Episode Transcript
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Lisa (00:10):
Welcome to the Happy Sweat
Life Podcast.
My name is Lisa Rung and today Iwanted to talk about Eccentrics.
That's E S S E N T R I C S.
So I learned about Eccentricsthrough a YouTube video and I
followed along and I thought itwas good but I didn't feel
(00:32):
particularly compelled to Lookforward to do it again, but then
a number of months later I didsee another video and I was
looking for something to help mestretch out and so I gave it
another shot and they did anexercise where it was stretching
the back in a way that I hadnever ever stretched my back and
(00:57):
And I was just like, oh my gosh,this is the best thing ever.
It felt so good, and it reallyloosened up my back in a way
that I'd never been able to dobefore, and I just fell in love.
I thought, I want to do this.
So, I signed up for their 14 daytrial.
(01:19):
They do have a 14 day trial fortheir streaming service.
then I did continue on to themonthly plan, which with taxes
in September of 2023 is about 16a month.
So not too bad.
And I started doing it everyday, and I did that for about
(01:41):
five or six months dailypractice of this type of
exercise.
Now I'm about two to three timesa week but I still absolutely
love it.
It is the only exercise where Iactually thank the instructor at
the end of the video, eventhough...
he or she can't see me.
(02:02):
I just feel so grateful for howmy body feels after doing
eccentrics that I just feelcompelled to say thank you.
It is really silly, but it'sjust how much it means to me to
be able to move my body andstretch it in the ways that they
do.
So what is Eccentrics?
(02:23):
I'm going to read a little bitoff of their website and
paraphrase a little bit, but youcan find this information on
their website as well.
So it was founded by a motherand daughter team, Miranda and
Sahra Esmond White.
Miranda is the mom and she was aprofessional ballerina.
(02:43):
she realized that fitness reallyshould be measured in mobility,
to move free, and to liveactively without pain.
And definitely as I've aged, Ican see the importance of this
and so I think it's a reallyworthwhile mission.
(03:04):
So their goal is to create abalanced body such that the
strength in your muscles doesn'tinhibit movement.
And if you've ever seen anymuscle bound weightlifters, you
can kind of understand what thatmeans.
Like sometimes when the musclesare so big, they don't have the
same mobility that you wouldwant to have.
(03:26):
And then the other part of it isthat your mobility is enhanced
by your strength.
So if you need to get off of thefloor, you have enough strength
and you have enough mobility todo that.
So it is a functional fitnessclass, which works the whole
body.
And it really does.
(03:47):
They do from head to toe so thatyou can maintain healthy joints,
healthy, connective tissue,healthy muscle.
And as mentioned before, anequal balance of strength and
mobility.
And just to, mention a few ofthe key points that they talk
about.
For the joints they really workon unlocking and decompressing
(04:10):
the joints by stretching andstrengthening the muscles that
surround each while alsolubricating and working the
connective tissue.
And just a little example formyself, I used to run.
I had stopped running.
The idea of running I felt toostiff, actually, to do it.
(04:34):
And after doing eccentrics for awhile, I decided to try running
again.
Because it was something Ireally actually enjoyed.
And It wasn't fun at first, butI felt like I had enough
mobility in my ankle joints thatmy feet were healthy enough to
(04:56):
try it again.
And I'm proud to say that I'veactually run two 5K races and
I'm training for a 10k which isbig for me considering I've also
gained some weight.
So that was something that I wasworried about, but the strength
and mobility that I've gottenfrom Eccentrics have allowed me
(05:17):
to get back to running.
Which has been wonderful.
The other thing that I want totouch on is just how they work
with connective tissue.
So connective tissue is yourfascia, your tendons, and your
ligaments.
And when you don't stretch itout, you don't work on that then
on any regular basis, that'swhen you start to feel really
(05:40):
stiff.
So they use safe, large, threedimensional, full body movements
that exercise.
the design of the living matrixin its entirety.
And this is kind of what I meantwhen I talked about how they
stretched my back in a waybecause there's a lot of fascia,
(06:04):
a lot of connective tissue inthe back.
And just the way that they'vedesigned these movements it
stretches that connective tissuein ways that a lot of exercise
programs don't touch.
Now, what equipment do you need?
Fortunately, you don't needmuch.
(06:26):
Probably just like a yoga mat,or if you have a carpet, that's
fine.
Just someplace soft to lay on.
A lot of the exercises arestanding.
They do do some with a chair,and on the floor ones, if you
have like a stretchy band,that's great, or you could use a
towel.
(06:46):
And any of the side lying ones,if you have any hip discomfort
with those, you could buy adonut at any drugstore like
Walgreens or CVS.
So very low investment in termsof...
In terms of equipment, which Ilove.
So if you're interested intrying out Eccentrics, they have
(07:08):
a number of different options.
As I mentioned, they do have anonline website where twice a
week, usually, they have liveclasses.
And they started this somethingrecently, which I really like,
which is you can log on, saythat you're looking for classes
and that you're a beginner, Andit will display videos for the
(07:31):
week that they suggest if you'rea beginner.
And if you're intermediate oradvanced, then you also will get
the same seven for the weeksuggestions of different videos,
including the live classes.
Now the live classes basicallythey have a time when they're
going to be streamed.
(07:52):
You can just log in and connectand the instructor will lead you
through it.
You...
Don't have any opportunity tointeract with the instructor and
they don't see you But it's kindof nice to follow along live and
know that other people are doingit at the same time as you are
if you can't make that time thenthey will actually record it and
(08:18):
Upload it to the website andit's usually available fairly
quickly after it's ended So youcan go back and watch it or do
it on your own time And I thinkthey keep those up for a couple
weeks Now the other option as Imentioned they do have a lot of
videos that are just stored.
(08:39):
They have a search function soif you have a particular Part of
your body that you want to workon you've got pain in or you
just want to strengthen You cantype that in the search function
and they have various optionsyou can kind of choose from.
Or if you want like a 15 minuteworkout or a 30 minute workout
you can specify that.
(09:01):
And then you'll get a list ofvideos that are suggested for
you.
They do also have DVDs that youcan purchase, and those, you can
see a list of those on thewebsite.
And then the final thing is thatMiranda has just recently
released a book.
it's called The Miracle ofFlexibility.
(09:22):
And that also has a number.
Different routines and programsthat you can follow along with
and also, of course, more indepth explanation of her
philosophy and how the bodyworks.
So if you're a beginner, this iswhat they recommend.
(09:45):
They recommend that you startoff slow.
That you be very gentle withyourself and if anything hurts
you back off to the point whereit doesn't hurt anymore.
And definitely don't push toohard and keep your body nice and
relaxed.
The recommended number of timesper week is three times per
(10:08):
week.
So it's pretty reasonable Ithink most of the videos range
About 30 minutes.
That's kind of an average timeOne other thing I like about
Eccentrics is I love the waythey do the warm up.
It reminds me of when I was backin massage school the founder of
(10:34):
the massage school.
His name is Ben Benjamin and hewrote a book called Exercise
Without Injury, which is stillavailable and he was also a
proponent of this dynamicmovement of bringing fluid into
the joints and blood into themuscles with nice easy like
(10:57):
swinging motions of the legs andthe arms not stretching at this
point to warm up that's doneafter you've finished a workout
and that is really a great wayto prevent injury.
Now, the other thing as I wastalking before about the options
(11:19):
that you have on the website, issometimes they'll run challenges
or programs.
They did one last year, which Ireally enjoyed, which was an age
related workout.
And so they had every decade.
from the 20s all the way up tothe 70s, and you would just
choose the age range you werein, and then each day there
(11:40):
would be a new video releasedthat you could do and that was
really great.
They had one recently that theyreleased that was focused on for
swimmers.
I know they've done ones forrunners that's still up there
The other thing I really likethat I talked to you a little
bit about before is that theyreally do take the joints
(12:04):
through all planes of motions Ihad a Broken shoulder a couple
of years ago.
I don't have any pain I feellike I have pretty good range of
motion, but because they takeyou through all ranges.
I actually found one area ofrange of motion that was really
(12:24):
difficult for me and it was kindof enlightening to discover that
and now I know that that'ssomething I want to work on and
improve and get better becauseI'm sure in some ways or in some
circumstances when I want tomove in that way, it would be
beneficial for me to have thatall loose and functioning
(12:46):
correctly.
Now The other options too, so Imentioned that they have the
streaming service, they have theDVDs, they have the book.
You can also search for classesthat are presented in person.
Or through Zoom.
And the great thing about doingthat is that then you do have a
(13:10):
connection with the instructor.
You can get feedback.
And I would say this is greatfor somebody who might need some
modifications when they firststart out.
Because there are...
The standing moves, especiallywhen they're working the lower
body, you are standing in a sortof modified plie with the legs
(13:33):
turned out and the knees bent.
So if you have trouble standinglike that, you have some knee
issues you don't feel verystable in that position it would
be great to have somebody helpyou Modify the movements in that
because they don't really in thevideos talk too much about
(13:54):
modifications I would say that'sthe really the only Thing that I
find not Not too helpful justjust in terms of how to modify
if you're having trouble So whois Essentrics centrics for I
would say it's for somebody whofeels Tight overall or tight in
(14:15):
one particular spot.
If you want a more balancedbody, you want to increase your
strength and your range ofmotion.
And definitely if you're lookingto improve your posture, this is
absolutely fantastic for openingup the chest area, for lifting
your neck, you know, all thethings that you need in order to
(14:39):
improve your posture in a reallynice gentle way.
Nothing is ever forced.
It's, I just can't even tell youhow nice and easy the movements
are but how effective they are.
Not that they're not challengingat times I've certain certain
ones where I'm kind of weak orhave or don't have the right
range of motion You know,they're challenging and you kind
(15:01):
of have to keep working at it toget better.
But all in all I do love howgentle the movement is.
And the other thing I reallylike is they don't repeat and
repeat and repeat like you'renot doing like sets of 30.
They do maybe like 8, 12 andthen you're on to the next
(15:22):
thing.
So just when you start to feellike you can't handle it
anymore, they're changing it up.
So you, you feel successful.
You feel like you can getthrough the workout and you
know, you might need to restonce in a while, but that
definitely improves as you do itmore.
Especially if you commityourself to doing it, like they
(15:43):
said, like at least three timesa week.
So, eccentrics is also great ifyou want to improve your
balance.
They do work on that quite abit.
If you want to maintain yourstrength and your flexibility of
your body as you age, or if youwant to increase that because
maybe that's some area thatyou're lacking.
(16:04):
It is absolutely fantastic ifyou were looking for a low
impact workout.
They don't have any jumpinginvolved, although they, as I
say, they do do a lot of work onthe feet and the ankles because
they believe that that's thefoundation for the health and
the stability of your whole bodyand I couldn't agree more.
(16:26):
And it's a great supportiveexercise if you want to avoid
injury in some other sport thatyou're doing.
If you need that strength andflexibility because you're
playing pickleball, or as Isaid, you know, I've started
running.
Any of those things, it's sosupportive for activities that
you might be involved with.
(16:48):
So the other opportunities toparticipate in Eccentrics, and
I'm not sure if they're still upthere, but Miranda did do two
PBS shows.
One was called Forever Painless,and the other was called Aging
Backwards.
So those are listed on herwebsite and might still be
(17:09):
available if you search forthose.
So all in all, I thinkEccentrics is just an amazing.
Dance based exercise for thewhole body.
For maintaining the health orincreasing the health of your
body, the strength, themobility.
(17:30):
I've seen a huge difference inmy own body and I would just
absolutely highly recommend it.
That you try it out and see howit feels for you.
I will have the link to thewebsite in my show notes.
(18:01):
thank you again so much forlistening And definitely if you
have any questions.
Comments anything you'd like totalk about, please feel free to
email me.
It's HappySweatLife at gmail.
com.
I will have that noted in theshow notes as well and I look
forward to bringing you anotherinterview next week.
(18:24):
I will be talking again withsomebody who's figure skated
throughout their whole life andis still figure skating.