Barbell Shrugged - Dr. Jen Esquer: The Biopsychosocial Model for Eliminating Pain, Bringing Language into Physical Therapy, and Epigenetics for Lifelong Wellness  — Barbell Shrugged #365

Episode Date: December 19, 2018

Jen Esquer, DPT, PT, has been on a ruthless ongoing journey to learn about the body and movement since she was a child. She was a professional gymnast until age 16, studied yoga and pilates, studied physiotherapy, and is continuously exploring and learning more . is creator of and The Optimal Body Preventing Pain & Injury Optimizing Lives.   Dr. Jen is also the creator of The Mobility Method , which is designed to give the everyday person the opportunity to take themselves through a basic screening process and self-diagnose limitations. In addition, there are various modules to help individuals address their own personal needs, whether it be their neck, back, shoulders, etc.   In this episode, we talk about understanding the body conversation, how language affects epigenetics, why do you need to learn how to breathe and meditate, how do you start to learn, and much more.   Enjoy! - Doug and Anders ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs_esquer2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support our partners! @vuori - www.vuoriclothing.com “SHRUGGED25” to save 25% storewide @drivennutrition: https://drivennutrition.net/shrugged/ to save 20% ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Shrug family, it's Wednesday. We're going long with Dr. Jen Escaire. Dr. Jen Fitt was the third interview I ever did as host of Barbell Shrug. I was terrified. I got so nervous, so insecure. She's so cool. She's got this badass following on the Instagrams. I could barely contain myself, but we did an awesome interview. Turns out, now we're friends. Now, anytime I have a crazy cool idea like a YouTube or a podcast that I really want to shoot, she's one of my first people I call.

One reason she's a hustler. The girl works so hard. If you've been watching her career develop over the last couple years, it's not by accident that she has taken the world by storm. The mobility method is so cool. All of her high intensity workouts are so cool. And there's one reason it's all flowing and all happening right now. It's because her work ethic is incredible. That's why she's the first call every time I have a new idea. And that's why I'm so grateful that I get to be in her network. I hope you love

this show. We talk a lot about the mobility method, things that she sees in her clinic, and at the same time, we're doing a ton of professional and personal development that's gone into her career over the last couple of years. And it's incredibly informative. I can't wait for you to get in. Love this show. Make sure you get over to DougLarsonFitness.com All things movement specific. Mobility. Online business consulting. The guy's got a wealth of knowledge

on everything. Just go see him. DougLarsonFitness.com Also, I'm at Anders Varner. The Shrug Collective is at Shrug Collective. And you've got one hashtag. You've got to go right now.

Screenshot this. Tell me you you're listening hit me with the hashtag go long the go long thing just kind of happened i made it up on the spot on this read on this show but what's cool about is it's not just we're taking these interviews longer and deeper than ever before the coolest part about Go Long is that if you remember when you were a little kid playing football in the neighborhood, the quarterback would always get in the huddle. It would be late in the game, and he'd start drawing out a play on his hand, and then he'd scratch that whole play. He'd go, you know what, everyone, just go long. You know why?

Because that's where all the magic happens. That's where we want to be. Shoot for the end zone. Let's go. Hashtag go long. Tag me at Anders Warner at the Shrug Collective. Hashtag go long. Can't wait for you to get in the show. If you're going to Wadapalooza, me and Doug Larson are going to be at the FitAid booth all weekend long. You better come say hello to us. We're going to be in Miami. We're staying at the FitAid house. We're doing all the shows from the FitAid booth because FitAid, we love those people. Waterpalooza is going to be on fire this year and I am incredibly excited to be a part

of it. This is my first Waterpalooza of all time. So two things when you get to Waterpalooza, get to the FitAid, make sure we take a selfie together. I'm putting everyone on the Shrug Collective Instagram story. Be at Wadapalooza. Come see us. Let's get into the show. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Anders V Warner hanging out with Doug Larson and Dr. Jen S. Gare. Dr. Kit, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me on again. I'm so excited to do this because now that we're such good friends and we hang out and we talk, because the first time I interviewed you was literally the second interview of my entire Barbell Shrugged career.

Now we're just going to be so casual hanging out. Which I still had no idea about, so I'm impressed. Anytime I feel vulnerable about anything, I just have to own it, right? And probably make it really awkward, but I just got to say, I'm like, I'm sorry if it sucked and it was awkward. I'm new. I think that's the best thing that people can do, though, is like owning whatever the Yeah, I just have to own it.

Like, I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry if I'm awkward. We're going to have the body conversation today. What does that even mean? Conversation with your body. I know, but there's so many ways that we can do that. Are we going to talk about the way people are perceiving us, the way that we talk to ourselves about fitness, all the pieces in between?

Where does this start for you? I believe it's everything. Yeah. Because that's our foundation. That's how we get back into anything. And that's where we then go out and say, okay, what tools do I need to help address different issues?

It's strange how much the way you talk to yourself affects everything in your life. Literally everything. You can almost create your own reality by just making it up in your own brain. You know what? I'm going to just be really nice to myself. I'm going to talk about myself in a really positive way. You just start. Everything else becomes a little bit easier.

And you're more confident just because you're. Even if you're lying to yourself at first. Exactly. That's what people need to do. Lie to yourself. Tell yourself you're awesome. You got to fake it until you make it. Yeah.

There's like an entire TED talk on this, right? You can be loud. You're good. We like it. That's the environment. You're actually on barbell shrugged right now. Right now. Pushing that sled. Is this the type of thing where you used to have a lot of negative self-talk

and then you kind of learned how not to do that and now you're better off for it? Yeah, that's one part of it. That's definitely like the internal conversation that I discuss and then you kind of learned how not to do that and now you're better off for it? Yeah, that's one part of it. That's definitely like the internal conversation that I discuss. And then as I've just continued to learn more too, it goes into even the external conversation of like, you know, the fact that we can now, through epigenetics, change the function of our genes. So even as small as...

I didn't expect to jump straight to epigenetics. I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to jump straight to epigenetics. I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to go there. No, but like even, you know, anything that is external as far and as deep as epigenetics and as superficial as you can't do that and someone else saying that to you, you know, and it goes, that whole external conversation kind of gets put on us at any age. Who is your population that you're normally working with that has really brought this to the forefront in the way you're thinking? You know, I would say it's mostly a lot of it is my women that I treat between probably

ages 30 and 40 is like the majority of the population. And those are also the people that have like opened up the most on my table and like enough to like even cry and release and whatever came up for them and all of a sudden they're like i don't have pain anymore what happens on that table where everybody feels the need to just let it out you find out i sprinkle some fairy dust like let me i'll give you a trap uh release here and you tell me all your problems. All the SoCal people listening right now are like, really? How much do you charge? I am interested. For the record, your table, you're a physical therapist.

You kind of made it sound like you were like a psychologist or a psychiatrist or something like that for a second there. You lay on my couch. No, you don't lay on my couch. I don't have one of those. And it's really, it's not even me like attempting to go that deep. I'm just creating a space that's open enough for people to feel comfortable and safe to, for whatever comes up. And some people are like,

we were doing breath work and all of a sudden they're crying and they're like, I don't know why I'm crying right now. Oh yeah. That happens. Yeah. Go to some weird yoga classes. They do the deep breathing thing.

And all of a sudden people, there's tears. Yeah. You can be in in Kundalini. It's the same thing. I've gone to some halotropic breathing classes where you're kind of doing like real hallucinating. Yeah. And stuff happens.

Stuff opens up. Really, really crazy stuff can happen. Have you ever done any halotropic breathing? Just the kind of the Wim Hof style breathing that I've done with like Brian McKenzie and Andy. The one that I did, it was like just mouth breathing into the belly, breathe out through the belly, out through the chest, and then in. I think that was right. No, into the belly, into the chest, out one breath. And it was like seven straight minutes of that that and then scream as loud as you possibly

can so you have like 10 people in a yoga studio just screaming at the top of their lungs i have never been on a ride quite like minute 21 of that like three to four rounds of that and i was just freaking gone and i was like this is weird there's a lot of crying going on i had some tears drop i'm not afraid to admit it yeah yeah see i'm a little vulnerable about it i gotta talk about it little tears coming out it gets weird why is the breath so weird like that because it actually taps us back into our system yeah you know where we're able to feel things again yeah and not even understand where it's coming from but a lot of it like i'm not even getting that deep in breath work even yeah when i'm like working with clients one-on-one it's not even like it's not even understand where it's coming from. But a lot of it, like I'm not even getting that deep in breath work even

when I'm like working with clients one-on-one. It's not even like, it's not even Wim Hof type breathing. It's not even like screaming or anything. And a lot of it is just literally turning on your parasympathetic. So tapping into that rest and relax state of being and someone actually giving themselves permission to chill. Yeah. I feel like so many physical therapists I talked to,

because you have to talk about the breath so much, they really are pushing this idea of like behavioral health being really at the center and the core of kind of overall wellness. And, and people come to you to get out of pain, but the pain is very rarely what you're actually treating. Exactly. Unless it is acute injury, you sprained your ankle, you tore your ACL, you know. Yeah. Yeah, some of those things can, it's just acutely whatever you're feeling in the body. But so much of it is what's locked up in terms of emotionally what we're holding on to and just stress. Yeah.

Stress is like a huge thing. And especially if we're staying in that heightened state of being, you know, cortisol is being rushed to the nerves, increasing your nerve sensitivity. So of course you're going to have more pain. Like it's, it's crazy that people think that that doesn't have any correlation. And, and really it's like everything, especially when we're talking about chronic pain, fibromyalgia, all those types of things, even disc injuries. Well, we spent a bunch of time actually talking about pain last night and how many different layers there are to pain. And it was a talk in which I showed up, I was ready to learn, and I felt like I almost left more confused

because there are so many different layers to pain, and it's almost impossible, but where do people start? And I think that there's so few physical therapists that have treated enough or had enough patients to really actually under uncover and and understand what goes into why someone's actually at your place of business or on your table and and dealing with low back pain yeah because it rarely is low back pain right it's a it's a host of things that are stacked on top of each other to get them to come see you. Right. Exactly. And it's so funny

because you know, now that my social media has grown due to mobility, it's like they they're coming and thinking they're just going to get mobility exercise. Stretch me. I'm like, well, no, you can find that online or by my program. We're going to go a little bit deeper here. And it's really like, like I say, it's really just allowing the space for someone to feel comfortable and open up. And I think a huge component of that goes back to how the clinician is showing up for a client to even be able to be in that space where they'd be open enough to let any emotion out that might come up. Yeah, it comes back to safety. Like you said a minute ago, like if someone doesn't feel safe, then they're not going to tell you what they're really thinking or what's really going on or like share their deepest fears with you.

Totally. It's not going to happen. And in typical clinics, you're taught to rush to patients really, really quickly. And so especially even for evaluations, for initial evaluations, you're taught if they start going into story about their pain, you're cutting them off, you're coming back to like, no, tell me what the root, like, tell me where the pain is and how often and what the level is that. And that's all I want to hear. I don't want to hear about your experience. I want to hear about, you know, Oh, is this many years ago? This was the story,

whatever happened, like, just tell me what hurts, where it hurts and how much it hurts. And that's it. And that's what you're taught to do. if most clinics you're not even going to get the time or the energy or their space to be able to allow that to happen is it strange that we talk about pain on a scale of one to ten as if we all know what a seven is like that's a weird thing to me that we all operate like on a one to ten ten is you could be dying like you're a prisoner of war. You're in captivity. That's a 10. One is I'm in Venice Beach talking to Dr. Enfed on a microphone. You're still in pain? No pain.

No pain. That would be zero. This is zero. This is mildly zero. Come on. Come on. It's mildly painful. It looks like it.

I'm not even a warning on the inside. Yeah. It's emotional pain. Like why does this system exist? And like when someone talks to you. For insurance companies. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, when someone talks to you. For insurance companies. Oh, really? Oh, yeah.

Those people. You need to document the measurements. Oh, my God. Do you even ask people this anymore? Do you have to? I do, actually, just to get a scale of where they are. Because, you know, I don't ever discount someone's pain. Or that the fact that they're in pain or they're feeling something or whatever it may be.

Like, I'm never going to be like, no, it's in your head. Yeah. Like, I'm not going to discount whatever it is that you're feeling or however long you've been feeling it for. That's a real thing. So tell me, in your experience, in your body, what you feel like your level is at. It's not comparing it to anyone else. It's just comparing it to I get a gauge on where they are sensitivity-wise. You're not like, Oh,

you're four. Sure. Sure. In my world, that's a one. That's like a 0.5. Yeah, exactly.

Please. A four. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Do you know how much tougher I am? Yeah. I had this happen to me.

It's a, it's a one. I know it. I just don't understand. Like, and people, I think some, like a lot of pain can be a good thing.

Like these people here are here working out. They're going to be sore tomorrow. And how, I feel like a lot of people just don't understand like the difference between injured, hurt, sore. There's so many different layers to it. So many different layers. They just all find themselves looking for an answer to something that I think we can solve in many different ways.

And one of them, I guess, is kind of the way that we talk about ourselves and the general happiness that we feel in life. Right. Yeah. And a lot of that is, like you said, understanding that pain is a function that you actually need in your body. It is not something to run from. This is why people who have neuropathy, they get their feet chopped off because they can't feel if they're going to step on a nail or step on something sharp and it becomes a dangerous thing. So they don't get to walk anymore. I mean, having the feeling of sensation and pain is necessary, important, and not something to run from. So I think that's the first thing that I get people familiar with. Like this isn't

bad. Okay. You're having pain. Cool. What is it telling us? telling us yeah and where where can we go because of this so it's just it's just something to increase our awareness and to start to bring direction into where we get to go in your body and that's it it's just exploring you know the vast majority of the time are you like pain's not it's not a big deal it's not a bad thing it's not something to run from the person's like okay i get what you're saying but now what do we do to make it go away it's very friendly I understand your perspective but I still want it to be gone

yeah but it goes even further than that like most people are like my back is exploding and my knee is bursting no it's not I'm looking at it

it's totally intact so it's rewriting those stories because those are so freaking detrimental to our mindset. Where does that come from with people? Why do they say that to themselves? Do they really like...

That's what they're feeling. I know, but they're telling themselves that, right? Yes, 100% they're telling themselves that. So this gets into what we were talking about. This is the way people talk to themselves really is manifesting in the way they feel. Yeah. So how do you as a therapist or just as a coach, as somebody that's like a thought leader in this space that we change the conversation because you say people

find you because of mobility. But at some point you're like, man, that's not even really the answer anymore. That's like a piece of it. It's a tool. It's a tool. Yeah. And I still like, obviously I still 100% believe in it. And I think it's an amazing way to start to listen to your body and start to see what things are coming up. Because I also designed the program for it not to be like, you're having this pain, do this, this, and this. It's no, it's like, you're having this pain. Okay. Assess your entire body. See what the heck is happening. Totally. What is that assessment process for you, though? And when you are going through it, I guess, are you even, like if somebody comes to you for light back pain, are you, do you start off with, okay, let's check out a hip hinge.

Let's check out balance. Or do you sit down and have like a conversation with them? Well, first we have a conversation. Yeah. I allow them to go into story. Tell me all the stories. Stories. It all comes out, right?

Yeah. Because they're probably the victim of something. And, you know, it creates that level of safety and that comfort. Like, oh, she cares. Yeah. She cares about what I have to say and where I'm going. That's how I feel right now with you. Oh, thank you.

I don't have Doug. Safe space. Safe space. Doug's still on the fence. We're in SoCo. We can have safe spaces here. I'm at pain level zero right now. I don't know the exact study, but I heard this, I believe on a TED Talk,

where they're talking about older people that are in chronic pain. The people that have high-quality relationships, healthy, positive, high-quality relationships, aren't like half the medications that the other group is because they have some sounding board to feel, to be able to say what they're feeling, to have someone empathize with them, make them feel heard, understood, accepted, et cetera. And then now they don't have to rely on the drugs so much to numb, not just the physical pain, but the emotional, psychological pain that comes with the physical pain oftentimes. Totally. 100%. And on top of that, you usually get someone who is going to comfort you and provide empathy. Touch. Touch is like such a simple way

to be able to release all these happy hormones that we need in our body without having to get drugs. Totally. That's why I think jujitsu is so good for you. That's one major reason I think jujitsu is very healthy for people is because not just the physical touch, that's a huge component of it, but also as far as getting the attention from another person. If you are wrestling with somebody, you have their full attention. Like even if you if you are wrestling with somebody, you have their full attention.

Like, even if you don't know their first name, you have their full attention. They have your full attention. Especially if you could potentially choke them out. Yeah. Like, you better have the attention. And on top of that, it's a very strong presencing effect. You are not thinking about your bills and the argument that you were in last week and why your boss is an asshole or whatever it is. Like, in that moment, you are super present.

Not thinking about the past, not thinking about the future you were right there in the moment yeah and that's one of the huge things to teach people as well it's like like i'll start talking and we'll start doing something else or i'm like getting into some kind of you know massage technique or whatever it may be and all of a sudden they're like oh i don't feel the pain and i'm like oh isn't that interesting so see how i can trick your brain into not feeling it as for a certain moment. So it's not all the time. Yeah.

Or it lessens. So the fact that it can lessen or can actually turn off is a really good sign. And that's what we get to focus on. The fact that it can turn off. Yeah. And people, like, that's a huge light bulb for people. Like, oh, yeah. Like, even just, like, they even call it, like, distraction therapy.

Because you are 100% present in that moment. You're not thinking about your pain. You're not focused on it anymore. Yeah. Do people think you're a quack when you start telling them that they need to like just chill out and like maybe have like a deeper conversation with somebody? They're like, no, my back. The back is the thing that hurts. Like, yeah, but you need a friend that you love and care about that you have a meaningful conversation.

Like, no, no, no, my back. Seriously. Yeah. No, actually, no. I mean, and I back, seriously. Yeah, no, actually, no. I mean, and I'm not just going into it like, oh, make deeper connections and do all this. Yeah, like I'm going into it talking about breath work, talking about the physiology,

talking about what it's actually doing, talking about how to strengthen the diaphragm, release the, you know, restrictions underneath the rib cage, why that helps. They start to feel it for a moment. They start to believe it. Doing, I mean, getting back into the breath is 100% probably going to at least diminish your pain to a certain level.

So as soon as they start to feel that, they start to get buy-in. I mean, because bringing people back into why is this actually going to work for me and why would I incorporate it into my life is the number one thing that I'm trying to do. So I'm not trying to just tell them stories of how it's going to actually help them, but I'm, I'm giving them examples. And if people are like, like I asked people, do you meditate? Because then that's a great way for me to start to play into like how we're going to incorporate breath work. And if they don't like, no problem, we're going to, I'm going to teach you a way to just focus on your breath. Cause it's essentially getting you to be present in that moment, in your breath, in that, in your body, in your experience,

and not having to think about outside things. So essentially you're meditating without having to put that label on. Yeah, that big label is so crazy. It's real easy out here in Hollywood when we're hanging out in Venice and you're like, do you meditate? Try doing that in Iowa. Yeah, right. The people in Iowa, they're not meditating.

Actually, they probably are. Everybody knows about this stuff now, but it's, I think that we live in this thing where we're like optimizing every aspect of our life and we're focused on, I need to be so present. And then we recognize how awesome and how much it matters. And I think that when you get into like the conversation and the way you talk to yourself, like being able to slow down and focus on your breath really just allows you to create a space to watch the way your brain works. And that can be detrimental to people. Yeah. I mean, it also can be empowering. Everything is kind of the balance.

But that's the part that I think just the slowing down and the breath, whether the breath is like the perfect tool or not, just the ability to slow down and watch yourself think. Crazy. Yeah. Crazy what goes on. Yeah. And then I use it into like certain movements and exercises so that we start practicing and incorporating it into movement. Yeah. So then I can start to change the way that they're moving, you know, and again, focusing on do you feel a difference now between now and getting them to actually feel it within their bodies?

Because I guarantee most people are not going to go back and do the exercises unless they understand it and they actually feel it in their bodies. Like I don't like I hate when PTs are like, well, they didn't do the exercises. So it's on them. And I'm like, well, no, it's actually kind of on you because you didn't you didn't allow them to feel it or understand why it would be important. You just were like, Hey, take a therapy and do this a couple of times and do that. And you're like, you'll be good. Do this. Here it is. Here's the fish. Yeah. Here's, here's your print out. Yeah. Without actually like, that's terrifying without actually going into like having them feel it, having them have a difference in their body and a change in that moment, in that aspect to actually feel like these are so important that I actually get to put it into my life. For someone that's not familiar with anything that you're talking

about right now, they're like a total beginner. Like how would focusing on your breathing make you move differently? Yeah. So even just like, here's one aspect of how I like to say it. Like if someone scares you and you take a breath into your chest and notice everything tightens up, like you squeeze your arms closer to your, to your body, you could increase tension. You just increase your whole heightened awareness and that's turning you into your sympathetic state of being. That's also going to release cortisol. It's going to just lock up the tension. And so all of a sudden, if you're living in that state of being, try stretching, try moving. You're going to be in a locked up state of tension all the time. And a lot of us don't even realize how much we're breathing from our chest and kind of turning on that automatic sympathetic nervous system. And so just learning how to start to tap back into that parasympathetic, learning how to utilize your low rib cage, utilize the belly, not by forcing it out, but actually just relaxing it out and allowing that diaphragm to have space to move because diaphragm rests underneath their low rib cage. So understanding where that is too, it can actually help to start align postural awareness. So getting that rib cage

in a position that naturally starts to drift over your pelvis better. So now you're not forcing and muscling perfect posture, correct posture of like way people think that they were supposed to be, but we're actually in a relaxed state. So it's decreasing tension through the body. It's allowing you to move better. It's allowing you to have better mobility. And then ultimately you're going to be able to go into strength movements with way less tension and utilizing the muscles that actually need to be fired caught this guy speechless over here he was like i'm out of questions already i don't even know what to say uh i well i think about the tension that i feel it and i feel like i'm pretty mellow person but even when like you're just you talk about people don't know.

I don't know. And the next thing you know, I'm fighting my computer. My head is being drawn towards the bright light. And that's what it is, right? Isn't that what we do? It's like the bright light of the computer screen. Your head's just like, I'm basically like the mosquito running into the bug zapper. But that's, I think that people don't realize where stress comes from.

And then all of a sudden it just compounds and compounds. And there's no tools to understanding it. And that's why the breath has become such a big piece of the conversation. Because nobody knows that they're under stress all day long. They don't know where it's going. They're like, I'm pretty happy. Yeah. Yet they've been fighting their computer screen all day. Exactly. It's just like increase that amount of awareness that we get to have in our body and start to find where things might be tight or restricted or not working well, or, or maybe you are releasing pain just by breathing. Like

it. So it's just a good starting point to start to increase awareness and say like, hey, I have some compassion for my body. It's okay to have this pain. It's okay to be feeling this right now. And I get to like chill and relax. So the strength coach side of this thing. So maybe last night we were talking about this exact same thing, but with a strength coach and possibly hypothetically.

Okay. And their answer and i feel like i'm like because i've worked with physical therapists and i i believe in the breathing thing and i also believe in the strength thing and do people just need to be stronger and have more options for movement like we focus so much on like prs and all these things, but nobody's ever having a conversation about like fluidity of movement and the ability to just push your hips back when you sit down. So is there kind of this, yes, people need to be breathing better. Yes, people need to be more relaxed, but do people just need to be stronger so that they can get their bodies into better positions and maintain stability of their pelvis, low spine? Yeah. I mean, realizing that you could use a lot more capacity within your body than we actually do is a huge thing.

I think Jesse Itzler said we use like 40% of our capacity within our body. So that means we have 60% that we're not even tapping into. And so realizing breath is, is just a place to start to increase awareness. It's just a place to start to begin because if we can, if we can relax the system, get into our foundation, this is our foundation. This is what we come out of the womb needing to do is breathe. So if we can like focus on that foundational aspect of releasing and relaxing in the body so that you can improve range of motion, improve your mobility, get back to that complete foundational layer, and then build strength on top of that, that becomes easy,

fluid, flowing, utilizing the muscles that you're supposed to be using, it just 100% starts to increase everything. Yeah. And I think you'll be able to find that you can squat lower, that you can reach overhead or lift overhead. And these positions that people aren't used to getting to, because they're actually addressing that foundational awareness first. Well, I always wonder too, because like, Jen, I see you move. You're doing all the cool things on the Instagrams. You're doing all the like handstand,

press handstands, all these things. You do it. And then I look at them like, that's the way people are supposed to move. Like all the things are in the right places. The hips go right. The shoulders don't hurt. And then I put my arm over my head.

I'm like, is there enough meditating that I can do to not like have this jankiness? And like, is there a piece that we just have to actually have the mobility? Yes. Yes. I think so. I mean, and that's where the breath starts to relax the muscles because realizing also that we're not, I think we talked about this last time. We're not, we're not breaking into muscle tissue and we're not releasing fascia in a sense of things elongating underneath the foam roller. But we're actually relaxing tension and allowing that muscle to find a new range of motion through the nervous system. And then increasing that awareness just by increasing strength, starting to do movements.

Like your joint is only going to go as far as you push your joint as well. So sometimes it is a little bit into discomfort and then continuing to kind of breathe into that, continuing to move into that in a slow controlled manner and slowly progressing into strength. I think also it's like we get into this idea of like, you shouldn't do body weight squats. Like if you you're human and you're pretty good shape, like just start loading. And we forget like there's a whole foundational piece of how that all works together with the breath, with the core, with the pelvic floor, with the glutes in order for you to start firing correctly and then start progressing everything. You mentioned pelvic floor. That's a big one these days too. Huge one. And one that I'm talking about all the time. Yeah. Women are

peeing themselves. Yeah. And men haveeing themselves yeah and men someone has to do something someone needs to step in yeah we come from the world and sometimes even at regionals and like the high level competitions he's like incredibly elite athletes will be doing like 30 box jumps per time or something like that and you look and there's like a pool of pee and you're like you just kept going yeah how why you didn't stop yeah i would have stopped i don't care that much i'm in my own pee that's bad i had that has to be bad it's not i would say it's not bad but it could be that's because the way you talk to yourself is good it's very positive yeah turn that around way to turn that around peed my pants in front of the whole crowd it's not good or bad it's not good or

judgment yeah no judgment i think that's the first thing that i have positive self-esteem i feel like you are okay what they think has nothing to do with me your judgment means nothing even if you can feel it yeah i mean know that internal locus of control. It's just pee, guys. It was water. I mean, knowing that, yes, that happens a lot and it can be considered normal, but it doesn't have to be your normal. There is a place that you can start to work with a pelvic floor specialist or a women's health specialist and actually start to gain control of your pressure system because your pelvic floor doesn't just work as kegels it doesn't just work as like turning on turning off are you trying to do it i just did one you can't take eagle without me doing one but you shouldn't be able to see it i can't see it i didn't look down i know but i could see that

you moved your entire body she was looking down down. I'll do them right now. How do you feel about it? But, yeah, but it's not just about, like. See your pants twitching. But it's not just about, like, doing that Kegel and thinking that you're pulling up and in. Because even some people, they think they're doing a Kegel exercise and they're actually bearing down and out. So it always, it so it always it's like it's just best to get assessed oh that kind of like it's best to get a hashtag because the

same way of like you have back pain you have shoulder pain and you want someone to touch it you want someone to see what's happening at your back see what's happening at your shoulder and feel that area like you got it you have muscles and feel that area. Like you got it. You have muscles in your pelvic floor as well. You got to have someone fill that area. You can breathe all the way down there. You can breathe all the way down there. Who really needs to do things like, like kegels? Uh, everyone. And it's not just, I would say, again, it's not just kegels because just doing like a passive exercise, knowing that your pelvic floor is actually turning on every step that you take.

It should be when you're doing exercises, if you're landing after a box jump, if you're lifting. How is your pressure system working within you? Because as we take a breath in, our diaphragm drops, and that's putting more pressure down onto your pelvic floor. As you breathe out, your diaphragm is going to lift. It should pull your rib cage in your, your belly in a bit and your pelvic floor should lift. And that should be kind of like a natural process that starts to happen without us even having to think about it without us having to force it. So if that's, if you're not even aware of what that is or what's happening, um, definitely something to get in and see a pelvic floor

specialist. And I would say if you've had a baby like we someone said this the other day like if you have knee surgery you're not like let me go lift right after i had knee surgery and not go see a pt or get special treatment about it and you know that you're progressively going to load that knee but we don't think the same after a traumatic accident happens and you have a baby the same after a traumatic accident happens and you have a baby. Like, that is a traumatic incident. When the baby comes out.

That is traumatic of what is happening down there. I felt like I needed therapy. If a ping pong ball came out of my penis, I would take it slow. I would go slow, too. I felt like I needed a week off after just being in the room. I didn't have anything to do except support. I was holding a hand, and I needed a week off. That came in the room. And I didn't have anything to do except support. I was holding a hand, and I needed a week off. That came out of where?

Hold on a second. Shouldn't have looked. I looked, but I shouldn't have looked. Yeah, go ahead. But, yeah, just, like, understanding, like, it's usually not going to be recommended to go see a pelvic floor specialist. It's going to be recommended to rest and do all these other things, but go see someone like woman's health specialist, pelvic floor specialist, look one up, Google it in your area. I guarantee someone in a clinic

is going to have some, a little bit of knowledge and go get assessed. Like even if, um, guys have need pelvic floor work as well, because when you get older, if that's not working as well, erectile dysfunction is a real thing. The elephant in the room. Yeah. We always talk about the women. Until you can't get it up, let's hear about it. Exactly.

Do you deal with these people? Not. I personally do not. I actually have a pelvic floor specialist I refer to. You got to go to that guy. Yeah. That guy knows. Go see the boner guy.

But what if you actually saw someone before that shit happened to make sure that that wasn't going to be a problem? Well, people don't know until they can't go. Yeah. Yeah. If there was ever motivation, that was it. Yeah. Just go get assessed. Yeah.

Like, just for fun. Just to see what happens. If you can't get it up. I was barely listening until you said that now I'm like oh my god, I gotta pay attention the world is ending so the pelvic floor and erectile dysfunction

what's the connection there what are the mechanisms in place why does my hand have to go up can't I have a conversation without if you weren't unaware of what happens it goes up You can't have to go up. Can't I have like a conversation without like. If you weren't unaware of what happens, it goes up. Thank you for that.

Thank you for that. I'm here. At least it's not a video show. Video show. I'm tucking my hands in my pockets from here on out now. You're going to need some muscle activation, some blood flow going down into that area. That's why cardio is a good thing, too. It's still keeping blood flow around that area, as well as activating the muscles down there so that they can activate later on.

You never think about the muscles down there. Yeah, we never do. I would train them. Smooth muscles. Yeah, back squats or something for them. I don't know. Well, you are, hopefully, while you're doing those. Kind of subtly turning on. um yo i have noticed so you run these awesome little challenges

and the new thing that you have going on is not just the mobility challenge which is old school doc gen fit but now we've got gratitude as a piece of this thing. Yeah. Tell me about where this came from and, and kind of clearly this conversation about, um, body image and talking to yourself and being happy. Um, but how are you implementing this? And just like, what is, what is the process? Why are you making this stand in, in the overall wellness conversation? Cause I really think that it's important for people to start reconnecting to their bodies and actually taking a second to listen and then go out and find the tools that are necessary to address those different things that you're paying attention to.

So, you know, we talked a little bit about, like, the external conversation, knowing that you have the ability to now even adapt and change what happens in your genetics. Like, yeah, you're not going to change your DNA, but you can change the function of that gene based on the environment, based on the foods that you're putting in, based on movement, based on meditation, based on breathing, based on all these different things. So that external conversation of someone else saying like, well, you're going to have high blood pressure, you're going to have high cholesterol, whatever it may be, it's not necessarily going to happen if you take control of your life. Um, and, and that goes as far as like someone saying you can't do something, you can't move into that. You can't touch your toes. You can't, you can't do whatever it is that

you quote unquote can't do, which is why it always upset me as well. When I would get a client and, and they said, well, my doctor told me I can't run anymore. My doctor told me I can't, you know, whatever the case might be, maybe that might be something that we look down on down the road. And it's like, okay, maybe we find different ways of cardio or whatever it may be, but I don't know. So let's keep it open right now. Have you, you talk about epigenetics, have you done much research into that? And very little. I would not be one to like talk about it. I just know that we can change the state of our genes, which I think is really.

Well, I think it's something that even if we don't know the exact answer to everything, you start just like observing people like go for a walk. Yeah. At the park. And you kind of see like kids that don't really have like an option and haven't really made like real decisions and yes there's like nutritional things that go on but like you see people are like there's something different there and that came from their parents and their parents parents and i think that the epigenetics thing is a really really weird conversation and at the same time

like very very important and important what you're firing away once your pelvic floor muscles are working and my hand gestures are um but i is that like the the next step in like starting a wellness conversation for people like how do we overcome something like that if say you come from parents that are overweight and don't focus on wellness, and now you're 16 years old and you're 40 pounds overweight, like, what do you do? Start noticing that you have all the control. This is your body and it's not your parents' body. It's not anyone else's body.

So no matter what, and it's not about chasing an aesthetic appearance of what someone else says that you need to look like or anything like that. It's just literally finding out what is going to work best in your body. And there's no one diet plan. There's no one movement plan. There's no one meditation practice. And I think that's what makes it hard for people is that it's so overwhelming of like all the tools that are out there. And I think starting to just be okay with playing around with some of them and knowing there's not one way.

So don't let someone tell you there's one way. So what do you do? Start playing around. Jen, I need help. What do I do? Because there's so many things that you could do and all of them work if you just pick one you like. Okay, so we all know we should be sleeping.

Yes. We should be sleeping. Yes. We should be sleeping seven, eight hours. Yep. Maybe even more. Fucking kid ruined that one. Asshole. Go ahead.

It was you swearing at your baby. I know. Publicly. Publicly you got that. Okay. Colton, edit that out. She doesn't sleep that much. She's brand new.

I know. It's not her fault. It's epigenetics. I screwed it up. Yeah. Go ahead. Hope she doesn't listen. Sleeping, drinking tons of water.

Yeah. Moving daily. That doesn't have to mean that you're getting a crazy big sweat on. It's just you're freaking moving. You're moving your body. So those would be like, and then getting back into this restful state of being. So talking about the breath work or meditation, whatever that means to you, like finding moments in your day when you can actually start to slow down and disconnect, no TV, no phone, anything around you.

Give yourself like, start with like fricking five minutes, 10 minutes. I don't care. Give yourself some time to actually start to disconnect and get back into your body because they've shown, I read, I did read something that like over a span of eight hours of meditation, um, was able to, uh, turn off your pro-inflammatory genes and turn on, um, your anti-inflammatory genes. Gene expression. So crazy. Yeah. What is your routine look like? Do you have something that you're normally doing or is this just like a state of being that you have created from all of the practice?

I continue to play with things and I continue to learn and adjust. I know when I did, personally, when I did Whole30, my body responded real well to that. So I know for me, not taking in as many grains or dairy or all those products. I would say I'm not allergic, but I have a sensitivity. So if I can just start to watch what I'm eating on a better day-to-day basis, it's hard when I'm traveling, though. Yeah. Well, you've been doing that a lot now.

I know. This new famous Jenna Scare, it's going crazy. You're all over the place. Oh, thank you. What do you do on the road? We're on the road. I don't even know what I'm doing. All the time.

Anytime we're on the road, I'm literally like, we sit around and talk about health all day. And inside, I'm like, this is the most unhealthy I've been all month. I know. It's really hard when you travel. I completely get out of whack. I'm like off my routine. I'm not moving as much. I'm like, ooh, I'm in a hotel.

Where are the snacks? Yeah. What's in the fridge? Beautiful. There was like apples. Me and Lewis were like, what? Yeah. Why would they, this is bullshit. Who cares about vitamins? This is stupid. I know. I know. Practice what I preach, right? Um, I feel like if there was ever a time to fast, if you're into fasting, if that's like something that you subscribe to, then for me, every time I fly home, so say I travel once or twice a month. Every time I fly home, I inevitably have a layover, so I'm going to be traveling for a good chunk of the day.

I don't want to buy a bunch of shitty airport food, and I don't want to pay shitty airport prices for it, and I want to get a bunch of shitty air airport food yeah and i don't want to pay shitty airport prices for it and i want to get a bunch of work done so like all these things come to fruition if i can just say okay i'm not eating anything i'm gonna i'm gonna have a fast that day i don't see a lot of downside to having the fast i see that there is potential upside and then my day is just so much easier yeah i just i have my laptop i work all day long i don't have to spend any money on junk food i get home i check the box of i did a fast this month for one day. Then just don't eat anything before I go to bed.

Wake up and I had a 36-hour fast and I really didn't even think about it. Yeah, that's pretty good. I don't know if I could do that to you. That's a long time to not be eating. No, but I am doing, right now actually, I'm doing a fasting mimicking diet. What is that? The Prolon. Have you guys heard of that?

I've only heard of it because I follow you. That's how I learn everything. Jen's at the forefront of Instagram. I don't know about that, but thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So fasting mimicking is like you can get the same benefits of a three-day fast with still

being able to eat food over five days. So. Beautiful. It's pretty nice. We're going to take a quick break. Okay. Come backide just showed up it's cold it's cold and it's here and now I have to take a break I hope it's cold we'll be back in a minute truck family we have to thank our sponsors. Once you started off with Viore clothing, I swear I'm not doing this on purpose, but I have the shorts on again, again.

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We're going through Driven Nutrition. Jason rules the man. DrivenNutrition.net forward slash shrug. Use the coupon code SHRUG to save 20%. Back to the show. I love going long. It's the best. Welcome back to Barbell Shrugged. We're hanging out in the parking lot where there's fitness

happening. Deuce Gym! I have no shoes on. I am so dirty already. We're just getting started in this day. You got the dirty hippie feet for sure. Look at those things. You got hobbit feet. This is so Venice right now. The bottom of them is just black. Fucking gross. This is healthy though, right? And you were stepping on

your other leg, so that's a little dirty on the top. You're just dirty all over. You're a dirty boy. You need some Axe body spray. I brought this kid. Axe body spray. Spray down. Walk out. Beautiful. Jen, this your pro life has really taken off though and you're putting a lot of work into this thing like the pt thing is really cool to me

um because it helps a lot of people and all this stuff but yo the thing that i really geek out about you is that your professional life is like really really awesome these days. Like you get a lot of speaking gigs. You get to go to cool stuff. Will you tell me about all this? Because I like the health and wellness thing. But, yo, I really like seeing people that work really hard kick ass and then show up on stages. Thank you.

And inspiring a lot of people. And you're doing all this. I'm doing my best. I really want to like push the message of, you know, the body conversation because your body is worth listening to. Yeah. Um,

and also debunking some myths, just like we talked about last time, because people are still like looking for the fix. What is the fix? What's going to, what is the thing that's going to help me? Oh, my back pain.

Let me go see a chiropractor, get it out so i'm so passionate about like i was even even when i'm hanging around my friends they're like show me that foam roller technique i need for my hip or like no there isn't one or there's no more foam roller techniques they put the lacrosse ball in all the places already we're out of places to put the lacrosse ball in all the places already. We're out of places to put the lacrosse ball. You can put it anywhere. Wherever you like. Find one that works. Right on your pelvic floor.

Yeah, I actually do that. There you go. See? He's interested. Yep. Keep going. Continue. Should I?

One of my male clients does it. Really? Yeah. He, like, sits on it? He sits on it, and he meditates on a ball. Really? It doesn't go in the middle, so it's not going up any, like, sits on it? He sits on it, and he meditates on the ball. Really? It doesn't go in the middle, so it's not going up any, like, buttholes or anything. No.

No. Nobody can afford that. Nobody can. That's the premium treatment. The perineal. All right. Never mind. Oh, oh.

I thought that's what you said at first. Like, it was a nice plan. Anyways, go ahead. Tell you. But you just went back to school. I know. We just go ahead. Tell you. But you just went back to school. I know. We just went back. Okay.

But. You just went back to school. And you. What was this new degree you got? Oh. It wasn't really a new degree. Yeah, I know. But what is it?

Because I want to know. I didn't know about this. What is it? See? Now everyone's interested. It's a quote unquote a PhD. It's not really. I know.

Everyone thought I did. I put a wink face. Well, you throw a PhD out there. I put a wink face. And you. Like the emoji really. I know. Everyone thought I did. I put a wink face. Well, you throw a PhD out there. I put a wink face. And you are like the emoji matters. I know. The emoji. No, it's not.

I put the wink face. It was an eight-month program. I'm going to PhD myself now. Yeah, anyone can. Wink emoji. Anyone can get one. No. It was an eight-month program.

Part of a, it's called the Central Leadership Academy that I went to. And this eight-month program uh part of a an account it's called the essential leadership academy that i went to and this eight-month program is all about public speaking so really getting you to be hyper freaking aware of what is happening with your speech your body language what you're wearing how you're addressing the crowd can you connect with people is your message getting across can you style flex if you have like a really analytical audience that's like in their heads, can you talk to them? If you have a really like promoter audience that just wants to have fun, can you talk to them? So really like being able to adjust your style of speaking into being able to be the most effective. So it was pretty awesome. And it's called the PhD, the program.

Wait, what does it stand for? I have no idea. I know, I'm sorry. Does the program come with the wink emoji at the end? Are you, after you graduate through this thing and you're doing all of this kind of work on yourself to go through the process, does it translate into your practice? And are you like,

once you start kind of observing language with yourself and your own communication styles, it becomes very obvious with other people how they speak about themselves. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. I mean, when I went into like baseline starting personal development work, which I think is essential for anyone.

Well, I mean, everyone who has grown up, know pretty pretty essential for humans you know all people and humans yeah and um especially like entrepreneurs like people always want to know what's the next best cut what is like what is the thing that i do for my business the best thing that you can do is like really getting clear with yourself so that you know you can take it wherever you want to go um that's really i mean coaches you can get all the tactical strategies you want but until you believe it's actually going to happen it ain't going to happen yeah how how do you believe something that you don't believe that you don't really know is true yeah you just start

saying it you just like literally you just start choosing. Like people want to hear me speak. People really want to hear me speak. You know, I believe people want to hear me speak. Just call me. I'll back you up. Totally, Jen. Totally. And literally just start like practicing it.

You've got one believer. There you go. Yeah. But literally it could be that easy. I'm going to FaceTime my friends. Yeah. And I'm going to talk. Or I'm going to go into a crowd of people at a party that I don't really feel comfortable with.

And I'm just going to start having a conversation because maybe that's not what you used to do. And so just starting to, like, put yourself out there more and more and more. And in whatever you want it to be. I mean, speaking as an example. But, you know, you just start. Practicing the skills. How long does it take once you start the practice to kind of start to manifest into real life? Why are we always like one size fits all?

Well, it doesn't have to. Come on, Andrew. I mean, I think it's like two years. Maybe I'm slow. I'm actually wondering for myself, am I slow? Because I think it's two years for me. Stop judging. I'm not.

It just happens too often like that. I think it's any process along the way is your process. I'm not. It just happens too often like that. I think it's any process along the way is your process. It's beautiful however long it takes you to heal, however long it takes you to gain strength, however long it takes you to start speaking. She's called me out twice now.

Yeah. Mindset's powerful. When you start to see this in other people though though, like what happens like if somebody does come to you and now they – you really see these negative things. Are there like little tools that we can use to start to change the way people talk? Yeah. Or do they just bring it up to them like that's negative? No. I just – I start – I'm using the language differently.

And so they're already starting to hear it and then i read reframe how they're saying things or even it's like oh i have to go do this like oh you get to go do this because of this this and this like it could be as simple as like i get to go pick up the dog crap because i have a cute little dog that likes to love on me every day but literally like and i've and i've done this in workshops where people start, like they go through their whole day of what they have to do, have to do, have to do, have to do. And it's like this like whole like process of what you have to do all throughout the day. And then all of a sudden you change it to what you choose to do, what you get to do and what you're grateful to do. Like, and all these different changes,

like literally people were sitting up straighter, their energy had completely shifted. They were excited about what they got to do because of these different reasons. And, and it just started to all of a sudden open them up. So imagine like sitting and being hunched over and like, I have to, it just like, it feels heavy on the body as well. And so just starting to change language in that way is like one of the first little tricks that you can start to do for your mindset and your brain and like really honestly energize you throughout the day. And I don't think we realize how much our energy kind of affects everyone else outside of you. And I didn't even realize it until someone brought up, like I was having a negative conversation with myself all the time when I was getting ready. And my boyfriend

was like, you know, you're creating a really negative energy around you. I think it matters a lot. I try and do it. I try and practice this stuff everywhere I go, actually. Like one of the, actually the very first time I ever got in a float tank and like 50 minutes into this one hour session. And I was like, maybe my purpose is to just create such a

positive vibe about myself that whether you're around me for like 30 seconds or three hours that you walk away and you just go, wow, that dude was awesome. Yeah. And then that became like this borderline, like mantra of how I wanted to live my life. I love that. And how do I go about doing that became like now the real, I wouldn't say problem, but opportunity to kind of attack life. Yeah. And now when I even walk into like get coffee, can I make the barista feel like a million bucks and not like I'm blowing

smoke up their ass, but like I genuinely want them to walk away and be like, dude, that was awesome. Yeah. I've never had someone order coffee so well. Because if you can do that, like then you can sit down and have a real conversation and make it genuine. Like if it comes across as fake, you can hear the fakeness if it's not real.

But putting out like a vibe and some aura about what you're doing that it genuinely comes across like i'd like to know how you are today don't give me the bs like how are you yeah and it's really like a mirror like how do you want to feel how do you want people to like kind of act towards you if they're quiet or shy or not talking not making eye contact that's fine but doesn't it feel kind of better when someone's like gives you a smile or like acknowledges your presence so that's how I think about it too like be the mirror for what you want other people around you to be like and know that we're all like usually stuck in our head too of like oh well they might think I'm weird if I like say something or if I say hi or if I, you know, am funny or make a joke or whatever it may be.

A lot of us get stuck in our head of like no one wants to hear that. I'm just going to stay in my own little bubble, in my own little space. Are you taking the time in your day and your communication practice and like to do things like that? Like go out of your way to like really consciously think about the way you're talking to people. Yeah. And honestly, for me, it's still a practice because I grew up with the mentality of I'm shy. I'm shy. I'm shy. I'm shy. No one needs to hear. And I used to like even have people tell me that I was like coming off as a bitch because I was like in the back, not talking and like quiet and really in my

head I was like no one cares to see me or hear me or whatever it may be and was in my own little space of of insecurity and judgment about myself and really like ended up coming off like no I'm actually a really nice person like but I'm waiting I'm waiting for you to say hi to me and it's so ridiculous as far as tactics for language like you were talking about earlier, like, like saying that you choose to do things versus you have to do them and whatnot for, for I'm shy. Have you, have you changed things like that to I'm acting shy where you're not identifying where it is a trait that is unchangeable for you? Right. Exactly. And I think that's a huge thing, the I am statement.

We don't even realize it. So even when I'm feeling sick, I make sure that I say, like, this is what I'm experiencing right now in my body, but I'm not sick. I'm actually a super healthy person, and I'm very grateful for it. So even like. A healthy person who's temporarily feeling sick. Yeah. Temporarily has this annoying. Check that reframe out. Annoying cough.

Barner. That's incredible. I feel like this is what people are like. Once we start to put some real goals behind our lives, you feel like we're all just spinning plates, right? It's like if home isn't working out real well, business is going to suffer dramatically because you go home and it's fucking chaos.

We have to get all that. Like, what are the core principles of this, like, household that we're trying to create and family? And then business, what makes the business run? And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, well, we've got these two things. They're balanced pretty well. Oh, shit. Now I'm talking to myself really poorly. Yeah.

I can optimize this other piece of my life. And I don't know. It comes down to, like, for like for me i just i try and simplify these things so much and the way that you talk to yourself or just communicate in general is a really simple way if you're willing to put in the work yeah to make a lot of things better over like all of those spinning plates and it really matters like people would still be like and whatever that doesn't really matter but it really matters matters. And just like we have, everyone has a different perception of pain. So if we, if there isn't like a cut dry, like 10, is this for everyone? Nine, is this for everyone?

If there's always going to be different perceptions, know that those perceptions are made up in your mind and it's what you're saying, It's what you're feeling. And so you can actually start to adjust that perception of what you're feeling about your body. So even your pain experience, even like, you know, you literally, like I, someone, uh, one of Lewis's workers that who was helping with summit of greatness, his back was like super locked up and he was like, feel it. It's like super tense. And I was like, yes, I know your body's responding and your body will respond. So sometimes you can physically feel it and your muscles are going into spasm and you're having these moments of like really feeling locked

up and that's physically what you're experiencing. But it's also like you continue to tell your body, I'm in pain, I'm in pain, I am in pain, and it is not safe. Your body is an amazing way of protecting itself and guarding itself. The moment that you get scared, it guards itself and locks up. The moment that anything happens, it's going to guard itself and lock up. So the moment that you continue to tell yourself and feed into the story of I have pain, I'm broken, something's wrong, something's terrible, something, your body is going to respond to that. So the longer that you continue to be in that state of mind, I guarantee your muscle spasm is going to last a bit longer. Yeah. I think that so many people, like we talk about optimizing every aspect of our life and we find these things like language. Yeah. That's something I need to

optimize. Like that's a real, real piece. Some piece some people are like man i need to get in shape i need to make it better people kind of just like pick one and like learn the system of learning a little bit yeah and you know people that are listening to this are always like what do i eat yeah i don't know just find something that has a vegetable eat some lean meats we can all agree vegetables are like pretty damn healthy for you yeah like what what's the what's the best fitness program it's like the one that you're gonna show up and do five days a week i don't know exactly like you can do doc gen feds program i've seen her she's getting she's getting it done um but like there's there's no real answer it's about finding the thing that suits you, that serves

a lot of areas of your life. And then you can find, oh, I need to talk to myself a little bit better. It's not like start your life and like, I'm only positive now because you have to like embody that before, like you have to have some momentum, but finding that momentum, it can be fitness. It can be nutrition. If you're just starting out, you don't have to like, I got a new fitness plan. I'm not saying anything negative about myself. And I've got all the vegetables this week. Like find something and just be consistent. Get some momentum going. Yeah. It's sometimes really challenging to talk about fitness. It is. Because we just assume we're fit. And at the same time, it's super easy. No one wants to believe that it's like that easy to just start to change things. It's all based on choice.

Have you heard of soft talk versus solid talk? Our friend Mark England, he runs a company called Procabulary, and he has a course called the Core Language Upgrade. And one of the big concepts in that course, especially for kind of projecting confidence confidence is to rather than use soft talk, use solid talk. And so solid talk is saying like, we get done with, we get done with this episode right now. And I say, I want to go to Whole Foods and get some food. You guys want to come? Like, as opposed to saying like, um, well, I think I'm, I think I'm feeling a little bit hungry and I might, I might want to go eat soon. It's like, just by saying it like kind of wishy-washy, it's like, what do you really want to do? Like, okay. Like he doesn't

really sound like he knows what he wants right now. That type of thing. So if you're talking with soft talk to other people, they think that you're not confident. And then if you're a leader, especially, they don't want to follow you because you don't sound like you, you understand what you, what you even want for yourself, let alone what, what, how are you going to help me get what I want? And if you're talking like that to yourself in your own head, then like you kind of are left internally with this aura of, of lack of confidence. And so just clearly stating, you know, assertively what, what you want, what you feel without throwing in those little, like I might maybe blah, blah, blah. Like, like where you're, you just don't seem like, you know, what you're talking about is really powerful i think yeah a hundred percent and really getting clear and i think going

back too is like you don't have to always it's not about a hundred percent positivity either so acknowledging in those moments of like hey i feel shitty right now yeah like i feel upset or i feel whatever it is and like say it acknowledge it don it, don't try to hide it. And then, and then, you know, I mean, I think one of the best practices is just fucking journaling and writing it down because you don't want to just go attack someone and be in like super reactive mode, but actually being able to come from a calm place of like, okay, I was feeling that way. I'm not angry. I am not right. And not getting into this habit of I am anger. I am whatever. And actually being able to sit like

acknowledge the way that you feel and then journal about it, see where that's really coming from. And maybe you can come and talk to someone in a calm manner. You write a lot. Um, do you write all the Instagram stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You write a lot. You have to be concise. You have to get good at messaging. Yeah. I mean, I, and for me personally,

I, I go into like a meditative state rather than writing it out, but I think either works as long as you can come from this place of responding rather than reacting. Yeah. And I think that's the same within our body. Like as soon as you're feeling pain, as soon as you have like an injury,

instead of reacting in a huge way of saying that this is a catastrophic experience and your body is exploding or whatever it may be like even catching that kind of language and then responding with, okay, pain is normal. It's going to come and go. It's going to happen. Now, what do I maybe need to do? I can go into breath work. I can go into mobility as a foundation. I can go into some movement. I can go chat with a friend or whatever it may be to start to address it. I find that writing actually gives me the ability to make a complete thought. Like when I'm talking, I'm a lot of times thinking out loud to my friends or professionally on this thing, but it's like, I have all these ideas and I'm throwing them back to kind of

see what your opinion is what doug's opinion is then we have this like real conversation but it never really becomes like a full complete thought or like something like a a direction that i can put my life like an intention yeah like i until i sit down and it's like well here's where i was this is kind of what i've been through that isn't working here's what i'm learning now i have something that i can move forward and actually do that do you find that in your journaling process or in totally meditation process yeah 100 and there's also something called uh white pages i think it's called white pages. And literally you just take three blank pages of paper every morning and you

journal as much as you want to. And you just talk about everything that's coming up and toss it away. And it's a way to kind of like allow your body to release. Yeah. And not have to, yeah, exactly. Not have to think about it anymore or sitting down intentionally writing what you want to happen, what you want to create.

I think is a super powerful tool and actually keeping that. So you can like kind of check back on that. Yeah. Talking is just the conversation. I feel like I'm like telling the story of where I'm at so many times, but it never like fully manifests into like, i figured it out yeah until i sit down with myself whether it's like meditation breathing creating a lot of space and then the writing process to me is always i'm like ah like i get it all those things that connect with these five little points that i need to or one point or whatever it is that now i can move forward yeah and like i've actually tied all the

the loose ends together. But talking about it actually holds you accountable too. Because if you're going to tell people that you're going to do something, you're going to go somewhere or you're going to change your body or whatever it may be, even your pain state, whatever that is, like it actually holds you accountable to making sure that you're getting it done. And it's just a constant reminder for you. Like, okay, I've been saying this a lot. Have I actually taken action on it? And I think the more that we project out like what we intend to do, the more that we're going to take the action steps to do it. So instead of being afraid of like some crazy idea that you may have

or something that you think is stupid, just tell your friends. Tell your friends and start to build accountability. Yeah. Do you listen to your Instagram lives with people, your interviews? And like when you're on shows like this, do you go back and listen to it? Probably not as much as I should. Sometimes I do. Um,

I would say it depends. Yeah. A lot of times I really want to not just hear myself talk and I want to actually hear what other people have to say. And so I'm like just always in a constant state of learning. So I'm like hardly ever, you don't just listen to your own shows. You're like,

man, that was a really good point. No, I really, I think maybe in your own shows. You're like, man, that was a really good point. No, I was talking to myself. I think maybe in the beginning I wanted to hear like how I was coming off and how it's coming across. I mean, being in that PhD program is really like super, super helpful because the whole thing was just feedback, like immediate feedback. Because you can go do a show and someone might just be wanting to people please and tell you that it was really good when it was really actually kind of crappy. Or you, you know, go to somewhere or you're in an interview on a radio, whatever it may be, and you get zero feedback and you have no idea how it actually went. Or an Instagram live, you don't really get as much feedback.

Right. But being in that kind of environment where it was like immediate feedback because people around you, it'd like how effective was she raise your hand if she was raise your hand if you didn't get it like so immediate feedback and then from the trainers from the coaches from everyone like this is what was working this is what wasn't working and it wasn't based either on good or bad and i think that's what i loved about like this is what i love about feedback now it's like nothing is good or bad there's no constructive constructive criticism anymore. It's just, it's just feedback and it's all ultimately good because it's a way to learn and grow and, and it's nothing personal. Yeah. I find that listening to myself, just because I know where I was at in that place, I'm like, Ooh, that's a very incomplete thought.

Like that didn't come across the way I would like it to like that needs to be cleaned up. So you can learn from it and then go on. Yeah. It's like objectively listening to yourself. And because you can kind of put yourself back where you were in that conversation. Like you can remember all the conversations that you've had with people when you re-listen to them. Because you just kind of go back to that place. And you're like, oh, I wish that was like, it's not really what I meant.

Or it didn't come across exactly. So you get to like go back and clean up your thought pattern. And it's like to me recording conversations. I mean, I joke. It's not even a joke. Like we'll sit in the garage sometimes and just turn it on and have like, just try to have really good long conversations. And it forces you to really like, it's like self editing the way you think because you can't

go like when you, once it comes out, that's, that's like your, your first draft, but in communication you don't get a rewrite. Right. So you have to record it and listen to it. And you're like, man, I got to clean that up. Like my language doesn't sound great yeah um like making complete thoughts yeah there was probably four or five interviews that i did even just like with with fisher um and on bledsoe show where i was like trying to hammer home like these like ideas that i had in my head of all the stuff that like had happened in my life and then i'd go back and listen and be like none of this is nearly as complete as I would like it to be. And then I took all those shows.

And you sit down and next thing you know, I had written like an hour-long talk that is like, in my opinion, is like a really good hour that you can put together. But it's like five hours of rambling on a microphone. And then I have to go back and I'm like, oh, it doesn't sound good. Like my first draft as it comes out of my mouth isn't good. Like if people can do, like, I think people should record, like have a topic, force themselves to record a conversation that they're having with their friends because they'd be like astonished at how incomplete they, like the number of run on sentences that they have in their lives, how negative they are to themselves. Like I can't do that. Like I'm not good at that. And all that stuff really just puts this wall up or puts this

limitation up on where you can go immediately puts an invitation i think that was the one thing that i love most about amy purdy do you guys know who she is uh paralympian uh snowboarder double amputee and um she like she had a disease happen and kind of, she had to get her feet chopped off and she almost lost her nose, her hands, all these other things. So for her, she was like, well, I didn't lose my nose. I didn't lose my hands. Like, yes, I lost my feet, but this is what I do have. And she focused on what she do, she does have and what she can do with her body instead of focusing on what she doesn't have. And I think that's so, so powerful.

And it's crazy that it takes someone that goes through that kind of situation for us to really kind of get reality check in seeing that. Because a lot of people, they get tight. And all of a sudden, I can't squat all the way to the ground. I can't touch my toes. I can't do this. And we put all these, like, limitations that we actually have the full capability within our body to change and adjust. Yeah. The focus on what you don't have is a miserable way to live your life.

Oh, my gosh. So miserable. It's really hard. Yeah. And most limitations that people have in a crossfit gym or whatever, they got a hurt shoulder or they got poor ankle mobility, whatever it is. Most of those things aren't actually a big deal in your life. We talk about judgment a million times on the show. It's those people thinking that in this setting, because I can't do those things, people are going to think that I'm not cool.

And that stresses me out. And it makes me fearful for whatever reason. They don't want to be judged. And so they concentrate on that yeah but there's still a million things they can do you can train around almost any injury everything and then we just realize okay now i get to go meet someone that can help me and i get to learn some more cool things about my body which is not a bad thing that's a that's a beautiful thing i feel like even living in san diego or in this gorgeous place where it's 75 degrees every single day like we

face zero real hardships we all have enough money to do what we need to do and you're like things are just so challenging like I'm not good at anything like your life is fucking amazing can you just wake up and look at where you're at, what you're doing. Like, obviously, not everybody gets to do what we do. But actually, they could if they really set out to, like, be good at something and, like, dedicated their lives to lifting weights, being a really good therapist. Like, be, like, something that they could, like, actually do. Like, I don't know. Is the problem that people don't know what they like?

I think people don't want to take the time to find out. Ooh, that's scary. Because we like complacency. We like it to be easy. We like comfort. We like to stay in what feels safe and comfortable and what I know, right, rather than what else might be out there, what other opportunities, or what more I can do with my life.

Like, it's just sometimes it's so much easier to just stay in your comfort zone so I get it and that's no judgment again if that's working for you and that's what you want to be cool the network that you hang out with yeah up here pretty cool you got to go hang out and talk at Brendan Burchard's spot yeah um how much do you think that's playing into just kind of your career path and just like the general perception of how much power you have in the future of your career, life, all this stuff? Everything. I mean, when I was going into PT school, it was like business. That's over my head. I don't know any of this. I can't do it. I'm not going to. I'm going to work for someone. I'm going to do this or whatever it may be. Um, and the more I continue to learn, the more I continue

to see what's out there and that there's endless possibilities and I can create whatever I want to create. Um, the more I just started to learn from people. And, and I think the first thing gets to be like, open your mindset because no matter where you are, whether it's fitness therapy, you're a clinician, doctor, whatever it is like open your mindset because no matter where you are, whether it's fitness therapy, you're a clinician, doctor, whatever it is, like open your mindset because there's so much out there that we can all learn from. Um, and anytime someone like puts himself into a box too hard, then you're, you're cutting yourself out from this whole external world of like things that you can actually explore and learn from. And that's, that's the number one way that I continue to grow and open up is just learning from different people.

Well, we spent, I think we spent so much of our time like reading the books. Like I need to do that. When the real goal is like, how do you elevate your game to the point where you actually get to sit down and have dinner with that person or like talk to them because that, then you see like,

Oh shit, that's how you live your life. Like the way that you are every day is the reason you're this successful. And the way that you think, the way that you see, like, oh, shit, that's how you live your life. Like, the way that you are every day is the reason you're this successful. And the way that you think, the way that you dream, the way that you, like, everything about you is the reason. Like, somebody asked me the other day, like, do you think you'll ever interview Arnold Schwarzenegger? And I was like, if I get good enough, like, if I'm actually good enough, Arnold will just be another person because the number of guests that will be on the show, he'll just be another amazing person that we get to hang out with. I was like, why am I going to worry about networking all the way to Arnold so we have one good guest? Just be really good at what you do every single day and try to get there.

And then all of a sudden, the table you're at at dinner is Dr. En fit, Doug Larson, Anders, Michael Nelson, and Dr. Ben house. That was a cool dinner. That was a really good dinner, but also you already are good enough. Yeah, totally.

Well, we're working on doing conversation. We're getting, we're, hold on. We're developing skills to be the best or to be, to chase greatness, to just continue to grow,

to just continue to learn and open up the conversation, up possibility because it's going to happen yeah that's where they're doing it that's it god feels so enlightened where do we go from here that that other people want to be around i mean that's the best thing that you can do because networking is really just about like connecting with good humans and continuing to open up the conversation to whatever it may be and not being so closed off to your ideas is one way to help that and just continuing to work on your own mindset everything we've been talking about it creates this this space this person that people just want to be around. That's why we called you to come hang out with us today. That's why we called you. Who can we hang out with in LA? Dr.

Jenna Scares up there. We're calling her to hang out. Yo, where can people find you? Definitely the Gram is where I'm at most of the time. You're building a new website. Where are you at? It's finally going to come into fruition.

DocGenFit.com. Everything is DocGenFit. All the things. Facebook, DocGenFit. YouTube, DocGenFit. Because I do save my Instagram lives and put them up on YouTube so people can watch them back. How many Instagram lives are you doing a week now? One, two?

I try to do one a week. One? Yeah, for sure. One a week. And get just different people. So I'm not just talking to PTs or rehab people i'm talking to i like them you do you do your like uh kind of your assessment process with them you help them it's a little bit different different vibe on instagram live where people are just like talking normally yeah you're actually like helping people walk through

their problems me um no actually i'm pulling on people like you guys. No, no, no. I'm saying, but you're helping people. Who's the one that you did last week? Maybe this week. I don't know. Whatever it was, I tuned in for like 20 minutes. Okay.

And she was like, I have a badge holder. And you were like, check out your rotation. I was like, oh, she's actually helping people. We're walking through an assessment right now. Well, that was on her Instagram. I think that's the one you saw. It only pops up on you. Well,

because my name pops up too when I'm on someone else's, but, um, but yeah, I was going through some like mobility techniques and stuff like that, but I like to get down to the juicy stuff of like, what is your opinion on health? What is your opinion on,

and I talked to a lot of pelvic floor specialists because honestly, I'm still getting DMS on like a, on a regular of what postpartum people can do or how people should be lifting after pregnancy, all that kind of stuff. And it really comes down to you treat it as you just had a surgery because you did and go see a pelvic floor specialist because nothing you find online is going to actually be as beneficial as going to see someone. Yeah. So I just try to spread that word as much as possible. Love it. Doug Larson.

You bet. You can follow me on Instagram at Douglas E. Larson. Got my own site, DougLarsonFitness.com. Got some mobility and nutrition courses on there. We do Barbell Strug every Wednesday. And lately, every Saturday as well for the last couple months, even though we don't promise every Saturday, but we almost always have done it over the last couple months.

Did you see my eyes light up? Mike Bledsoe just walked in the house. Look at him. Oh, my God. He looks lost. Oh, my God. Look at that guy. What are you doing here?

I love it. Bledsoe showed up. So good. The whole family's here. Ryan Fisher's in the house. Killing it. Oh, my gosh. It's so good.

You can find me at Anders Varner and in the Shrug Collective. I mean, this week we had six shows and four YouTube shows going out. That's a lot of things, lots of education. I didn't know people could learn so much about the fitnesses, but we're doing it. Yeah. Leave us a five-star review, positive comment, or say something mean about you i'll read it i

promise and i'll talk about it on the show um bledsoe's looking at me all weird we're gonna see you guys next wednesday thanks for hanging out yeah thanks for having me on smash it again another wednesday in the book i appreciate you all so much make sure you get over to douglarsonfitness.com make sure you come and say hello at Wadapalooza. We're at the FitAid tent, booth, whatever it is. All the fun people are going to be hanging out there. You know why? Because Shrug's the most fun and FitAid's the most fun.

You put the two people together that are the most fun, we're all going to be having the most fun. And if you don't come over and see us, you won't be having the most fun. That's simple math. Fun plus fun equals fun. If you're not in it, it's not that much fun. Simple. Wadapalooza Fit Aid.

We're doing it big this year. I'm so excited. Also want to thank Driven Nutrition. DrivenNutrition.net forward slash shrug. Get over, take a quiz. Find out how much you need. VioriClothing.com. V-U-O-R-I clothing.com.

Use the coupon code SHRUG25, save 25%. I'm wearing the clothes right now. I'm wearing them. I'm not messing around. I got them on. I got the core shorts. K-O-R-E, get the core shorts, get the joggers. You're going to love them.

Thank you for being a part of this show. Take a screenshot. Tag me at Anders Varner. Tag me at Anders Warner. Hit me with a DM. Whatever you want to do. At Anders Warner, at Shrug. Hit us with the hashtag GoLong. This has been the coolest 2018 in the world.

We're going to be back next Wednesday. We have so many good shows. And everyone's going to be on travel. We're not going to be posting Saturday shows until the new year. But then we're back to two a week. We got Wadapalooza coming up. I've got about 10 shows in the bag right now that we need to get out to you, and then we're going to film another eight at Wadapalooza.

That gets us through March. Oh, my gosh. 2019 is already shaping up to be a huge year. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey. It has been the coolest 2018. I couldn't imagine it any other way. I've been dreaming about this life to be able to be a part of this culture here at Shrugged, to be a part of this message. The fact that you guys are paying attention, that you're listening, that you're reaching out to me. My life just feels like it's

so complete and I appreciate all the love everyone's given me. We will see you guys next Wednesday.