that barrierpurposely that's supposed to
kind of also protect you as aphysical therapist of, yeah, you
only see them there, and that'sit.
And it's like kind of awork-life balance, the same
thing.
But then, but then, like yourealize, oh yeah, I don't sleep,
(10:39):
I don't get enough to eat, um,yeah, those are the real issues
yeah, exactly, I mean going backin the college setting.
For me it's uh, when I was thereit was same thing.
It was, like you know, we werethere, we treat in like on the
athletic training world.
We did have regularcommunication.
But, like you know, we we wouldhave an uptick in acls one year
and and he'd be like, well,what happened?
(11:01):
I'm like, and it'd be like,okay, well, in October we had
three or four of them forwhatever reason.
And I'm like, okay, well,october's midterms.
So like there's a lot of stressgoing on.
They're not sleeping.
Oh, guess what happens whenthey get done midterms?
They're going out and boozing.
So like how am I supposed to beable to stop any of that?
So, any of that.
(11:27):
So I think you and Bruno see alot of the same stuff, because I
think both of you end up kindof seeing the people that the
traditional side maybe failed orlike, hey, I went to someone
first, it wasn't working.
I'm going to explore somethingelse.
Do you feel like that'ssomething you see regularly?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, because I think that the other issue is again
in person.
You're capped with time andresources and insurance is like
kind of has a chokehold on you.
So if you have a patient comingin for ankle issues, you got to
treat the ankle.
If you're exercising theirshoulder, the insurance is going
(12:01):
to be like I'm not coveringthis.
They're here for ankle issues.
Why are you doing anything totheir shoulder when really the
shoulder was the issue?
Because compensation up anddown the chain right Like right
shoulder issue could be actuallya left ankle problem or left
ankle problem like vice versa.
So when you're in the physicaltherapy clinic, you can't be
treating the shoulder for anankle issue because insurance
(12:23):
doesn't see that as correct.
So they're like why am I payingfor this?
And then you also can't treatmultiple body parts at once.
So I see a lot of people whohave back pain, knee pain and
shoulder pain and you go to PTand they're like well, we can
only treat your back first, thenwe have to treat your knee,
then we have to treat yourshoulder and that's if you have
enough visits.
Then we have to treat yourshoulder, and that's if you have
(12:44):
enough visits and theninsurance caps you on visits.
So for me, I take a full bodyapproach, like when my clients
come into the program, whetherthey're currently dealing with
pain, whether it's mobilityissues, whether they just want
to get strong, they all gothrough the same assessment
process and it's a full bodyassessment process.
So we do full body mobility.
So I'm looking at OK, are welacking mobility anywhere?
(13:04):
Are we hyper mobile and needmore stability?
And then I also do a strengthbalance exam where I'm looking
at left versus right sides inthe upper body and in the lower
body, taking that informationand designing a program for them
.
And it might look like, youknow, like I'm designing them a
full workout program.
So it's not like people are likecome in and they're like, oh,
we're going to do physicaltherapy exercises.
(13:26):
Why am I barbell back,squatting?
And I'm like because that'swhat you actually need.
Like you don't need to dobanded like band abductions with
your freaking knees.
Like you need to squat, youneed to.
We need to load the tissues, um, so that's where I think I see
a lot of clients come in.
Is that what they did beforewasn't working?
(13:48):
Because it wasn't actuallytargeting what was wrong.
So, like I said before, ifsomeone's going in for calf
issues, a lot of PTs againbecause capped on time, like not
necessarily because they'reignorant, just capped on time.
Oh, calf, okay, we're going todo calf raises, we're going to
do foam rolling back issues.
Okay, core and glute, core andglute.
And I fell into that.
I'm not going to lie, like whenI was in the clinic somebody
(14:10):
came in for back problems.
I'm like that's easy, just coreand glute work, no problem.
And now as I'm learning like,and I have more time to analyze
my clients and work with themreally one-on-one, I'm able to
see that everybody with backpain actually doesn't always
need core and glute work,sometimes, like, they need ankle
work, sometimes they needshoulder work, sometimes they
need thoracic spine work.
But for me in the clinic,capped on time, I was just like,
(14:33):
all right, core and glutes,that'll help you.
Like that's easy for me, youknow, and I hate that I fell
into that.
But that's why I left, becauseI didn't like the therapist that
I was becoming, because I wasjust kind of putting everybody
into the same bucket, because Ididn't have time to really sit
and think critically about thesituation yeah, I actually had a
very similar conversation witha guy um yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
He was like he really come in for like long history
of knee and back problems and hementioned his shoulder like a
couple it's only like firstcouple visits and he was like
telling me something more andmore about his shoulder.
I was like that's like limitingyou in x, y and z.
Like why have you not likebrought that up as a priority?
He's like, oh, because like I'mhere for and Z.
Like why have you not likebrought that up as a priority?
(15:18):
And he's like, oh, because likeI'm here for my, my back, I'm
here for my knee.
Like I didn't think you couldeven help me with my shoulder.
I was like I was like all right,let's throw that thought in the
garbage, because anything thatwe can do we will do.
I tell clients all the time likeif you're going to commit to
this process, like working withme, like I'm equally as
committed to you as you are tome.
So it's a very much teamworkthing, maybe like quarterback
(15:42):
running back type situation, butit's not like like I am this
like exercise at home and like Ididn't get it, or like I
thought this was stupid.
Like when people come in andgive me like honest feedback
that's so helpful, because ifyou're not going to actually do
(16:04):
it at home and you're just likeworried about hurting my
feelings or like sounding dumb,like oh, I can't do it at home
without your guidance, thenwe're wasting our time.
So we have to get stuff that'slike simple, effective and
enjoyable all bundled togetherand then you can like take that
and run with it, and then that'swhere we really start stacking
skills.
I don't know if you agree withthis or not, but my, my whole
(16:28):
thing is like it's really likethe education and skill
component is really where like80% of the physical is, but like
the entire problem, like you'vekind of alluded to already is
like could even be outside ofthe physical pain, right, like
if you're having like a crappyday at work and your girlfriend
dumps you and like all this kindof stuff like that, the weather
(16:49):
like all that stuff like addsup in a weird way where in
isolation, it seems like doesthat?
actually mean anything, but itis really useful.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, I mean, you know I have I use this like stub
your toe analogy.
You know like if you're havinga great day like life's good,
and you stub your toe, you'relike whatever, like rub it off,
like it obviously doesn't feelgreat.
But if you're having like ashit day weather sucks, like
said girlfriend dumps, you, likework was terrible, and you stub
(17:22):
your toe at the end of theworld like that could cause a
meltdown.
And like and it's happened to mebefore, I've noticed it.
So stress really plays a rolein how you.
It really does decrease yourpain tolerance, so it really
plays a role in how you feel andhow you perceive pain.
Um.
So yeah, I completely agreewith that nice cool um go
Speaker 1 (17:48):
ahead.
I will go, um, so kind oftransitioning into all right, so
you deal with the pain andwhatnot.
I think kind of what we'rewanting to dive in a little bit
more today.
Which kind of that.
How, how are you helpingathletes kind of transition out
of sport?
Um, you know, I I mean I Ithink we've talked about it
before on this podcast about youknow there's a lot of identity
(18:08):
that goes with these athletesfrom sport.
You know their whole identityis I was a college soccer player
or I was, you know, the bestplayer on my, on my high school
badminton team or something likethat.
So so you know, I just I kindof want to talk about how you
kind of approach that and kindof what you've seen as you know,
(18:29):
some things that are commonthemes around those people or
those athletes or those nowpossibly non-athletic regular
people narps that's what nartmeans by it full circle.
Anyone who's?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
curious like you just dropped that out of nowhere,
non-athletic regular person um,yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So I see a lot of former athletes who want that
competitive edge back andthey've gone from playing sport
to CrossFit, training formarathons, triathlons, spartan
races, you know all of those funthings that give you that
competitive edge, or simply justplaying in their sport,
(19:09):
depending on what their sport isLike.
My sport was lacrosse.
There's not a lot of adultlacrosse leagues around.
I'm trying to start one Ifanybody's in the Westchester
area and wants to start.
Was lacrosse.
There's not a lot of adultlacrosse leagues around.
I'm trying to start one Ifanybody's in the Westchester
area and wants to start alacrosse league with me, please
let me know.
So having them transition out oflike sport to that competitive
(19:30):
like, still having thatcompetitive edge, and helping
them train for the new demandsof their new sport Because going
from playing lacrosse toCrossFit are different demands
on the body and even though ifyou played high school, college,
like whatever it was and someof them do give you like a
strength training program evenif you had that program like,
(19:50):
you never designed it foryourself, you never really
learned the meaning behindanything.
Your coaches just kind of saidhey, come in, do this lift and
leave.
You know, do this conditioningand leave, play this game and
leave, and you didn't reallylearn the why behind things.
So my part of my role in mycompany is to help our athletes
(20:12):
learn how to do this on theirown.
So we have a four phase processand the last phase is our
unleash phase, where I actuallyhave our athletes create their
program on their own, send it tous for review and then we talk
them through what feels goodabout their program, what we
might change, so that this waythey start to learn how to build
it themselves and they don'tfeel like when coaching ends
they're just confused and leftfor their own again, just like
(20:35):
they were after sport.
So there's a lot of education,like you said, bruno, like
there's a lot of education thatgoes into it, you know, and then
it also comes down to theperson who maybe didn't have
that competitive edge aftersport ended and they suddenly
develop back and shoulder painbecause they transitioned from
(20:56):
two a days to a desk job andthey're like why am I in so much
pain?
Oh, it had to have been thefact that I played sports for
the last decade and it's like no, because you just went from
training six days a week tositting at a desk for 10 hours a
day and not training, and maybetraining like twice a week or
not training at all.
So it's helping them get backinto that and find the
(21:16):
competitive edge within the gym,within themselves.
Like some of my athletes don'tdo marathons or CrossFit or
whatever, they're just trainingin the gym but they're always
looking to hit new PRs becausethey have that competitive edge
and that's what makes us like asathletes, training brings us
back home, because that's thething that makes us feel like
ourselves, being able to compete, whether it's with other people
(21:38):
or with ourselves.
So it's also kind of helpingthem find their identity again
outside of sport, or simplyathletes who have been to PT
before still dealing withrepercussions of injuries.
Like I literally worked withsomeone who was like I tore my
ACL seven years ago and I'venever felt the same since and
(22:00):
I'm like, okay, red flag.
So we're working together torebuild up her strength and
essentially it's just that sheneeds more single leg strength.
Like in my mind it's not thatcomplicated what she needs, but
in her mind she had no idea.
So it's teaching her what sheneeds to feel like herself again
, to be able to hike again andnot feel like she's going to
(22:20):
hold the group back, to be ableto, like, say yes to a run with
her friend without feeling likeshe's going to be in pain all
the next day.
So it's helping with thattransition out of like you're
forced to show up to lifts,you're forced to show up to
conditioning and games andwhatnot, and now you're on your
own.
How do you make that happen onyour own and be able to do it
(22:42):
confidently and do it pain-free?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
I love the script flipped of like write your own
program and let me review it.
I might steal that.
That's so good.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Do it.
I mean, like that's what peopleneed, because if I'm just
writing you a program for a year, most of my clients sign on
with me for nine to 12 months,and majority of them is 12
months.
So if I'm writing you programsfor a year, when we're done, how
are you going to know to do iton your own?
You know, I want to make sure,like my goal is not to keep you
forever, like my goal is to helpyou do this on your own, and
(23:16):
that's the best way in my mindto have them do it.
It's like you do it yourself.
Send it to me and I'll let youknow what I think.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, that's like You're like the hinge of
healthcare designed to be firedafter 12 months, so-.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
I'm surprised.
You know what hinge is, Mikey.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Only because of you All right.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fun hinges, mikey, only because of you all, right,
uh, fun fact, that is how I metmy fiance.
But um with, with the athleteslike transitioning out I know
you mentioned I kind of say thesame thing too when you were
like are they competing withsomebody or like competing with
themselves?
Do you have um like, do you seethat more often, where people
are like I just want to getbetter for me, or like I need to
(24:02):
run an Ironman, or like dowhatever like the thing is, and
they're like competing againstothers.
What do you see more commonly?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
First I see them coming to me for decreased pain,
improved strength and overallwanting to feel better for
themselves.
Then, once they build thatconfidence, they'll like trickle
in little things like, hey,what do you think about me
running a marathon next year?
And I'm like, is that somethingyou want to do?
Hey, what do you think about medoing this spurt and race in a
(24:31):
couple months?
Okay, let's start training.
So it it's.
It usually starts with the forthemselves, but then happens to.
They build the confidence andthey're having that competitive
edge in the gym with themselvesagain that they're like what
else can I do?
And that's my goal is to helpthem like unleash their inner
(24:51):
athlete again and find that lovefor an active life again that
they might have lost after sport.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Ah, I see the name, I see the branding there.
That's good, that's real goodWith the way that, like it
sounds like you're you mentionedyou.
They have like four phases.
Can you talk us through, likeyou mentioned, a couple of
different spots.
Can you walk us through theentire process on, like how a
typical client starts and endswith you?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah.
So, like I said, we go througha pretty intensive assessment
process.
So our first week I have themdo a seven-day startup.
So every day they have aneducational video to watch
around training and aroundmindset, and then they have.
On day two they have a breathwork assessment to send to me.
(25:43):
On day three they have amovement assessment and on day
five they will have anyadditional testing I might want.
So if their mobility assessmentis pretty clear, I'll have them
do a strength balance exam.
If there's a lot of red flagsin their movement assessment,
we'll focus there first and thendo the strength balance later
on down the road.
(26:04):
So this is our first phase.
It's called our uncover phase,so we're uncovering limiting
beliefs around your ability totrain pain-free.
We're uncovering your mobilitylimitations, your strength
limitations and any holes inyour foundation.
So I also have them do a timeaudit, a habit audit, where we
look at what does your daysactually look like?
Like you feel like you don'thave time.
(26:25):
So where can we create the time?
Like where?
How much time are you spendingon social media a day?
You know, I have them tell me,walk me through a day in their
life and they tell me an entireday in their life, Um, so that
this way I have a goodunderstanding of what is going
on, what are their demands?
You know, I get on a sales callwith someone, we're talking,
and then they fill out theironboarding form and all of a
(26:46):
sudden I find out that she's gottwo kids and a dog at home and
I'm like you didn't tell me thatin the first place.
So I would have never known ifI didn't ask Um.
So knowing those things, likesomeone who has two kids or
someone who has no kids that's adifferent scenario.
Um, so this is where the firstphase is really finding where
the gaps are and figuring outhow to fill them.
(27:09):
We're really the first phaselasts like about a month where
we are really building up thefoundation.
So priorities are sleep, stressmanagement, nutrient quality,
building a routine in the gymand working on those mobility
deficits.
So they still have a program,but the focus is not training
intensity yet.
The focus is get consistent,focus on your foundation.
(27:31):
Our second phase is our unfoldphase and that's where we really
dive more into training becausenow they're in, ideally, their
foundation is stronger it's notideal yet right Like we're going
to be building on it throughoutthe whole process.
But their foundation isstronger.
So now we've hopefully raisedtheir capacity a little bit to
(27:52):
be able to handle more in thegym.
So now we're able to pushharder in the gym, push more
range of motion, because they'vedeveloped mobility through
their program and we're reallyworking on any linchpins that
they have.
We're doing a lot of single leg, single arm work to work on any
imbalances and really workingon whatever their deficits are.
(28:12):
Then we have our unlock phaseand this is kind of where the
expectation is.
We redo our movement assessment, we redo the strength balance
exam and there's improvementsand we kind of repeat the
process.
So wherever there is stillkinks in the hose, we are going
to work out those kinks.
In this unlock phase reallyhone in on training intensity,
(28:34):
strength building.
This is where they might belike I'm feeling good, I want to
go do a marathon, I want to godo an Ironman, I want to do this
, and so this is where we getreally specific with training
for something specific.
Or if they don't have anythingspecific they want to train for,
we just continue to push PRs.
Maybe we have some physiquegoals, and then this is where
we're really developing anathlete again.
(28:57):
And then our unleash phase iswhere we're transitioning out of
tracking macros to intuitiveeating, from me programming to
them programming, so now theycan go and do this for the rest
of their lives and staypain-free and not come back and
see me, because the number oneindicator of future PT is past
(29:17):
PT for the same region.
So my goal is to stop thatright Like that's a red flag.
So this is how, why I have thefour phase process and why I
have my clients stay with me fornine to 12 months, because
realistically, that's how longit takes to build these habits
that are going to last alifetime.
And in the grand scheme ofthings, like nine to 12 months
in what like a 80 year life islike minuscule, but that's if I
(29:45):
can make a change in that timefor them to be able to continue
and stay younger longer.
That's my goal.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
I love that off the bat because I think this is what
you run in all the time.
People come and see you,they're looking for that quick
fix, rich scheme type type ofdeal, like how can I get fixed
quickly?
And like, right off the bat,being like this is a longer
process than you think.
There's no six weeks of pt thatare going to address all of
your issues.
There's, you're right, like the9 to 12 months, like each of of
(30:16):
those phases you know right,it's like a three month each
phase.
Right, if they're with you for12 months type of deal.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, back, and you know back and forth depends.
I always tell them it's about amonth for Uncover, unfold and
Unlock kind of depend Unleash.
I like to be the last twomonths of us working together so
they can build at least liketwo programs for themselves, so
they can feel really I don'twant them to just build one
program, I want them to buildtwo and feel really confident
(30:43):
about continuing to do that downthe line.
So it really varies person toperson and I actually have a lot
of clients that end upresigning for another year.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
So really most people stay with me for like one to
two years yeah, because I theyrealize how much, how much it
takes.
And also like even in one yearyou're not going to learn all
the things that happen.
Like because you can stilltrain, you could be running your
own program.
Something happens and they'relike I don't know how to adjust
my own program because now thisstarted so I'm sure that's
something that they run into,because like, no matter how
(31:16):
perfectly you do, stuff shouldhappen, so like something's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I was just having this conversation with one of my
athletes yesterday Cause we hada benchmark call.
I also do one-on-one zooms withall of my athletes once a month
and we were on ours and we weretalking and she was like, yeah,
I tweaked my back yesterdaydoing deadlifts.
And I was like perfect.
I was like, aren't you so gladthat it happened right now,
(31:44):
while you're working with me, sothat I can teach you how to
handle it, instead of thishappening when you weren't
working with me?
And she was like, oh, yeah, Iguess.
And she was like I don't evenknow what happened.
I was like, honestly, me either.
Your deadlift form looked great, your sleep was great that day,
your nutrition was great and,like, you've been keeping up
with your stress management,your sleep, your nutrition.
(32:05):
So, honestly, I don't know whathappened either, but all that,
all we can do, is move forwardfrom here.
So here's what we're going todo the next week to get you back
to feeling good.
And it really helped calm herdown to not like freak out over
tweaking her back, but it's likeokay, good, I'm glad that it
(32:26):
happened when you were with me,because now, when it happens
again when you're not workingwith me.
You know what to do Because,like you just said, mike, like
tweaks are kind of inevitable,right?
If you're training hard, you'replaying a sport.
Tweaks are kind of inevitable,right?
If you're training hard, you'replaying a sport, shit's going
to happen, and you want to havethe tools and the resources to
be able to handle that on yourown.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I have two things.
There's a.
There's like a frame that Iheard recently that I really
liked, where you're like itsounds like you're very much on
the same page here.
Where you have a conversationwith someone, it's like who
cares if you were in shape forsix weeks, six months a year,
like who I get in the totality.
You take that big zoom out likewho really cares, right, and
(33:06):
when you think about it likethat because all these like gyms
and everything, it's like sixweek challenge, body
transformation, this, whatever,and that's the easy part Like
that like focus, attention, dialin whatever, like a lot of
people can get a lot of quicksuccess there.
It's the afterwards.
That's where you hear peoplelike bouncing back and forth and
(33:27):
like riding that wave.
So your approach sounds muchmore sustainable where you might
not get the quick peaks andvalleys.
You might not get the quickpeaks but you also don't get the
detrimental valleys.
That like that's why peoplelike leave the gym or leave
wherever they're, they get boredor they get hurt.
Those are like the two bigthings that I see is when they
(33:48):
stop pursuing some sort offitness related goal, and the
way that your approachencompasses both of those in a
very in a very like easy way.
It's like when you, we, when wetalk about it, it's like, oh
duh, but like some people likedon't have that.
You know what I mean.
So definitely a great likementor, coach, on top of being
(34:11):
like very educated on both sidesof the spectrum, is super cool
to see.
I know we keep saying athlete alot and I actually have this
debate with a lot of people, soI want to know your definition
of athlete and then we'll gointo that.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah.
So I've actually recently beenreally intentional about calling
my clients athletes and notclients.
Um, and the reason being, someof my athletes don't eat like
didn't play a sport before theyare actually not former athletes
, but they want to like.
They come to me and say I wantto feel athletic, I want to feel
free to do whatever I want todo, like I said, go on a run, go
(34:49):
on a hike, say yes to all ofthe fun activities.
I want to be able to get on thefloor with my kids.
I want to be able to throw theFrisbee with my kid, throw the
Frisbee with my dog, likethere's things that people want
to do that, in my mind, likethey're athletic activities and
I think it gives my athletes asense of confidence when I call
them an athlete versus a clientbecause, like in my opinion and
(35:13):
I know people have differingopinions on it If you're going
to the gym and training hard,like I said, maybe you're not
competing with somebody else,but you're competing with
yourself.
And if you're trying to hit PR,you're trying to get better and
you're you're training.
So, in my mind, if you go to thegym, you're an athlete and
that's what a lot of my athletescome in, they want to feel
(35:34):
athletic.
So in my mind, calling themathletes helps with that mindset
shift, because mindset is avery big part of this.
If that's why I have the sevenday startup, where we do mindset
work, I have them um writingdown what their um, writing down
what their values are, writingdown what their priorities are,
writing down their why fortransformation and really
(35:55):
getting deep with like why areyou here?
Like why does this even matterto you?
And part of that mindset ishelping them realize they're not
broken.
They can be the athlete thatthey once were.
And you know, like theirathletic career is not in the
past, or just because theydidn't play sports as a kid they
(36:17):
can't doesn't mean they can'tfeel athletic now, you know.
So I think that that wordingshift gives them the confidence
to be like fuck, yeah, I am anathlete and show up harder in
the gym.
So that's why I've been veryintentional about my language
recently.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Love that, the, the, the like.
The stark comparison that Ialways make with people is like
athleticism is more prepared,prepared for life, and like
being able to do anything thatyou get thrown your way.
So I love.
I'm a giants fan, so like I useeli manning in his example.
Like eli manning is a greatquarterback right, I'll argue
(36:58):
that to the grave.
But like you put him in adifferent athletic scenario.
Like he might not be very goodat like being like very
versatile there.
Like he's very good at onespecific skill because he's
trained his ass off to do that.
But you put him in anotherenvironment and he might like
not even know how to like likechew gum and walk at the same
time.
Like he like seems like I don'tknow.
(37:20):
Like if, eli manning, if you'relistening to this, I'd love to
see you get like on thebasketball court or something.
But the like, that's the wholepoint.
When I see someone, I'm likethat guy's athletic is like he
might be playing basketball, butI know if I put him on a soccer
field, like he'd be able tohold his own or like transition
into, like all the like, run,jump, sprint, like, do all these
things that like.
(37:40):
That's how I define athleticismand I think that the way that,
like taking an approach to makepeople prepared and confident to
go, do I have the similarconversations all the time where
people are like I have thisthing, I want to go do my
Ironman Great, let's do that.
But at the same time, I don'twant to step off the curb and
(38:05):
feel like I'm going to likebreak my leg.
You know what I mean.
So, like there's those soundlike two very different people
if you heard them in isolation,but it's the same person because
, like they're very fearful ofdoing stuff that's like outside
the norm.
So being prepared to be, beingprepared for all types of thing,
and like ready to go, like thatis really where athleticism is
(38:27):
in my mind and it's like not aslike intense as you think.
Right, like not all athletesare LeBron James.
It could be a grandma, it'sit's all.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah absolutely yeah.
And one funny example I have ofthis is just last week I had a
doctor's appointment in the cityso I had to catch a train.
And I get to the train withtime to spare and I'm like
beautiful because I'm alwayslate for the train and I'm
sitting there and I'm likehaving a good time just waiting
(38:55):
for my train and I'm like Iforgot my wallet in my car and
the train is going to be here intwo minutes, so I have to
hightail my ass from thisplatform to my car and back in
two minutes and I did it.
But the only reason why I wasable to do it is because of the
way that I train.
(39:16):
Because I train to be athletic,because sometimes life demands
you to be athletic, and thinkabout simply crossing the street
Like that's something we talkabout in physical therapy.
As you get older, your gaitspeed, your walking speed,
decreases therapy.
As you get older, your gaitspeed, your walking speed
decreases, so you need to beable to walk at a certain pace
in order to cross the street andin enough time to like make the
(39:37):
walk signal.
So if you're not training thatway, like you can't cross the
street.
I have actually talked topeople when I worked.
I worked in um, a physicaltherapy place in New York, and
there are people who live in thecity who are like, yeah, I just
like can't go anywhere becauseI can't cross the street in time
and I'm like, okay, so this isimpacting your life and that's
(39:57):
being athletic, that's trainingfor athleticism, because now
we're not just making your kneepain go away.
We need to get you more speed,more power, more explosiveness,
so that you can cross the streeton time.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, I've heard walking speed is called the
sixth vital sign, or seventh, Idon't know my vital signs.
But it's called the sixthbecause you got to walk at least
like two miles per hour to getsomewhere.
You didn't see that one coming,bruno, did you?
No, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Last thing I'll say on this.
And Bruno did you um, no, Ididn't.
Last thing I'll say on this.
Have you guys seen that viralvideo of the?
Woman with the stroller andlike she has her baby in the
stroller and then she trips andshe falls and the stroller
starts rolling towards trafficand like she physically can't
get up and like get to thestroller in time, so stranger
had to come in and like swoopand save the baby, I did see
that that was a while ago,though, right yeah, yeah, yeah,
(40:48):
it's old oh my god yeah, like inmy like that is a lack of
athleticism, like you don'tthink.
You don't think that, like youwouldn't define that as
athleticism.
You think sports, but like thatright there, being prepared to
like do something that is superimportant, right, like yeah,
like it's a freak accident, butyou got to be able to do that,
(41:11):
you know that's it's crazyabsolutely, mikey.
What else you got for ourfriend sam here, as we're
running out of time?
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I think, yeah, to wrap it up, you know, we kind of
always end with this if you gotone thing that you want to give
, one of your page, one of yourathletes, uh, to go fix
themselves.
What is it?
I mean, I think you already doa great job Like go write your
own program.
Pretty much is go fix yourself.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Don't give her answers, dude.
Oh, I'm sorry, but it was.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
You already said it.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
You mean like my athletes inside of my program or
like anybody?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Or anyone.
Yeah, I mean, like what's thenumber one, a common theme that
you're like yep, most peoplejust miss the mark on this sleep
yeah like, honest to god, theamount of people that come in
that I talk to in a day.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
They're like, yeah, I sleep like five hours a night
and I'm like that's like justnot enough.
Like if you want to have moreenergy throughout your day, if
you want to lose weight, buildmuscle, be pain-free, like
literally just function betteras a human being, have better
relationships, like be better inyour career because you show up
better, you need sleep.
(42:21):
Like it's just, it's the numberone thing that I feel like
people are chasing.
You know PRs in the gym, but weneed to really focus on our
sleep.
So I'll tell my athletes in thebeginning again when we're
building that foundation hey, Iknow you want to work out four
or five days a week.
We're going to work out twice aweek to start, and they're like
what, what?
What I got to be nope, nope,nope.
(42:42):
Because you sleep five hours aday a night right now and I'm
not going to have you alsotraining on top of that.
First, we're going to build upyour sleep.
We're still going to have youtrain so that you're still in
the gym and getting the benefits, but I need you to sleep first
and I'll also tell my athletesif they have been having off
sleep and they need to wake upearly one morning to get into
(43:02):
the gym before work, I'm like,nope, you're skipping your gym
session today and you're goingto sleep, because that's what
your body really needs, becauseyou don't build muscle in the
gym, you build muscle when yousleep.
And again, that's why, like Ihave, I have an upper hand with
my athletes because we worktogether for a year.
We have the ability to do thatand go slower and build the
foundation the right way, justlike.
(43:23):
Did you guys ever this is ananalogy I just thought about Did
you guys ever see that showwhere they like built a house in
like a day?
Speaker 3 (43:31):
No, but that sounds cool.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
No, sounds like a kind of like the community
service work.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Habitat for Humanity stuff that like that's kind of
how those houses go up or likein a day sometimes.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, I got to figure out what it's called now,
because this is a really awesomeanalogy that I just thought of.
Figure out what it's called now, because this is a really
awesome analogy that I justthought of.
But there's there's a showwhere they would build a house
for a family in need in like aday or two, and then years, a
couple of years later, thosehouses have horrible problems
and the people have to move outof the house and that's why the
(44:03):
show got shut down.
And it's the same thing withyour health and fitness journey,
with your pain-free journey.
Like, if you rush building thefoundation and you don't do it
right, you're going to crumblevery quickly, whereas if we take
the time to build yourfoundation, it's going to stand
for years to come.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Right, I'm stealing that too.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
No, it's fine, that's great.
It's already been submitted forcopyright too late I gotta find
the show so I can let you knowwhat the show is called yeah,
that'd be awesome but yeah.
So I think the biggest thingoutside of training would be
improving your sleep, decreasingyour stress.
Like I'm also going throughthis right now.
(44:46):
I just got blood work backwhere my testosterone's low.
My thyroid levels are low.
I've been very stressed outlately.
I'm not getting the sleep Ineed, so I know where my efforts
need to be focused right now.
Um, as much as I want to betraining hard in the gym, my
priority is sleep stressmanagement.
Um, I'm actually taking a fulldigital detox this weekend
because I'm done with some video.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Got to walk the walk right, yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Well, sam, this has been awesome.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
I don't know if you mentioned it at the beginning, I
can't remember, but where canpeople find you if they want to
get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (45:24):
Yeah, I'm on Instagram at DocSamFit.
Threads is the same thing,youtube is the same.
I also am actually hosting aTrain Without Pain Masterclass
today.
If, like, obviously, peoplearen't getting in from this
podcast today, I'm going to be.
It's going to be available forreplay.
(45:45):
So if you guys are interestedin that, link will be in my bio.
If you have questions, you canask me on instagram.
I'm pretty open on instagram,sweet all right.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
That about concludes this fantastic episode yeah of
course, appreciate your time allright, mike, you ready to send
us home?
Yeah, yep, go fix yourselves.
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