December 12, 2024 • 48 mins
Ask Nigel Rawlins a question or send feedback, click the link to text me.
In this episode, we sit down with Michal Novotný, a distinguished physiotherapist and fitness coach who has worked with elite athletes such as Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, and Hollywood stars including Orlando Bloom and Chris Hemsworth.
Michal shares his journey from his early career in ATP tennis to developing groundbreaking approaches, and authoring Czech Republic bestsellers Sport is Pain and The Secret of Healthy Movement.
Listeners will learn about the transformative power of prevention, the role of personalized wellness strategies, and how holistic approaches to health can extend professional and personal longevity. Michal provides actionable insights into how movement, diet, and mindfulness intersect to support sustainable success for self-employed professionals and independent creators.
Key Themes Discussed:
• The importance of prevention in avoiding injuries and enhancing performance.
• Personalized health strategies tailored to individual needs.
• The interplay between physical wellness, career demands, and long-term resilience.
• Insights into maintaining fitness and health at different life stages.
• Lessons from working with global sports icons and Hollywood stars.
Mentions:
• Individuals: Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Orlando Bloom, Chris Hemsworth, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Bukowski.
• Organizations: ATP Tennis, Real Madrid University, University of Murcia, Hollywood studios.
Contact Details:
• Michal Novotný’s books, Sport is Pain and The Secret of Healthy Movement (available in Czech, with plans for translation).
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michal-novotn%C3%BD-92333331/
Website
https://www.novotnymichal.com/en/home
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nigel Rawlins (00:00):
Today's guest Michal Novotný is the
(00:02):
world-class physiotherapist with25 plus years of experience with
elite athletes like Rafael Nadaland Maria Sharapova and
Hollywood stars like OrlandoBloom and Australian Chris
Hemsworth.
However, Michal's experienceapplies to everyone, not just
the elite.
In this episode, Michal shareshow prevention and personalized
(00:24):
exercise routines can helpmaintain physical health,
cognitive ability andprofessional resilience,
especially for olderprofessionals.
His insights into adaptingmovement and wellness practices
for longevity are invaluable forstaying sharp and healthy well
into your fifties, sixties andbeyond.
Whether aiming to enhance yourfitness, safeguard your health
(00:46):
or thrive in your career.
Michal's wisdom will guide youtowards a balanced and enduring
future.
Michal, welcome to theWisepreneurs Podcast.
Can you tell us where you'refrom and something about
yourself?
Michel Novotny (00:59):
Hello.
Thank you for inviting me toyour podcast.
My name is Michal Novotny.
I'm from Czech Republic.
I'm a physical therapist, mostlyin sport and a fitness coach.
Nigel Rawlins (01:13):
One of the reasons I wanted to speak to you
is because you work with eliteathletes, but you also work with
Hollywood stars.
So what is it about working withelite athletes that they need
your help?
Michel Novotny (01:26):
Uh, yes, with professional athletes, I start
to work, mostly in professionaltennis when I become one of,
five ATP, sportsphysiotherapist.
And, uh, slowly I was moving toanother sport.
Uh football players andprofessional athletes was
getting in touch, uh, with meand, uh, all this sport is, uh,
(01:51):
somehow connected.
So in one point I had a phonecall from a manager of one
actor.
The first one was Orlando Bloom,uh, that he is, uh, shooting
some movie in Czech Republic, inPrague, and, if I could help
him.
(02:11):
So I went.
It's supposed to be only onetreatment and he felt quite
comfortable.
He felt some improvement.
He asked me to come day afteragain and day after again.
And at the end it was acollaboration for all the movie.
And, all these actors, somehowthey also connected, so, he
(02:33):
mentioned my name to, uh,someone else and slowly they was
calling me, after this firstactor, uh, many others.
Nigel Rawlins (02:43):
Now, what's interesting about that is,
you're in the Czech Republic, sohow do these actors and these
sports people find you there?
Michel Novotny (02:51):
Yeah, I don't know this how they, the way how
to make the research.
So honestly, I don't know.
I don't ask.
So I'm trying to just to talkwith the result with my hands
and releasing the pain.
And I think also that's why allthis, uh, famous people, um,
feel comfortable with mebecause, uh, when I, come to
(03:13):
them, I put my headphones, I putmy Mozart music on and, uh, uh,
they can talk whatever they wantduring the treatment.
I don't listen to them and, uh,so I, I don't know.
But, uh, what I know is that allthis work is very well connected
(03:34):
because this actor knowsmanagers from the sports and,
uh, they working for the similarcompanies.
So the manager normally, they,uh, they interconnected also
between them.
Nigel Rawlins (03:45):
So tell me, you've worked with Rafael Nadal,
is it?
And Maria Sharapova.
What's the difference in, well,obviously women and men, and
they're working at an elitelevel.
What do they need when they'reactually in one of their matches
in terms of your help?
So you actually spend the wholeseason with them or the whole
(04:06):
match?
Michel Novotny (04:07):
I was working in ATP starting from the number one
until number 150.
Uh, so, uh, Nadal was one of theplayers which I felt very close,
uh, because my Spanish is verygood and when he start his
first, ATP tournament, I wasthere.
I was helping him.
It was easy for him also tocommunicate with me because of
(04:29):
the Spanish.
So there was many other moments.
I was living in Spain.
So, I start to collaborate as anATP physio with him, uh, but,
uh, slowly, uh, uh, somehowconnection, friendship, or
professional relationship, youcan call it as you want, uh, uh,
become closer.
And he start to asking me, uh,help him also outside of the
(04:52):
tennis.
So, I create some, uh, uh, full,uh, scan of his body to, uh, in
a term to find the bestprevention program.
But I was not a physio like oneon one, uh, to, traveling with
him away.
I was helping him outside of thecourt in the hotel, but not
(05:15):
traveling like what I was doingafter 10 years in ATP.
And Maria Sharapova, I washelping her in Tenerife.
She came with her physio, whichwas Juan Reque, which is also a
very interesting story becauseJuan Reque was somehow also my
mentor.
And, uh, uh, we both studiedtogether, uh, in, uh, same
(05:40):
university, same class.
We were sitting next to eachother.
We both get to the university asa foreign, he came as a Swiss
even he was partly Spanish, andI came as a Czech, otherwise was
very difficult to get inphysiotherapy school.
And, uh, yeah, he become ATPphysio.
(06:00):
I become ATP physio.
And he start to, uh, work afterfive years, close with, Maria
Sharapova.
He was always discussing uh, howI would deal with his problem.
And, yeah, Maria asked if shecould come to, uh, my clinic to
deal with her ankle problem.
So, uh, that was a closerrelationship.
(06:24):
And then I was helping her alsoin, uh, if I remember well in
Australia Open with hershoulder.
So we also had some polite nicerelationship with Maria, but
also that was not really thisone-on-one collaboration, which
I had with another player,(hardto figure out the tennis
(06:49):
players) So I was working with alot of, but especially with this
two, which you, which youmentioned, it was not a
classical one on one ontournament.
Nigel Rawlins (07:00):
So obviously they're incredible athletes.
So how, how easy is, is it forthem to become injured at that
point?
what are some of the reasonsthey are getting their injuries?
Michel Novotny (07:12):
I think the main problem of, uh, getting injury
is that, uh, the preventionprogram, uh, is not set up from
the young ages.
If we take some preventionprogram, we can go to different
deepness.
Yes, let's say, some, footballfemale team contact me if I
could create a preventionprogram for their club.
(07:35):
This will be some, like a firstlevel or first deep, uh, kind of
superficial, uh, preventionprogram, which i would make, I
will take three or four mostfrequent injury in female
football team.
And I will create, uh, for eachinjury some kind of the
guidelines of this exerciseintensity and that's it.
(07:58):
But, if we want to go reallydeep to the person where he is
uh, based on his age uh, basedon his genetic, his blood test,
his biomarkers starting from HRVor, or resting frequency uh, um,
uh, heartbeat.
So, then it must be almostone-on-one collaboration.
(08:21):
I must be with the athlete, uh,every day, control all this
data, creating different graphsand, uh, uh, be in close contact
with fitness coach and tellinghim today is better, uh, we make
this, uh, technical training inthe morning instead in the
afternoon or today we, decreasethe intensity.
(08:42):
So this is something I don't seeis, uh, the elite sport are
doing, mostly they doing it onsomething what they getting used
to through the years.
So my player is used to traintwo times per day for two hours
and they just keep this routine,but uh, our body is changing.
(09:02):
Our mind is changing, goingthrough different,
circumstances.
And, if you don't, really,tracking, this, markers and,
some of them get away from you,you increase the risk of,
injury.
Nigel Rawlins (09:15):
Okay, yes, so what I'm hearing is you, you're
actually talking about measuringwhat's going on inside and then
mapping that against theirpractice or their training, and
advising them that probably nota good time to do that because
this may lead to an injury.
I used to run a lot, being along distance runner, and uh,
(09:36):
you know, if I sprained an ankleor something silly like that
because I wasn't thinking, um,you're often injured for several
weeks and that's the big issue.
So your athletes that you'reworking with, the tennis and the
footballers, um, once they'reinjured, they could be out for a
season, and I'm assuming thataffects how they get paid as
well.
Michel Novotny (09:56):
Yes, exactly.
One interesting thing is that ihave been working with many
athletes knowing them sincetheir start uh till the end of,
uh their, professional careerprofessional career.
And at the end I used to askthem what they would change,
because this is some importantquestion which I can just pass
(10:21):
to a new generation kid.
And most of them will tell thatthey would start with physio
much earlier stages.
Uh, another thing, they willinvest much more money in
prevention.
And they will adapt the fitnessuh, to prevention.
(10:47):
Yes.
So these are most frequentanswers.
So if we put that in practice,because my goal is to decrease
the injury Like you, when you goto run and you sprain your
ankle, for the tennis player,one tournament can mean a lot,
because, especially in tennis.
(11:08):
Losing one tournament because ofthe injury can mean many points,
money, and often it's not onetournament, but it's one month,
and the career is very, veryshort.
That's why all the footballteams which are collaborating,
they're investing much moremoney now in, uh, prevention
because if, uh, it's notdifficult to find how much does
(11:31):
it cost to one injury.
So, I think the prevention,already Hippocrates told it that
it's more important, it's thefuture of medicine.
The best physio, in my opinion,is the one who doesn't treat
injuries but making that theydon't happen.
Nigel Rawlins (11:48):
So, in terms of the prevention, if they followed
this through from obviously ayoung age, so I'm assuming say
for example, a tennis player,they often start very, very
young.
And if they stay at tennis, theycan go through.
So if they were really focusingon their prevention at a young
age, would their career lastlonger?
(12:09):
Or is there what we call a useby date for tennis players?
Michel Novotny (12:13):
Yes, the, the prevention must be also adapt
based on the age because it'snot the same in let's say
teenagers.
In puberty the recovery is thefastest.
So, this kind of the massages,uh, I don't know, contrast bath
or cold bath or all this methodwhich you're using in older age
(12:34):
are not that important becausetheir body is, very fast.
Normally also the sleepingphases, uh, and quality of the
sleep.
It's a very good, but as wegetting older our regeneration
is a slowlier and we need toadapt it.
And, uh, this is the problemthat when you take a tennis
(12:54):
player, a professional, theynormally they using quite a
small grip on the racket becausethey are playing every day, so
many hours, and they're usingone grip, and when they are
getting old, they're still usingthe same grip, with little
difference.
And, similar happens with theirintensity.
(13:15):
They start with one intensity,and continue through the years
with the same intensity, and notthinking that their body needs
different breaks between thesessions.
Needs a little bit more days offor increase the time or increase
the intensity of the training.
Nigel Rawlins (13:35):
We're going to talk about older adults and not
necessarily sports people, butyes, what you're saying is you
can't keep bashing away at thesame intensity year in, year
out, um, plus the changes in thebody.
So with your Hollywood stars,why do they need the same sort
of treatment that say an elitetennis player needs or a
(13:57):
football player?
Michel Novotny (13:58):
Well, I can tell you, the first is if you take
the Orlando Bloom and you lookat him a little bit closer, you
see that, uh, he is reallyalmost like a professional
athlete.
His routine, he started the daywith 15 minutes of mobilization.
Of, uh, all his joints.
He showed me his routine.
He asked me if, uh, I think Ithink he should change
(14:21):
something.
So from, I don't know, 15exercise, I change a couple of
them based on the problem whichhe which he had.
He got his own chef who ispreparing on daily basis his
food.
He was sending me the picturesand asking if I I think that
it's good based on the workouthe's doing.
(14:42):
And, uh, similar thing was MilošRaonic when I was traveling with
him, he also had a private chefwho was following the diet which
we, design day by day, uh, ifthere is two training, one
training match day, five sets,or three sets.
All this parameter changing,because they spending different
calories.
(15:03):
So the calories must be, uh,refilled.
It's not the same when we'retalking about endurance sport,
or we're talking about speedsport.
Yeah, I'm making thisdistinction between a marathon
man and sprinter.
Not only in the way how theyshould get the energy in, but
also about the time between thesession should be different
(15:26):
because when we're working withthe weight and we try to build
the power.
Uh, we need a little bit moretime to look again inside of the
muscle.
And when we are working moreendurance we need a little bit
shorter time.
But also, let's say you'rerunning, this is, when the body
is ready for the next run.
Normally people run and theyfeel their muscle tired, one,
(15:50):
two days.
And, in two days they feelmuscle ready again, and they go
around another 10 K.
And, here is the also problem isthat, uh, we feel a lot of
muscles, but we don't feel muchtendons.
And we feel less ligaments andwe feel even less the bone, but
the bone with the running alsoget this microruptures and like
(16:14):
a muscle get the microruptureduring the exercise.
So, we are feeling our muscles,but we don't feel other
structure and we also must thinkthat even if we don't, uh, uh,
feel them, we must know that wewas running on some not optimal
surface and maybe I need one ortwo days extra, even my muscle
(16:38):
feels quite okay.
Yes, and that's why more andmore often we see this stress
fracture because from thislittle bone catabolism phase
when the bone is in microscopicstage damage, we don't give
enough time to put it in ananabolic phase.
And from a little rupture willhappen more until we finish with
(17:01):
a stress fracture.
Nigel Rawlins (17:03):
Yes, I know exactly what that was like.
I was running with a stressfracture in my femor um, when I
was much, much younger andwondering why my right femur was
in so much pain as I wasrunning, I still outran everyone
I ran with, but in those days ittook ages to find out what the
problem was.
They just didn't know where tolook.
So what I'm hearing from you isyou're looking at not just their
(17:26):
muscle and their skeletal,you're looking, you're, you're
thinking about every part ofthem, but also how you feed.
those parts of them, you know,the muscle and the bone.
So how does the diet fit intothis or calories?
Michel Novotny (17:39):
Yeah, this is a very big subject and I listen
this question very often but Iwill disappoint our listeners
now, uh, because I think, uh, ifwe talking about exercise to get
fit, to lose the weight, tobuild the muscles, to get
healthy, that is not universaladvice.
(18:02):
And, uh, I think this is thebiggest mistake from people
searching in internet, becausewhat works for one, uh, doesn't
work for another one.
Because, we will try to make athree main category based on
somatotype.
Yes, we have ectomorph,endomorph, and mesomorph, to
just make three.
So, me for example, I'mectomorph, which is, uh, like a
(18:26):
rectangle, tall, thin, and,shoulders, are similar like,
hips.
I have good mobility, I have avery fast metabolism, so it
means I can eat and you will notsee it on my, on my weight.
But then we have a typicalmesomorph, which is this
athletic body, wide shoulders,thin, uh, typical, like Michael
(18:47):
Phelps, let's say.
They earn muscles very fast, uh,and they lose the muscles also
very fast.
This is a good point now to cometo Chris Hemsworth.
When I was working with him, uh,most for six months while he was
shooting Extortion Two inPrague.
And I start uh, to work with himwith treating some back pain,
(19:09):
but at the end, because, he wasalso involved in fitness and
diet, uh, he see that I havequite some interesting knowledge
in these two areas also for him.
So we start to, uh, do exercisetogether and going to the gym
together.
And, I was doing the exercisewith him and I could do it, the
(19:29):
same period, and, the resultvisible on him in a couple of
weeks and on me, you willnotice, nothing.
And we using the same exercise,but the result it's different
because he's a typical athleticbody.
And that's why he's verysuccessful, from Thor in a
couple months, lose the weightand get a Formula One suit for a
(19:54):
movie Rush.
And then lose the muscle butmake a very good definition of
them.
So it's very easy.
But with people like me you needto get it very different way.
You will need to put moreintention on food, to increase
more protein, to, to build upthe muscles.
That Chris Hemsworth doesn'tneed to focus that much in
(20:15):
nutrition, like me.
So, this diet, no matter if it'sfitness, or if it's
physiotherapy, I trying alwaysattack, to, which is the goal.
And to get to the goal attackingthe body, mind with the diet,
with rest, with many differentareas.
It's like a cardiovascular,digestion system, neurologic
(20:37):
system, because all our bodyanyways, is connected.
And, I think the best result isalways attacking all this
system.
Nigel Rawlins (20:46):
It's an amazing viewpoint.
You're saying the body is thewhole, you can't just treat one
part.
You, you need to treat thewhole.
You've also written, uh, a bookcalled Sport is Pain.
Can you tell us something aboutwhy you named it that and what
does that involve?
Michel Novotny (21:03):
Uh, so my career I maybe I start with this, our
goals are changing.
When, when I was young, uh, Iwas trying to build up the
career, build a house, buy thecar, have a boat.
Yes.
And, uh, slowly when you achieveall this things through the
years, you realize that, um,you, you need something else or
(21:24):
your goal are not the same.
And, I start to read, after myforties, maybe three more times
than, than before.
And as more I reading, Irealizing that I know less.
When I was young, I thought Iknow everything.
And now I realize that I knownothing, uh, and I am much more
hungry now about knowledges thanbefore.
(21:47):
And, uh, slowly I understoodalso that I have some need to
pass my experience and myknowledge to new generation of
people.
Physios.
So, I'm in a Real MadridUniversity giving my lectures
for upcoming sportsphysiotherapists.
And, uh, so this is one area andthen I thought maybe, uh, let's,
(22:10):
continue with giving myknowledge and experience.
And my wife was always pushingme and say you should write a
book, but I never felt that I'mready.
I thought, what can I tell topeople what they don't know?
And, I get a offer from the bestmost successful non fiction
published company, jan Melville,which they make only 12–15 books
(22:33):
per year, but they are all verydistinguished and they're very
well defined.
So, I told them my idea aboutthe book, they like it very much
and I start to write.
First I thought it will take oneyear, but then I realized that
it's much more complicated andit took me three and a half
year.
I was counting even the hoursand it was, uh, 2,500 hours to
(22:56):
write the book.
And first I start to write andthen I realized I better I start
to get some knowledge from myfavorite writer, so I took uh,
Charles Bukowski, which is oneof my favorite, writers uh, and
he wrote about writing.
Then I took Ernest Hemingway, healso wrote a book about writing.
(23:19):
And I get some ideas how towrite.
I put time next to me and I seethat I wrote 500 words in three
hours.
And then I pass it to an editor,and he told me, uh, this is
(23:43):
almost nothing.
You need to catch it fromdifferent, so what I was, was
for nothing.
So, uh, it was a biggest, uh,project in my life.
This book, it's much moredifficult that to work with
Nadal, Federer, Chris Hemsworth.
The right book for, was for methe biggest challenge, that's,
uh, for sure.
(24:04):
The biggest problem I seen isthat you, you asked me before
this question about the diet,about the exercise, and I told
you we are all different andwhat can be, uh, helpful for
someone can make damage inanother one.
How you can write a non fictionbook, which can be helpful for
everyone.
How you can recommend some kindof food, which for one can be
(24:27):
bad and for someone can be good.
The same exercise.
So I need first part of the bookto make this diversification,
depending if it's morerectangular, triangle, or square
I make my own test.
I explain to make some test ifit's more endurance or if it's
(24:48):
more sprinter.
Also about the character.
character is another veryimportant area in term of
melancholic, which will beprobably an Nadal.
Yes, a very perfectionist.
It's completely different thanDjokovic, which is, sanguinic,
and you see McEnroe, or,Kyrgios.
(25:09):
Uh, so all these, uh, differentpersonalities.
Uh, when I observing them rightbefore coming out to the center
court, uh, the way of theirconcentration, the way of
spending their energy, uh, eventhe warmup, it's completely, uh,
different.
Federer, for example, which istypical phlegmatic, you see that
(25:32):
his warm up almost didn't changethrough the years and, uh, Nadal
with his perfectionism, so hegot warm up before warm up and
every warm up has differentstages, so also this is
important to include it.
Type of the character on thetype of the activity which you
choose and the way how youperform it, uh, in terms that,
(25:52):
uh, the activity is long,because at the end we need to do
the activity, not for oneperiod, we need to do this
activity till end of our life.
Yeah, keeping biking until 80,picking up our grandchild to our
shoulders.
(26:13):
To do it really in long term orlife term you need to find the
best activity.
To find best time of the daybecause also it's not the same
go for run in the morning or, ordo the weight in the morning.
Yes, because it's not the samefor someone who going to sleep
at two o'clock in the morning,uh, and it's more active in the
(26:34):
evening than in the morning.
So all these individual factorsare, uh, are important.
And this is the first part ofthe book calling this chapter,
who you are, to find who you areon metabolic way, body way,
endurance way, a mental way.
And then all this advices arecoming based on this test and
based on where the reader puthimself.
Nigel Rawlins (26:57):
That's very interesting when you think about
it.
What I was thinking when youwere saying this is, for
example, I played a little bitof tennis, but nothing serious.
It was just hitting the ballbackwards and forwards.
And then you watch the expertsplaying tennis on television.
But what you're seeing issomething most of us don't see.
(27:17):
You're thinking about everythingthat's going on inside their
body and inside their mind aswell.
So the depth that you go to isway past everyone else.
One of the things you weretalking about there, that's
obviously of interest to me, Imean, when I was younger, I
think I only started runningwhen I was about 23, but I did
(27:38):
stop, I just got sick and tiredof it when I was probably in my
50s.
I could still run fairly fastbecause I was still lean, but I
put on a bit of weight and itgets more difficult.
So, something an amateur mightbe doing is not always that
exciting later on.
So if, if for example, there'sprobably a lot of people out
(28:00):
there who've never done a lot ofexercise in their life, they're
keen on being as well as theycan be for as long as they can
be.
So I'm 68.
Since I was a young age, I'vealways been into good diet,
though I did get a bit fat atone point, but I've always
exercised and I exercise a lotmore, but I've noticed,
(28:21):
especially if I'm sitting downat a desk, I can get up and I'm
stiff.
Now, I'm, I'm not, I don't wantto just talk about myself.
I'm thinking about other adultsout there.
Now I move a lot, but ifsomebody's working in a
professional position, forexample, you're going to, as you
get older, how old are you now?
Sorry, I should ask.
You're in your fifties?
Michel Novotny (28:41):
50, 50
Nigel Rawlins (28:42):
Fifty years old.
Okay.
When you're 60 and when you're70, um, you, I'm assuming you'll
still be working in some sort ofcapacity, but maybe you'll be
doing more sitting and maybeyou'll be doing more research,
reading, maybe writing and stufflike that.
So for somebody who hasn't gotan exercise background like you
(29:04):
have, or maybe I have, whatshould they be doing do you
think?
And again, I guess it comes backto the type of body they've got
and their motivation.
But what's the basic thing tokeep ourselves going into our
80s.
Especially if, say, we want tokeep our cognitive ability
going, stay smart, that is.
Michel Novotny (29:22):
Yes, this is also a part, which I wrote in my
book, which is division based ofthe age which is very important.
It's never late I believe trulyand I have experienced that with
my clients that there is reallyno bad moment to start no matter
if you are 60, 70, 80, yourbody, human body is, uh, uh,
(29:46):
amazing, this body can adaptvery fast.
So in my book, I make a divisionand I calling it where you are,
from 30 to 40 and then from 40to 60, from 60 to 90, and I call
it bronze, silver, uh, gold anddiamond.
Diamond period, it's after 90years, which is supposed to be
(30:07):
goal to all of us to uh, to getthere.
So what is important isdepending which age we start, if
later, the line of growing theintensity must be slowlier.
If you never have run before,and, uh, would like to run at
(30:28):
70, uh, obviously I will nottell him to start to run, but I
will ask him to walk.
Yes.
And, and slowly every dayincrease, only one factor.
So, uh, the next day, so let'ssay, okay, you walk 10
kilometers.
Next time you walk 11kilometers.
(30:49):
Yes.
Uh, next day you walk 10kilometers, but faster.
And then you walk 11 kilometersfaster.
So focusing to create some lineof progress.
It's important and this line ofthe progress will be very
different if you are starting at50 60 or 70.
Nigel Rawlins (31:09):
So, obviously, that's going to improve their
heart.
What about muscle strength, Imean, or growing muscle?
Because, one of the biggestproblems, I think, even the age
of about 40, you start losingmuscle definition.
So, keeping your muscles up.
Michel Novotny (31:25):
Yeah.
Keeping the muscle up again,depending in which age we
starting, you mentioned very,well, actually after 30 already,
we starting losing muscle,muscle capacity and in woman,
it's the density of the bone.
So again we need to distinguishif we are dealing with a man or
a woman.
But, to make it simple as olderwe start exercising to avoid
(31:48):
losing the muscles.
The movement with a weightdoesn't matter if we working
with a machine or free weight orbody must be very slow.
And as older we getting better,slowlier.
Yes.
And, so this will be the one.
And second, let's take a typicalvisit in the gym.
(32:11):
And the first, what you see is,uh, I don't know, 50, 60 years
old man doing the bench press.
Yes, let's talk about thistypical exercise, which
everybody knows all the menlikes to do, because somehow
feels, uh, that the chest upafter is full of blood is
growing and it looks, it looksgood.
(32:32):
And this is a first question,what are you doing the gym for?
Uh And if the patient or clientis honest, will tell you I'm
doing.
A gym to be here for many yearsor because it looks good on me.
Yes.
Uh, so if you do this benchpress, uh, with the idea that it
(32:57):
looks good, it's fine.
But let's focus on the peoplewho doing exercise in the gym to
be here for longer.
This bench press lying down isnot very functional movement
because when we are lying andlifting up something from us,
almost never.
Yes.
We need to push something, maybecar.
(33:17):
Yes.
Uh, but when we pushing the car,or something, we are using same
muscle, uh, in arm, like duringthe bench press, but together
with the legs, with the correctposition with the correct
breathing.
And, this apply to tennis,probably your chest, because I
know that you are doing chestand you are, you are strong.
(33:37):
Probably you will lift moreweight than professional tennis
player.
It's possible, but the speed andstrength on the serve on
professional tennis player, it'smuch bigger uh, the power of the
serves coming mostly from thepectoral.
But, in tennis player use allthis kinetic chain starting from
(33:57):
the ankle, knee, the hip, andthe end, the result is much
better on the tennis playerbecause he knows to use this
kinetic chain.
And that's why I recommend, whenwe talking about fitness for
longevity to work this patternmovement, which is composed
movement, let's say if you'redoing biceps, typical biceps, so
(34:18):
there is this kind of the chairwhere you sit and, uh, you take
the bar and doing the biceps.
Yes.
This is also not movement whichyou do in a real life, but if
you stand up and you make aflexion of your knee, and,
you're using your legs togetherwith the biceps, you activate
all the chain and when you'reusing the right posture, you're
using better oxygen and you'reincreasing the VO max.
(34:42):
So, uh, I think it's easier tolie down and do the bench press,
I think for the life and thelongevity is better to change or
involve more of this globalmovement and global patterns.
Nigel Rawlins (34:56):
Yes, that's quite interesting.
Um, I use a band system with abar and a plate.
I have a push day and I have apull day, but it's basically
standing to do it all.
But I've noticed my VO2 max isfairly high for my age.
It's probably not nothing nearan athlete's or anything like
that, but at my age, it's, it'sat the high end.
(35:18):
And I'm not doing a lot ofaerobic exercise.
I basically enjoy my walk in themorning, but I think it's the
strength training that'sactually improved my VO2.
and it doesn't help to do aminute of skipping.
And I've got to admit one minuteof skipping, you think one
minute's not a long time.
Try skipping for one minute.
It's, it's incredibly long.
(35:38):
All right.
One of the things we spoke aboutearlier is the wisdom of some of
the early artists.
You mentioned that, when you aredoing your lectures, you
pictures of some of the artists.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhy you do that?
Michel Novotny (35:52):
So, um, my wife is, um, uh, historician, uh, art
doctor.
So, slowly she was pushing everytime we was visiting some city,
we was always visiting themuseum in that city.
And, uh, uh, it was always hardto me to understand because I'm
not a creative person.
(36:14):
I am more function.
I'm a little bit like a robot.
You need to tell me what I needto read, what I need to write.
And I, I do it like a, like arobot.
But my, uh, wife, she is a pureartist, uh, with, um, uh,
background also in art history,as I told.
And, uh, She is pushing our kidsto, since they are small, to be
(36:37):
in a museum and showing themsome very didactic way how to
get to the art.
So I was basically like one ofher kids and getting into the
art and slowly.
Uh, much faster than my kids.
Now art is, another big part ofmy life.
(36:59):
If you see my book, I, I think,I have the same amount of books
from, anatomy and fitness, asfrom the art.
And, uh, I start to focus abouthow different artists represent
their body, the proportions, anduh, how the different position
of the joints if it's reallycorrect, what, what I know from
(37:22):
the anatomy, what, uh therepresent, and I found that the
real masters about this areMichelangelo and, um, uh,
Leonardo Da Vinci.
And, from them I get even toCaravaggio and joining that, uh,
together and I start, write abook actually, which now it's
little bit in pause.
(37:42):
I have a.
Structure.
I choose seven most famousartists.
And, I represent this artistinto the human body.
And, somehow I use it.
The idea comes when I've beeninvited, two years ago to
Pardubice, where I was, actuallyyesterday again in giving my uh,
(38:03):
talk, um, talk about prevention.
But it was different place inthe same city and it was a very
beautiful, room full of paintingfrom Baroque and these columns.
And when they sent me a picturewhere will be my talk I was
thinking that my talk cannot bedone like usual with this
anatomic models boring.
(38:25):
And I told, uh, I will changethem for, uh, paintings of my
favorite painters.
So, when I was talking aboutfascia, I put Ruben's, The Three
Graces on the picture and onRuben's painting the
llumbosacral fascia is oneexample.
Caravaggio, when we are talkingabout muscle weakness, because I
first found one body, which Isee very weak.
(38:47):
So, I think it's interesting.
All the world somehow isconnected.
Art is connected with science.
Leonardo da Vinci maybe is thetypical, uh, connection,
connection between art andscience, but we see it
everywhere.
And, uh, I think the artistsaround us should be our, uh,
escape, uh, to meditation orescape to another world or
(39:11):
escape to some uh, inspiration.
Nigel Rawlins (39:15):
When you said you weren't very creative, but one
of my speakers, Peter Compo, wastalking about creative is
sometimes being creative is toshow somebody from a different
angle how to understandsomething.
Or how to explain somethingbetter is creativity as well.
And you sound like you're,you've got lots and lots of
(39:36):
creativity.
Now, the worst part about yourbooks is unfortunately they're
all in Czech.
They're not in English at thisstage.
Is there, um, any chance ofthose being translated into
English at some point?
Michel Novotny (39:48):
I think my book become, um, uh, quite unique.
First I think I read a lot, uh,my wife much more, but, uh, I,
uh, wrote a book which I, uh,would like to have for me.
So this, this is one moment.
Then another interesting momentis that, uh, um, I don't like,
(40:09):
uh, pictures in the book, nofiction book I don't like
picture.
And somehow I want to expressmany exercise because you will
find exercise.
How should look warm up?
How should look cool down?
Uh, different kind of thestretching and different
exercise to prevent the injuryfrom, uh, the sport which you're
doing.
The history of injury which youhad in the past, what you should
(40:31):
do to decrease this risk of theinjury.
So I spent uh one week in therecording uh, studio with many
cameras around and recordingmyself doing all the exercise
and putting the QR codes in thebook.
So book is quite unique.
Uh, and I thought that it willbe very easy to, to get it to
(40:52):
other languages, especially toSpanish, because, I'm quite
known in Spain because, uh, Iwork with many famous Spanish
athletes and when I talk to mypublished company, they told
that, uh, they working in CzechRepublic, they have their
distribution company and allthis PR and everything, uh, well
organized in Czech, but not in,other countries.
(41:14):
And, if I want I will need totranslate it with someone and
and go to different and publishcompany and offer the book, uh,
basically on my own.
Because, the other way, theEnglish writers, it's much
easier to get them from Englishto other language, but from
Czech to English, it's a bighandicap in my area.
(41:36):
Uh, so I haven't done it yet.
I'm somehow waiting that maybesomeone will take the book in
Czech and tell it looks verygood, can you tell me about and
maybe translate it and, uh, sellit?
Um, This, book Sport Is Pain,and I didn't answer your
question also why it's callingsport is pain.
And it was also discussion witha published company about the
(41:58):
name that is quite negative andit can be maybe, uh, not, um,
Good for marketing purposes.
So I, I told everyone who'sdoing the sport knows that it
will feel the pain and the painis nothing bad.
Pain Pain is our friend.
(42:19):
And, uh, also, going back tomuseum when we see how the
painters from 14 or 15 centurywas representing the pain.
It was something normal.
It was part of the life.
And, uh, as we are trying toavoid uh, minimum pain.
We try to live to make, our kidsin almost sterile surrounding.
(42:42):
We trying to avoid, uh, any, uh,pain.
Anesthesia.
Now you go to dentist for, uh,minimum thing, they put
anesthesia.
And, uh, I think we are losingconnection with our uh body
because we are scared of thepain.
So the pain become our enemywhen pain is our friend.
(43:05):
Uh, there are also manyillnesses when, uh, perception
of the pain is decreased orminimized, to minimum, and these
people unfortunately they don'tlive for long.
So this is also that.
The pain is our bodyguard.
It's our protection.
But we need to distinguishbetween good pain and bad pain.
(43:26):
And, the good pain is when weare in the gym and when we doing
our exercise and we feeling thepain after the gym.
The good pain is when I have mypatient, and this patient is on
the table and I producing himsome painful manual therapy.
So there is always this goodpain.
(43:47):
The patient tell, yes, this isthe pain I need, I want.
This pain will, uh, help me withthe pain.
But if I would increase littlebit more.
this intensity, uh, suddenly theresult will be different.
The patient become almost incramp or in, uh, tension.
And the result is different.
(44:09):
So also as a physio, we need tohave this kind of the
sensitivity and in our hands toget to this end field the
closest possible and to get thisgood pain in the gym the same.
If you do weight too much, youinstead to make a micro rupture,
you make macro rupture.
When you have this sharp pain,this is this bad pain.
(44:31):
To be honest, when I wrote thefirst book I never expect that
the first book will become anumber one, and bestseller.
They was quite confidence aboutit, but not me because it was my
first book and I just wanted tohave my book maybe for my
grandchildren.
And, when the book is thereforever, you know, you go to
conference, people listen, uh,forget, but the book will be
(44:54):
there forever.
And I was thinking, okay,keeping myself quite modest and
calm and say, no matter if thebook will not sell, uh, maybe
when I die, as many artists, youknow, the book become, popular
after, uh, many years.
So it's always like someexpectation that, uh, maybe not
now, but maybe in 20 or 30 yearsit will be popular and it's,
(45:18):
it's okay.
But the first book become abestseller immediately, which,
uh, surprised me and with verygood critics.
So, I get directly offer fromanother published company which
is the biggest one.
It's calling Albatross.
to write another book, whichtook me exactly one year
(45:38):
because, uh, one year ago camethe first book and now the
second one, uh, it was quitefaster but it was different.,
Nigel Rawlins (45:47):
Unfortunately, a technical glitch interrupted the
recording towards the end of ourconversation.
Michal was about to shareadditional insights about his
second book, The Secret ofHealthy Movement, which sold out
within four weeks of its releaseand became a bestseller much
like his first book Sport isPain.
While the recording endsprematurely, the wisdom Michal
(46:08):
shared earlier in the episoderemains invaluable.
His ability to blendpersonalized health strategies
with actionable real worldadvice provides a guiding
framework for resilience andlongevity, both professionally
and personally.
I'd really like to give aheartfelt thanks to Michal for
his generosity in sharing hisexpertise and his experiences.
(46:30):
His ideas inspire and motivateyou to take.
I'm hoping that these ideasinspire and motivate you to take
some thoughtful steps towardsachieving a healthier, more
balanced life.
Thank you for tuning in to thisepisode of the Wisepreneurs
podcast, and I look forward towelcoming you back for the next
inspiring conversations in 2025.
Today's guest Michal Novotný is the
(00:02):
world-class physiotherapist with25 plus years of experience with
elite athletes like Rafael Nadaland Maria Sharapova and
Hollywood stars like OrlandoBloom and Australian Chris
Hemsworth.
However, Michal's experienceapplies to everyone, not just
the elite.
In this episode, Michal shareshow prevention and personalized
(00:24):
exercise routines can helpmaintain physical health,
cognitive ability andprofessional resilience,
especially for olderprofessionals.
His insights into adaptingmovement and wellness practices
for longevity are invaluable forstaying sharp and healthy well
into your fifties, sixties andbeyond.
Whether aiming to enhance yourfitness, safeguard your health
(00:46):
or thrive in your career.
Michal's wisdom will guide youtowards a balanced and enduring
future.
Michal, welcome to theWisepreneurs Podcast.
Can you tell us where you'refrom and something about
yourself?
Michel Novotny (00:59):
Hello.
Thank you for inviting me toyour podcast.
My name is Michal Novotny.
I'm from Czech Republic.
I'm a physical therapist, mostlyin sport and a fitness coach.
Nigel Rawlins (01:13):
One of the reasons I wanted to speak to you
is because you work with eliteathletes, but you also work with
Hollywood stars.
So what is it about working withelite athletes that they need
your help?
Michel Novotny (01:26):
Uh, yes, with professional athletes, I start
to work, mostly in professionaltennis when I become one of,
five ATP, sportsphysiotherapist.
And, uh, slowly I was moving toanother sport.
Uh football players andprofessional athletes was
getting in touch, uh, with meand, uh, all this sport is, uh,
(01:51):
somehow connected.
So in one point I had a phonecall from a manager of one
actor.
The first one was Orlando Bloom,uh, that he is, uh, shooting
some movie in Czech Republic, inPrague, and, if I could help
him.
(02:11):
So I went.
It's supposed to be only onetreatment and he felt quite
comfortable.
He felt some improvement.
He asked me to come day afteragain and day after again.
And at the end it was acollaboration for all the movie.
And, all these actors, somehowthey also connected, so, he
(02:33):
mentioned my name to, uh,someone else and slowly they was
calling me, after this firstactor, uh, many others.
Nigel Rawlins (02:43):
Now, what's interesting about that is,
you're in the Czech Republic, sohow do these actors and these
sports people find you there?
Michel Novotny (02:51):
Yeah, I don't know this how they, the way how
to make the research.
So honestly, I don't know.
I don't ask.
So I'm trying to just to talkwith the result with my hands
and releasing the pain.
And I think also that's why allthis, uh, famous people, um,
feel comfortable with mebecause, uh, when I, come to
(03:13):
them, I put my headphones, I putmy Mozart music on and, uh, uh,
they can talk whatever they wantduring the treatment.
I don't listen to them and, uh,so I, I don't know.
But, uh, what I know is that allthis work is very well connected
(03:34):
because this actor knowsmanagers from the sports and,
uh, they working for the similarcompanies.
So the manager normally, they,uh, they interconnected also
between them.
Nigel Rawlins (03:45):
So tell me, you've worked with Rafael Nadal,
is it?
And Maria Sharapova.
What's the difference in, well,obviously women and men, and
they're working at an elitelevel.
What do they need when they'reactually in one of their matches
in terms of your help?
So you actually spend the wholeseason with them or the whole
(04:06):
match?
Michel Novotny (04:07):
I was working in ATP starting from the number one
until number 150.
Uh, so, uh, Nadal was one of theplayers which I felt very close,
uh, because my Spanish is verygood and when he start his
first, ATP tournament, I wasthere.
I was helping him.
It was easy for him also tocommunicate with me because of
(04:29):
the Spanish.
So there was many other moments.
I was living in Spain.
So, I start to collaborate as anATP physio with him, uh, but,
uh, slowly, uh, uh, somehowconnection, friendship, or
professional relationship, youcan call it as you want, uh, uh,
become closer.
And he start to asking me, uh,help him also outside of the
(04:52):
tennis.
So, I create some, uh, uh, full,uh, scan of his body to, uh, in
a term to find the bestprevention program.
But I was not a physio like oneon one, uh, to, traveling with
him away.
I was helping him outside of thecourt in the hotel, but not
(05:15):
traveling like what I was doingafter 10 years in ATP.
And Maria Sharapova, I washelping her in Tenerife.
She came with her physio, whichwas Juan Reque, which is also a
very interesting story becauseJuan Reque was somehow also my
mentor.
And, uh, uh, we both studiedtogether, uh, in, uh, same
(05:40):
university, same class.
We were sitting next to eachother.
We both get to the university asa foreign, he came as a Swiss
even he was partly Spanish, andI came as a Czech, otherwise was
very difficult to get inphysiotherapy school.
And, uh, yeah, he become ATPphysio.
(06:00):
I become ATP physio.
And he start to, uh, work afterfive years, close with, Maria
Sharapova.
He was always discussing uh, howI would deal with his problem.
And, yeah, Maria asked if shecould come to, uh, my clinic to
deal with her ankle problem.
So, uh, that was a closerrelationship.
(06:24):
And then I was helping her alsoin, uh, if I remember well in
Australia Open with hershoulder.
So we also had some polite nicerelationship with Maria, but
also that was not really thisone-on-one collaboration, which
I had with another player,(hardto figure out the tennis
(06:49):
players) So I was working with alot of, but especially with this
two, which you, which youmentioned, it was not a
classical one on one ontournament.
Nigel Rawlins (07:00):
So obviously they're incredible athletes.
So how, how easy is, is it forthem to become injured at that
point?
what are some of the reasonsthey are getting their injuries?
Michel Novotny (07:12):
I think the main problem of, uh, getting injury
is that, uh, the preventionprogram, uh, is not set up from
the young ages.
If we take some preventionprogram, we can go to different
deepness.
Yes, let's say, some, footballfemale team contact me if I
could create a preventionprogram for their club.
(07:35):
This will be some, like a firstlevel or first deep, uh, kind of
superficial, uh, preventionprogram, which i would make, I
will take three or four mostfrequent injury in female
football team.
And I will create, uh, for eachinjury some kind of the
guidelines of this exerciseintensity and that's it.
(07:58):
But, if we want to go reallydeep to the person where he is
uh, based on his age uh, basedon his genetic, his blood test,
his biomarkers starting from HRVor, or resting frequency uh, um,
uh, heartbeat.
So, then it must be almostone-on-one collaboration.
(08:21):
I must be with the athlete, uh,every day, control all this
data, creating different graphsand, uh, uh, be in close contact
with fitness coach and tellinghim today is better, uh, we make
this, uh, technical training inthe morning instead in the
afternoon or today we, decreasethe intensity.
(08:42):
So this is something I don't seeis, uh, the elite sport are
doing, mostly they doing it onsomething what they getting used
to through the years.
So my player is used to traintwo times per day for two hours
and they just keep this routine,but uh, our body is changing.
(09:02):
Our mind is changing, goingthrough different,
circumstances.
And, if you don't, really,tracking, this, markers and,
some of them get away from you,you increase the risk of,
injury.
Nigel Rawlins (09:15):
Okay, yes, so what I'm hearing is you, you're
actually talking about measuringwhat's going on inside and then
mapping that against theirpractice or their training, and
advising them that probably nota good time to do that because
this may lead to an injury.
I used to run a lot, being along distance runner, and uh,
(09:36):
you know, if I sprained an ankleor something silly like that
because I wasn't thinking, um,you're often injured for several
weeks and that's the big issue.
So your athletes that you'reworking with, the tennis and the
footballers, um, once they'reinjured, they could be out for a
season, and I'm assuming thataffects how they get paid as
well.
Michel Novotny (09:56):
Yes, exactly.
One interesting thing is that ihave been working with many
athletes knowing them sincetheir start uh till the end of,
uh their, professional careerprofessional career.
And at the end I used to askthem what they would change,
because this is some importantquestion which I can just pass
(10:21):
to a new generation kid.
And most of them will tell thatthey would start with physio
much earlier stages.
Uh, another thing, they willinvest much more money in
prevention.
And they will adapt the fitnessuh, to prevention.
(10:47):
Yes.
So these are most frequentanswers.
So if we put that in practice,because my goal is to decrease
the injury Like you, when you goto run and you sprain your
ankle, for the tennis player,one tournament can mean a lot,
because, especially in tennis.
(11:08):
Losing one tournament because ofthe injury can mean many points,
money, and often it's not onetournament, but it's one month,
and the career is very, veryshort.
That's why all the footballteams which are collaborating,
they're investing much moremoney now in, uh, prevention
because if, uh, it's notdifficult to find how much does
(11:31):
it cost to one injury.
So, I think the prevention,already Hippocrates told it that
it's more important, it's thefuture of medicine.
The best physio, in my opinion,is the one who doesn't treat
injuries but making that theydon't happen.
Nigel Rawlins (11:48):
So, in terms of the prevention, if they followed
this through from obviously ayoung age, so I'm assuming say
for example, a tennis player,they often start very, very
young.
And if they stay at tennis, theycan go through.
So if they were really focusingon their prevention at a young
age, would their career lastlonger?
(12:09):
Or is there what we call a useby date for tennis players?
Michel Novotny (12:13):
Yes, the, the prevention must be also adapt
based on the age because it'snot the same in let's say
teenagers.
In puberty the recovery is thefastest.
So, this kind of the massages,uh, I don't know, contrast bath
or cold bath or all this methodwhich you're using in older age
(12:34):
are not that important becausetheir body is, very fast.
Normally also the sleepingphases, uh, and quality of the
sleep.
It's a very good, but as wegetting older our regeneration
is a slowlier and we need toadapt it.
And, uh, this is the problemthat when you take a tennis
(12:54):
player, a professional, theynormally they using quite a
small grip on the racket becausethey are playing every day, so
many hours, and they're usingone grip, and when they are
getting old, they're still usingthe same grip, with little
difference.
And, similar happens with theirintensity.
(13:15):
They start with one intensity,and continue through the years
with the same intensity, and notthinking that their body needs
different breaks between thesessions.
Needs a little bit more days offor increase the time or increase
the intensity of the training.
Nigel Rawlins (13:35):
We're going to talk about older adults and not
necessarily sports people, butyes, what you're saying is you
can't keep bashing away at thesame intensity year in, year
out, um, plus the changes in thebody.
So with your Hollywood stars,why do they need the same sort
of treatment that say an elitetennis player needs or a
(13:57):
football player?
Michel Novotny (13:58):
Well, I can tell you, the first is if you take
the Orlando Bloom and you lookat him a little bit closer, you
see that, uh, he is reallyalmost like a professional
athlete.
His routine, he started the daywith 15 minutes of mobilization.
Of, uh, all his joints.
He showed me his routine.
He asked me if, uh, I think Ithink he should change
(14:21):
something.
So from, I don't know, 15exercise, I change a couple of
them based on the problem whichhe which he had.
He got his own chef who ispreparing on daily basis his
food.
He was sending me the picturesand asking if I I think that
it's good based on the workouthe's doing.
(14:42):
And, uh, similar thing was MilošRaonic when I was traveling with
him, he also had a private chefwho was following the diet which
we, design day by day, uh, ifthere is two training, one
training match day, five sets,or three sets.
All this parameter changing,because they spending different
calories.
(15:03):
So the calories must be, uh,refilled.
It's not the same when we'retalking about endurance sport,
or we're talking about speedsport.
Yeah, I'm making thisdistinction between a marathon
man and sprinter.
Not only in the way how theyshould get the energy in, but
also about the time between thesession should be different
(15:26):
because when we're working withthe weight and we try to build
the power.
Uh, we need a little bit moretime to look again inside of the
muscle.
And when we are working moreendurance we need a little bit
shorter time.
But also, let's say you'rerunning, this is, when the body
is ready for the next run.
Normally people run and theyfeel their muscle tired, one,
(15:50):
two days.
And, in two days they feelmuscle ready again, and they go
around another 10 K.
And, here is the also problem isthat, uh, we feel a lot of
muscles, but we don't feel muchtendons.
And we feel less ligaments andwe feel even less the bone, but
the bone with the running alsoget this microruptures and like
(16:14):
a muscle get the microruptureduring the exercise.
So, we are feeling our muscles,but we don't feel other
structure and we also must thinkthat even if we don't, uh, uh,
feel them, we must know that wewas running on some not optimal
surface and maybe I need one ortwo days extra, even my muscle
(16:38):
feels quite okay.
Yes, and that's why more andmore often we see this stress
fracture because from thislittle bone catabolism phase
when the bone is in microscopicstage damage, we don't give
enough time to put it in ananabolic phase.
And from a little rupture willhappen more until we finish with
(17:01):
a stress fracture.
Nigel Rawlins (17:03):
Yes, I know exactly what that was like.
I was running with a stressfracture in my femor um, when I
was much, much younger andwondering why my right femur was
in so much pain as I wasrunning, I still outran everyone
I ran with, but in those days ittook ages to find out what the
problem was.
They just didn't know where tolook.
So what I'm hearing from you isyou're looking at not just their
(17:26):
muscle and their skeletal,you're looking, you're, you're
thinking about every part ofthem, but also how you feed.
those parts of them, you know,the muscle and the bone.
So how does the diet fit intothis or calories?
Michel Novotny (17:39):
Yeah, this is a very big subject and I listen
this question very often but Iwill disappoint our listeners
now, uh, because I think, uh, ifwe talking about exercise to get
fit, to lose the weight, tobuild the muscles, to get
healthy, that is not universaladvice.
(18:02):
And, uh, I think this is thebiggest mistake from people
searching in internet, becausewhat works for one, uh, doesn't
work for another one.
Because, we will try to make athree main category based on
somatotype.
Yes, we have ectomorph,endomorph, and mesomorph, to
just make three.
So, me for example, I'mectomorph, which is, uh, like a
(18:26):
rectangle, tall, thin, and,shoulders, are similar like,
hips.
I have good mobility, I have avery fast metabolism, so it
means I can eat and you will notsee it on my, on my weight.
But then we have a typicalmesomorph, which is this
athletic body, wide shoulders,thin, uh, typical, like Michael
(18:47):
Phelps, let's say.
They earn muscles very fast, uh,and they lose the muscles also
very fast.
This is a good point now to cometo Chris Hemsworth.
When I was working with him, uh,most for six months while he was
shooting Extortion Two inPrague.
And I start uh, to work with himwith treating some back pain,
(19:09):
but at the end, because, he wasalso involved in fitness and
diet, uh, he see that I havequite some interesting knowledge
in these two areas also for him.
So we start to, uh, do exercisetogether and going to the gym
together.
And, I was doing the exercisewith him and I could do it, the
(19:29):
same period, and, the resultvisible on him in a couple of
weeks and on me, you willnotice, nothing.
And we using the same exercise,but the result it's different
because he's a typical athleticbody.
And that's why he's verysuccessful, from Thor in a
couple months, lose the weightand get a Formula One suit for a
(19:54):
movie Rush.
And then lose the muscle butmake a very good definition of
them.
So it's very easy.
But with people like me you needto get it very different way.
You will need to put moreintention on food, to increase
more protein, to, to build upthe muscles.
That Chris Hemsworth doesn'tneed to focus that much in
(20:15):
nutrition, like me.
So, this diet, no matter if it'sfitness, or if it's
physiotherapy, I trying alwaysattack, to, which is the goal.
And to get to the goal attackingthe body, mind with the diet,
with rest, with many differentareas.
It's like a cardiovascular,digestion system, neurologic
(20:37):
system, because all our bodyanyways, is connected.
And, I think the best result isalways attacking all this
system.
Nigel Rawlins (20:46):
It's an amazing viewpoint.
You're saying the body is thewhole, you can't just treat one
part.
You, you need to treat thewhole.
You've also written, uh, a bookcalled Sport is Pain.
Can you tell us something aboutwhy you named it that and what
does that involve?
Michel Novotny (21:03):
Uh, so my career I maybe I start with this, our
goals are changing.
When, when I was young, uh, Iwas trying to build up the
career, build a house, buy thecar, have a boat.
Yes.
And, uh, slowly when you achieveall this things through the
years, you realize that, um,you, you need something else or
(21:24):
your goal are not the same.
And, I start to read, after myforties, maybe three more times
than, than before.
And as more I reading, Irealizing that I know less.
When I was young, I thought Iknow everything.
And now I realize that I knownothing, uh, and I am much more
hungry now about knowledges thanbefore.
(21:47):
And, uh, slowly I understoodalso that I have some need to
pass my experience and myknowledge to new generation of
people.
Physios.
So, I'm in a Real MadridUniversity giving my lectures
for upcoming sportsphysiotherapists.
And, uh, so this is one area andthen I thought maybe, uh, let's,
(22:10):
continue with giving myknowledge and experience.
And my wife was always pushingme and say you should write a
book, but I never felt that I'mready.
I thought, what can I tell topeople what they don't know?
And, I get a offer from the bestmost successful non fiction
published company, jan Melville,which they make only 12–15 books
(22:33):
per year, but they are all verydistinguished and they're very
well defined.
So, I told them my idea aboutthe book, they like it very much
and I start to write.
First I thought it will take oneyear, but then I realized that
it's much more complicated andit took me three and a half
year.
I was counting even the hoursand it was, uh, 2,500 hours to
(22:56):
write the book.
And first I start to write andthen I realized I better I start
to get some knowledge from myfavorite writer, so I took uh,
Charles Bukowski, which is oneof my favorite, writers uh, and
he wrote about writing.
Then I took Ernest Hemingway, healso wrote a book about writing.
(23:19):
And I get some ideas how towrite.
I put time next to me and I seethat I wrote 500 words in three
hours.
And then I pass it to an editor,and he told me, uh, this is
(23:43):
almost nothing.
You need to catch it fromdifferent, so what I was, was
for nothing.
So, uh, it was a biggest, uh,project in my life.
This book, it's much moredifficult that to work with
Nadal, Federer, Chris Hemsworth.
The right book for, was for methe biggest challenge, that's,
uh, for sure.
(24:04):
The biggest problem I seen isthat you, you asked me before
this question about the diet,about the exercise, and I told
you we are all different andwhat can be, uh, helpful for
someone can make damage inanother one.
How you can write a non fictionbook, which can be helpful for
everyone.
How you can recommend some kindof food, which for one can be
(24:27):
bad and for someone can be good.
The same exercise.
So I need first part of the bookto make this diversification,
depending if it's morerectangular, triangle, or square
I make my own test.
I explain to make some test ifit's more endurance or if it's
(24:48):
more sprinter.
Also about the character.
character is another veryimportant area in term of
melancholic, which will beprobably an Nadal.
Yes, a very perfectionist.
It's completely different thanDjokovic, which is, sanguinic,
and you see McEnroe, or,Kyrgios.
(25:09):
Uh, so all these, uh, differentpersonalities.
Uh, when I observing them rightbefore coming out to the center
court, uh, the way of theirconcentration, the way of
spending their energy, uh, eventhe warmup, it's completely, uh,
different.
Federer, for example, which istypical phlegmatic, you see that
(25:32):
his warm up almost didn't changethrough the years and, uh, Nadal
with his perfectionism, so hegot warm up before warm up and
every warm up has differentstages, so also this is
important to include it.
Type of the character on thetype of the activity which you
choose and the way how youperform it, uh, in terms that,
(25:52):
uh, the activity is long,because at the end we need to do
the activity, not for oneperiod, we need to do this
activity till end of our life.
Yeah, keeping biking until 80,picking up our grandchild to our
shoulders.
(26:13):
To do it really in long term orlife term you need to find the
best activity.
To find best time of the daybecause also it's not the same
go for run in the morning or, ordo the weight in the morning.
Yes, because it's not the samefor someone who going to sleep
at two o'clock in the morning,uh, and it's more active in the
(26:34):
evening than in the morning.
So all these individual factorsare, uh, are important.
And this is the first part ofthe book calling this chapter,
who you are, to find who you areon metabolic way, body way,
endurance way, a mental way.
And then all this advices arecoming based on this test and
based on where the reader puthimself.
Nigel Rawlins (26:57):
That's very interesting when you think about
it.
What I was thinking when youwere saying this is, for
example, I played a little bitof tennis, but nothing serious.
It was just hitting the ballbackwards and forwards.
And then you watch the expertsplaying tennis on television.
But what you're seeing issomething most of us don't see.
(27:17):
You're thinking about everythingthat's going on inside their
body and inside their mind aswell.
So the depth that you go to isway past everyone else.
One of the things you weretalking about there, that's
obviously of interest to me, Imean, when I was younger, I
think I only started runningwhen I was about 23, but I did
(27:38):
stop, I just got sick and tiredof it when I was probably in my
50s.
I could still run fairly fastbecause I was still lean, but I
put on a bit of weight and itgets more difficult.
So, something an amateur mightbe doing is not always that
exciting later on.
So if, if for example, there'sprobably a lot of people out
(28:00):
there who've never done a lot ofexercise in their life, they're
keen on being as well as theycan be for as long as they can
be.
So I'm 68.
Since I was a young age, I'vealways been into good diet,
though I did get a bit fat atone point, but I've always
exercised and I exercise a lotmore, but I've noticed,
(28:21):
especially if I'm sitting downat a desk, I can get up and I'm
stiff.
Now, I'm, I'm not, I don't wantto just talk about myself.
I'm thinking about other adultsout there.
Now I move a lot, but ifsomebody's working in a
professional position, forexample, you're going to, as you
get older, how old are you now?
Sorry, I should ask.
You're in your fifties?
Michel Novotny (28:41):
50, 50
Nigel Rawlins (28:42):
Fifty years old.
Okay.
When you're 60 and when you're70, um, you, I'm assuming you'll
still be working in some sort ofcapacity, but maybe you'll be
doing more sitting and maybeyou'll be doing more research,
reading, maybe writing and stufflike that.
So for somebody who hasn't gotan exercise background like you
(29:04):
have, or maybe I have, whatshould they be doing do you
think?
And again, I guess it comes backto the type of body they've got
and their motivation.
But what's the basic thing tokeep ourselves going into our
80s.
Especially if, say, we want tokeep our cognitive ability
going, stay smart, that is.
Michel Novotny (29:22):
Yes, this is also a part, which I wrote in my
book, which is division based ofthe age which is very important.
It's never late I believe trulyand I have experienced that with
my clients that there is reallyno bad moment to start no matter
if you are 60, 70, 80, yourbody, human body is, uh, uh,
(29:46):
amazing, this body can adaptvery fast.
So in my book, I make a divisionand I calling it where you are,
from 30 to 40 and then from 40to 60, from 60 to 90, and I call
it bronze, silver, uh, gold anddiamond.
Diamond period, it's after 90years, which is supposed to be
(30:07):
goal to all of us to uh, to getthere.
So what is important isdepending which age we start, if
later, the line of growing theintensity must be slowlier.
If you never have run before,and, uh, would like to run at
(30:28):
70, uh, obviously I will nottell him to start to run, but I
will ask him to walk.
Yes.
And, and slowly every dayincrease, only one factor.
So, uh, the next day, so let'ssay, okay, you walk 10
kilometers.
Next time you walk 11kilometers.
(30:49):
Yes.
Uh, next day you walk 10kilometers, but faster.
And then you walk 11 kilometersfaster.
So focusing to create some lineof progress.
It's important and this line ofthe progress will be very
different if you are starting at50 60 or 70.
Nigel Rawlins (31:09):
So, obviously, that's going to improve their
heart.
What about muscle strength, Imean, or growing muscle?
Because, one of the biggestproblems, I think, even the age
of about 40, you start losingmuscle definition.
So, keeping your muscles up.
Michel Novotny (31:25):
Yeah.
Keeping the muscle up again,depending in which age we
starting, you mentioned very,well, actually after 30 already,
we starting losing muscle,muscle capacity and in woman,
it's the density of the bone.
So again we need to distinguishif we are dealing with a man or
a woman.
But, to make it simple as olderwe start exercising to avoid
(31:48):
losing the muscles.
The movement with a weightdoesn't matter if we working
with a machine or free weight orbody must be very slow.
And as older we getting better,slowlier.
Yes.
And, so this will be the one.
And second, let's take a typicalvisit in the gym.
(32:11):
And the first, what you see is,uh, I don't know, 50, 60 years
old man doing the bench press.
Yes, let's talk about thistypical exercise, which
everybody knows all the menlikes to do, because somehow
feels, uh, that the chest upafter is full of blood is
growing and it looks, it looksgood.
(32:32):
And this is a first question,what are you doing the gym for?
Uh And if the patient or clientis honest, will tell you I'm
doing.
A gym to be here for many yearsor because it looks good on me.
Yes.
Uh, so if you do this benchpress, uh, with the idea that it
(32:57):
looks good, it's fine.
But let's focus on the peoplewho doing exercise in the gym to
be here for longer.
This bench press lying down isnot very functional movement
because when we are lying andlifting up something from us,
almost never.
Yes.
We need to push something, maybecar.
(33:17):
Yes.
Uh, but when we pushing the car,or something, we are using same
muscle, uh, in arm, like duringthe bench press, but together
with the legs, with the correctposition with the correct
breathing.
And, this apply to tennis,probably your chest, because I
know that you are doing chestand you are, you are strong.
(33:37):
Probably you will lift moreweight than professional tennis
player.
It's possible, but the speed andstrength on the serve on
professional tennis player, it'smuch bigger uh, the power of the
serves coming mostly from thepectoral.
But, in tennis player use allthis kinetic chain starting from
(33:57):
the ankle, knee, the hip, andthe end, the result is much
better on the tennis playerbecause he knows to use this
kinetic chain.
And that's why I recommend, whenwe talking about fitness for
longevity to work this patternmovement, which is composed
movement, let's say if you'redoing biceps, typical biceps, so
(34:18):
there is this kind of the chairwhere you sit and, uh, you take
the bar and doing the biceps.
Yes.
This is also not movement whichyou do in a real life, but if
you stand up and you make aflexion of your knee, and,
you're using your legs togetherwith the biceps, you activate
all the chain and when you'reusing the right posture, you're
using better oxygen and you'reincreasing the VO max.
(34:42):
So, uh, I think it's easier tolie down and do the bench press,
I think for the life and thelongevity is better to change or
involve more of this globalmovement and global patterns.
Nigel Rawlins (34:56):
Yes, that's quite interesting.
Um, I use a band system with abar and a plate.
I have a push day and I have apull day, but it's basically
standing to do it all.
But I've noticed my VO2 max isfairly high for my age.
It's probably not nothing nearan athlete's or anything like
that, but at my age, it's, it'sat the high end.
(35:18):
And I'm not doing a lot ofaerobic exercise.
I basically enjoy my walk in themorning, but I think it's the
strength training that'sactually improved my VO2.
and it doesn't help to do aminute of skipping.
And I've got to admit one minuteof skipping, you think one
minute's not a long time.
Try skipping for one minute.
It's, it's incredibly long.
(35:38):
All right.
One of the things we spoke aboutearlier is the wisdom of some of
the early artists.
You mentioned that, when you aredoing your lectures, you
pictures of some of the artists.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhy you do that?
Michel Novotny (35:52):
So, um, my wife is, um, uh, historician, uh, art
doctor.
So, slowly she was pushing everytime we was visiting some city,
we was always visiting themuseum in that city.
And, uh, uh, it was always hardto me to understand because I'm
not a creative person.
(36:14):
I am more function.
I'm a little bit like a robot.
You need to tell me what I needto read, what I need to write.
And I, I do it like a, like arobot.
But my, uh, wife, she is a pureartist, uh, with, um, uh,
background also in art history,as I told.
And, uh, She is pushing our kidsto, since they are small, to be
(36:37):
in a museum and showing themsome very didactic way how to
get to the art.
So I was basically like one ofher kids and getting into the
art and slowly.
Uh, much faster than my kids.
Now art is, another big part ofmy life.
(36:59):
If you see my book, I, I think,I have the same amount of books
from, anatomy and fitness, asfrom the art.
And, uh, I start to focus abouthow different artists represent
their body, the proportions, anduh, how the different position
of the joints if it's reallycorrect, what, what I know from
(37:22):
the anatomy, what, uh therepresent, and I found that the
real masters about this areMichelangelo and, um, uh,
Leonardo Da Vinci.
And, from them I get even toCaravaggio and joining that, uh,
together and I start, write abook actually, which now it's
little bit in pause.
(37:42):
I have a.
Structure.
I choose seven most famousartists.
And, I represent this artistinto the human body.
And, somehow I use it.
The idea comes when I've beeninvited, two years ago to
Pardubice, where I was, actuallyyesterday again in giving my uh,
(38:03):
talk, um, talk about prevention.
But it was different place inthe same city and it was a very
beautiful, room full of paintingfrom Baroque and these columns.
And when they sent me a picturewhere will be my talk I was
thinking that my talk cannot bedone like usual with this
anatomic models boring.
(38:25):
And I told, uh, I will changethem for, uh, paintings of my
favorite painters.
So, when I was talking aboutfascia, I put Ruben's, The Three
Graces on the picture and onRuben's painting the
llumbosacral fascia is oneexample.
Caravaggio, when we are talkingabout muscle weakness, because I
first found one body, which Isee very weak.
(38:47):
So, I think it's interesting.
All the world somehow isconnected.
Art is connected with science.
Leonardo da Vinci maybe is thetypical, uh, connection,
connection between art andscience, but we see it
everywhere.
And, uh, I think the artistsaround us should be our, uh,
escape, uh, to meditation orescape to another world or
(39:11):
escape to some uh, inspiration.
Nigel Rawlins (39:15):
When you said you weren't very creative, but one
of my speakers, Peter Compo, wastalking about creative is
sometimes being creative is toshow somebody from a different
angle how to understandsomething.
Or how to explain somethingbetter is creativity as well.
And you sound like you're,you've got lots and lots of
(39:36):
creativity.
Now, the worst part about yourbooks is unfortunately they're
all in Czech.
They're not in English at thisstage.
Is there, um, any chance ofthose being translated into
English at some point?
Michel Novotny (39:48):
I think my book become, um, uh, quite unique.
First I think I read a lot, uh,my wife much more, but, uh, I,
uh, wrote a book which I, uh,would like to have for me.
So this, this is one moment.
Then another interesting momentis that, uh, um, I don't like,
(40:09):
uh, pictures in the book, nofiction book I don't like
picture.
And somehow I want to expressmany exercise because you will
find exercise.
How should look warm up?
How should look cool down?
Uh, different kind of thestretching and different
exercise to prevent the injuryfrom, uh, the sport which you're
doing.
The history of injury which youhad in the past, what you should
(40:31):
do to decrease this risk of theinjury.
So I spent uh one week in therecording uh, studio with many
cameras around and recordingmyself doing all the exercise
and putting the QR codes in thebook.
So book is quite unique.
Uh, and I thought that it willbe very easy to, to get it to
(40:52):
other languages, especially toSpanish, because, I'm quite
known in Spain because, uh, Iwork with many famous Spanish
athletes and when I talk to mypublished company, they told
that, uh, they working in CzechRepublic, they have their
distribution company and allthis PR and everything, uh, well
organized in Czech, but not in,other countries.
(41:14):
And, if I want I will need totranslate it with someone and
and go to different and publishcompany and offer the book, uh,
basically on my own.
Because, the other way, theEnglish writers, it's much
easier to get them from Englishto other language, but from
Czech to English, it's a bighandicap in my area.
(41:36):
Uh, so I haven't done it yet.
I'm somehow waiting that maybesomeone will take the book in
Czech and tell it looks verygood, can you tell me about and
maybe translate it and, uh, sellit?
Um, This, book Sport Is Pain,and I didn't answer your
question also why it's callingsport is pain.
And it was also discussion witha published company about the
(41:58):
name that is quite negative andit can be maybe, uh, not, um,
Good for marketing purposes.
So I, I told everyone who'sdoing the sport knows that it
will feel the pain and the painis nothing bad.
Pain Pain is our friend.
(42:19):
And, uh, also, going back tomuseum when we see how the
painters from 14 or 15 centurywas representing the pain.
It was something normal.
It was part of the life.
And, uh, as we are trying toavoid uh, minimum pain.
We try to live to make, our kidsin almost sterile surrounding.
(42:42):
We trying to avoid, uh, any, uh,pain.
Anesthesia.
Now you go to dentist for, uh,minimum thing, they put
anesthesia.
And, uh, I think we are losingconnection with our uh body
because we are scared of thepain.
So the pain become our enemywhen pain is our friend.
(43:05):
Uh, there are also manyillnesses when, uh, perception
of the pain is decreased orminimized, to minimum, and these
people unfortunately they don'tlive for long.
So this is also that.
The pain is our bodyguard.
It's our protection.
But we need to distinguishbetween good pain and bad pain.
(43:26):
And, the good pain is when weare in the gym and when we doing
our exercise and we feeling thepain after the gym.
The good pain is when I have mypatient, and this patient is on
the table and I producing himsome painful manual therapy.
So there is always this goodpain.
(43:47):
The patient tell, yes, this isthe pain I need, I want.
This pain will, uh, help me withthe pain.
But if I would increase littlebit more.
this intensity, uh, suddenly theresult will be different.
The patient become almost incramp or in, uh, tension.
And the result is different.
(44:09):
So also as a physio, we need tohave this kind of the
sensitivity and in our hands toget to this end field the
closest possible and to get thisgood pain in the gym the same.
If you do weight too much, youinstead to make a micro rupture,
you make macro rupture.
When you have this sharp pain,this is this bad pain.
(44:31):
To be honest, when I wrote thefirst book I never expect that
the first book will become anumber one, and bestseller.
They was quite confidence aboutit, but not me because it was my
first book and I just wanted tohave my book maybe for my
grandchildren.
And, when the book is thereforever, you know, you go to
conference, people listen, uh,forget, but the book will be
(44:54):
there forever.
And I was thinking, okay,keeping myself quite modest and
calm and say, no matter if thebook will not sell, uh, maybe
when I die, as many artists, youknow, the book become, popular
after, uh, many years.
So it's always like someexpectation that, uh, maybe not
now, but maybe in 20 or 30 yearsit will be popular and it's,
(45:18):
it's okay.
But the first book become abestseller immediately, which,
uh, surprised me and with verygood critics.
So, I get directly offer fromanother published company which
is the biggest one.
It's calling Albatross.
to write another book, whichtook me exactly one year
(45:38):
because, uh, one year ago camethe first book and now the
second one, uh, it was quitefaster but it was different.,
Nigel Rawlins (45:47):
Unfortunately, a technical glitch interrupted the
recording towards the end of ourconversation.
Michal was about to shareadditional insights about his
second book, The Secret ofHealthy Movement, which sold out
within four weeks of its releaseand became a bestseller much
like his first book Sport isPain.
While the recording endsprematurely, the wisdom Michal
(46:08):
shared earlier in the episoderemains invaluable.
His ability to blendpersonalized health strategies
with actionable real worldadvice provides a guiding
framework for resilience andlongevity, both professionally
and personally.
I'd really like to give aheartfelt thanks to Michal for
his generosity in sharing hisexpertise and his experiences.
(46:30):
His ideas inspire and motivateyou to take.
I'm hoping that these ideasinspire and motivate you to take
some thoughtful steps towardsachieving a healthier, more
balanced life.
Thank you for tuning in to thisepisode of the Wisepreneurs
podcast, and I look forward towelcoming you back for the next
inspiring conversations in 2025.
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