Barbell Shrugged - Pain Can Strip You Of Your Identity, But It Doesn’t Have To w/ Brittany Stevens and Larry Gaier - Active Life Radio #7

Episode Date: August 23, 2019

Larry Gaier is an Active Life 1 on 1 coach who you have heard from before (in episode 3). Brittany is the reason why we do what we do at Active Life. In this episode you are going to laugh, you are going to learn, and you might even cry.  Brittany came to us 2+ years ago and we failed her, we didn’t get her to buy so we couldn’t help. When Brittany came back a year later, she needed surgery and was unfortunately outside of our scope. The third time was the charm, six months after her SECOND surgery, Brittany was back on the phone with me, audibly crying through the phone. Her life had been turned upside down from the pain her shoulder was causing her. Her job was in doubt, her identity was stripped, her workouts were non existent, she couldn’t put deodorant on, and her marriage was in doubt from all of the depression and anxiety she was suffering from. Things were bad. What happened next? Well, you’re going to have to listen. Bring tissues.  Minute Breakdown: 0-10 - What happened at the Boston workshop... 11-20 - “My ego got the best of me” 21-30 - How language developed trust  31-40 - What is pain? 41-50 - The importance of a social outlet 51-60 - “I want to be able to learn the things I need to learn in order to save someone else from the pain and the trauma and the downward spiral they’re headed in, in their life.... I wish I said yes on that first call” 61- 70 - Advice from Brittany Work with an Active Life Coach like Larry at activeliferx.com/shrugged Find Larry at @Larry_TheHuman   Please support our sponsors: Organifi - Save 20% using the coupon code "SHRUGGED"   Work with an Active Life Coach like Ray at activeliferx.com/shrugged Find Ray at @RayGormanDPT   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/alr-stevens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ► 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: 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

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What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Active Life Radio on the Shrugged Collective Network. I'm Dr. Sean Pastuch. I'm your host, and we have a phenomenal, phenomenal show for you today. This show has the potential to change somebody's life. And by somebody, I mean, can change someone's life. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that it will. On today's show, we bring on coach and client. The client is a woman named Brittany Stevens. Coach is Larry, who you guys have heard from before on this show.

The reason why this episode has so much potential to change somebody's life is because of where Brittany's life was when this story started and where Brittany's life is now. There are some of you out there who are dealing with aches and pains and frustrations and uncertainty that is beating you down every single day. And you're hoping that there's some glimmer of inspiration that's going to be able to pull you out. You're waiting for somebody to reach their hand and grab you and pull you across the starting line to getting you where you want to go and not knowing when that's going to come can be exceedingly demoralizing.

You have your high days. You have your low days. There are some days that you're like, this is it. I'm moving the way I need to move. And then the next day you feel like crap and it's even worse mentally than it was before that good day. I know how you feel. I have felt that way myself. And our guest today, Brittany Stevens, you haven't heard a story like this one. On this episode, you're going to learn how Brittany went from not one surgery, but two surgeries, borderline depression, almost lost her marriage, her job, and herself all at the same time to finding victories and little, little things that before she would have taken for granted to such a point that she is now, well, nah, I'm not going to tell you what she's doing now. Come on, I can't give up the end.

You're going to have to listen. So I hope that you guys enjoyed this episode. Remember, head to iTunes, wherever you're listening to podcasts, five stars and a savage review. Send this podcast, this particular episode to the person who needs to listen to it. Join the movement.

Let's start helping people get out of pain without going to the doctor, without missing the gym, without having to give out their activities and their livelihoods. Let's do it. Help us. Let's do it. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. You'll know immediately who that person is once we get this baby going. No further ado, here comes Brittany Stevens and Larry Geyer. All right, Larry Geyer and Brittany Stevens, welcome to the Active Life Podcast. Thanks. Hi. Hi.

So I'm thrilled to announce to everybody that no one on this call is nervous at all. Larry is very comfortable on podcasts. Brittany is a seasoned podcast guest, and I'm great. So I appreciate you, Brittany, coming on today and joining me and Larry on the show because I think that you exemplify everything that we try to tell people they could be when they are thinking about trying to get themselves out of pain without going to a doctor, having an evasive surgery or any of that kind of stuff. people realize how deep in the hole they can take themselves before deciding to take an action. And I think that you're a great example of someone who's been from on both sides of the health mentally and physically spectrum to provide some inspiration for listeners today. Yeah, absolutely. I'm honored to be on this podcast. I was blown away when you sent me the email asking if I would do this. So thank you to both for giving me the opportunity what we'll jump ahead a little, we recently did a workshop in Boston and at that workshop, Brittany attended as a coach and you spoke in front of the group and the whole room changed for the rest of the weekend after you spoke, it was like,

oh shit, this is real. This works. Yeah. Um, I wasn't expecting to do that. And that was the first time I'm generally a private person. Like I, I'm not the life of the party or anything like that. And so for me to stand up in front of a group of people and kind of tell my story, um, was huge for me, but I was blown away by everybody's reaction in the room. Um, and that, I don't know, that kind of made it real that I was like, okay, like this isn't just my head. And this isn't just me like this. This is real life. Like this is something that everybody can, can relate to. Um, I don't know, my life has changed drastically since then. I'm, I'm since then. Yeah, that was like, that was like three weeks ago. I know. I know. I feel like I've had, you know, these, these mountains to, to climb over and crush, but like you posted a thing the other day on social media about like, if you knew you three years ago, you wouldn't recognize you now. And I feel like if you knew me three weeks ago, I'm like unrecognizable now today. So it's kind of crazy how fast people can make changes.

That is so cool. I can't wait to hear about that. Cause I don't, I, for you guys listening, I know nothing about what Brittany is talking about in terms of that transformation. So I'm excited to dig into that in a little bit. Um, before we even bring you in Larry, Brittany, would you mind giving the listeners some background as to kind of who you are, right? I mean, they can't see you right now. They don't know anything about you. They don't know if you're a CrossFit Games athlete or if you're a coach, if you're, you know, everyday Brittany. Yeah, I am not a CrossFit Games athlete. I am just your everyday CrossFit lover. I started CrossFit in June of 2014. I started coaching two years later, I think. I just kind of did it to find a sense of community and to work out.

I played field hockey and softball and basketball in high school, so I kind of missed that camaraderie, so to speak. Tried CrossFit out. my husband actually told me like hey i heard this thing sounds like something you'd be really good at or it might be fun it might suck who knows we'll try it out went one day for my intro and signed up before class was even over because i just knew that this was this was my jam this was this is where i wanted to be um yeah i'm sorry what else was the question i'm really no that's's it. You're doing great. I want to remind you just once, make sure you're keeping that microphone as close to your mouth as you can. Um, so you're, you're the everyday person. You joined CrossFit looking for a community and a

way to have a little bit of fun with fitness and your husband thought it would be a good idea. You know, what about your husband? What's, I mean, is he a CrossFit enthusiast? What's his deal? He was at one point, but not anymore. He owns a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy. He's been teaching Jiu-Jitsu for 10 years. Just opened his second academy about two years ago. He dabbled a little bit in CrossFit for strength and conditioning, specifically for Jiu-jitsu um

but he has since stepped away from CrossFit and is really trying to focus on the business side of his life and he just works out at the academy on the mats with everybody else when he gets a chance to so yeah so uh I don't remember if i knew that when we first got started but definitely not the client to upset you're too close to where we are to have your jujitsu studio owning husband angry with us and driving down he is not angry with you i think he is more appreciative of you guys than I am because he no longer has to deal with the wrath that was me. Nice. Maybe you should have him on the show. Okay. So, so to give people a little bit of background about why we started working together, when I first spoke to you, we actually ended up not working together, right? I mean, that was

the first call was so, so Brittany had some shoulder issues at the time we were talking about on the phone. And to be honest, I didn't do the job. I didn't close the deal. Brittany ended up not signing up. Um, and then a year later you came back and what was the situation then? Yeah. So when we first talked, um, I was a candidate for surgery. I had a bank art tear in my right shoulder that was giving me a lot of pain day in and day out. At night, I was miserable. I couldn't sleep. There was a lot of movements in CrossFit that I wasn't able to perform. My ego got the best of me and it wasn't that it wasn't that I was, I didn't want to

not ever snatch again, but I was just angry that I wanted to snatch and I couldn't snatch. And so, um, yeah, I was just, I was frustrated. I went to a doctor and everybody that I kind of talked to around here said surgery. That's the only reason that, um, or that's the only way that you are going to get better. That's, there's no other option unless you want to just modify movements for the rest of your life and sleep in pain for the rest of your life, then surgery is your option. Um, so I had not just one surgery, I had two surgeries and then chaos happened again. So to be to be frank with I mean, to be clear with everybody, it actually works out that you didn't sign up in the first place because Larry, who will hear from here in a moment, was not on staff yet.

The first time that we spoke. And so I couldn't have set you guys up together. And it was a perfect fit. I was not sold that you needed surgery the first time around and I was trying to get you to work with us. The second time when you came back, then it became the conversation of, okay, well, we're not going to have to get operated on again. So what was the chaos that ensued that you were talking about? Yeah. So I had surgery in January and then I had a second surgery in October and I want to say it was like four, maybe six weeks after the second surgery, I had no pain for four weeks. Just the normal kind of pre-op surgery stuff, but I was able, I had full range of motion. I had no pain. I was actually sleeping at night and then I tore again. different tear, different location, same shoulder.

So, um, but when the, when it happened, I didn't know that I tore again. I just kind of associated it with normal post-op pain. Um, I went through about six, seven months of trial and error, um, cortisone shots, steroid, oral steroids, Advil, rest, physical therapy, chiropractic, another cortisone shot, um, more physical therapy and nothing was getting better. And I just kind of had this feeling inside that something is wrong. Um, like this, this is bigger, or I guess in my shoulders, he's deeper than what the doctors were looking at. And I was getting really frustrated. Um, I asked them to do an MRI and they did an MRI with no dye. I forget what the medical terminology is for that. Contrast. Yes. Contrast. so they did an MRI with no contrast and that showed nothing and so they sent me to physical therapy again which was making my pain

worse um and then I called you hysterically yeah that second because that second call was like what am I supposed to do nothing they're telling me to do is working. They want to operate again. And like, they don't even know what they're going to operate on. And then I remember saying, okay, look, I'm not, I'm not sure we can help you. But I know that if we're going to, we're going to, there's three. It was most likely going to be surgery number four at the end, just because of my shoulder and my body. And that, yeah, I was like, and I wasn't, it wasn't in a position that I could do for surgeries within a two year period. It just wasn't, wasn't in the cards for me mentally mentally physically emotionally um yeah I mean I I was in a really bad place and I'm um yeah I told myself I wasn't gonna get emotional but um my life was in shambles i was depressed i was anxious um i wasn't working out um how was your relationship doing my husband was ready to leave me um my job was suffering my friendship. I pretty much would lock myself

either in my office at work or my bedroom at home. Um, because I hated the world. I was, I feel like the word miserable doesn't even cover the feelings that I felt. Um, yeah, it was, I mean, I've had some pretty rough patches in life. Like I think everybody has, but for two years I was like questioning, like, what the fuck? Like, why am I doing this? Like what? I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and so I appreciate you sharing that with, with this audience of strangers who you don't know, who will greatly benefit from it. I remember when you told me all of this and I was like, I have the perfect coach for you. You have been more right. And I'm like, his name is Larry. And I told Larry all about you. And he's like, oh, fuck, no, I'm not ready for that.

And I was like, you know what? That is exactly why I want you to take this client. So the, the, a little bit of backstory, the reason why I wanted Larry to be the coach who worked with you is first of all, I, Larry is not a doctor. He has no medical degrees and I didn't want you to, for one second, confuse this with the medical service. Yeah. So that I remember the day that you said that i was scared shitless i was like what do you mean you're pairing me with someone who's not a doctor yeah well i wanted you to have to change your entire mindset about what this was going to be like and i remember when i told larry he was like i'm dude what the fuck are you doing like i don't i don't know how to handle this kind of a client are you sure i'm like i'm sure you're perfect for this client. Because my belief

was that the biggest barrier you were facing was actually between your ears, not between your, you know, your shoulder and your arm. And I felt like the best, most equipped coach we had to handle that was Larry. So let's bring Larry into the show. Hi, Larry. Oh, hey. Oh, hey. That was a little low. You can speak a little bit louder than that okay good yeah that's good so yeah that's perfect so larry what were your thoughts when i was like yeah we're gonna send you this woman who is a bit of an emotional state and who is physically coming off of multiple surgeries and being told she needs more uh can't pull her pants up without bad shoulder pain, certainly can't go to the gym, is at risk of losing her relationship with her husband,

her job, herself. No pressure. Pat on the butt. Have at it. So it was a cocktail, but it was a good cocktail, and I think I now understand why you paired us. The first ingredient of that cocktail was like okay making her feel better isn't going to be the hard part right so that's what i knew i was gonna be able to do the the second ingredient which was a scary part was just

the constant telling myself that i was going to need to consult with people who knew better than me on how to take every single step I was going to take. But it quickly panned out to not have to be that way, which is cool. So, Brittany, how long did it take for Larry to earn your trust? Two seconds. Two seconds? Come on, it had to have taken longer than that. No, I don't know i would say probably a week okay and and what what was it that he did that allowed you to trust him in

that short period of time and if i can he explained things to me in a way that no one had ever explained. And he kind of explained to me the process of not just the fitness aspect of things and what we're going to do in the gym, but it was more so like the mental process too. Um, and he saw, I don't know, like he saw that for me, it was bigger than what was going on, or I guess what was not going on in the gym. Um, it was to me, like Sean, you said, being able to pull my pants up without pain, um, being able to wash my hair, being able to put deodorant on. Cause it had been a couple months since that had happened.

Brittany, this is also, that's why I don't really worry about deodorant too much. People wonder why. Larry's just preparing for the day that his shoulder goes out and you can't put the other line so he's just not gonna wear between now and here we think i won't have to worry about you perfect okay so um so the language i mean it's the way he's talking to you so so larry let's go to you a little bit you're you're now a week into working with britney she's starting to trust you could you feel that trust or were you still worried yeah Yeah. So Brit, Brittany's very, very well expressed. So I, she, she's very well expressed. And I mean that in a good way. Um, she's probably laughing because

she understands how extra she can be in terms of her communication, but, uh, I, I eat it up and she's, um, it's very, you can't, Brittany puts it all out on the table in a way that, um, is both respectable and appreciable because it just makes my job easier to understand exactly where she's at. So Brittany, what does Larry mean by, what does Larry mean when he, when he says overexpressed? I tell him things he probably doesn't need to or want to know sometimes. What's, what's an example of that?

Um, oh my gosh. I can think of a couple good ones but you should definitely you should definitely pick i mean kind of with the workouts like i just i i tend to overthink oh everything a little a little a little louder britney about everything and bring me bring me your coaching voice what Bring me your coaching voice. What? Bring me your coaching voice. I need you to speak a little louder for me. Oh, okay.

I tend to overthink everything and be a little bit over analytical about things. And so he would send a workout and I would send him about 27 questions per day of clarification. And with my feedback of things, I probably sent him paragraphs on just how did the left high pole go? All right. Yeah. I mean, he knew what was going on in my personal life with my husband. He knew what was going on with my work and in the gym, out of the gym. He just, I, I'm a pretty big package to handle. So he kind of, I just gave it all to him and I was like, if you can handle this, this is going to work. So if I could jump in for a second, I think one way that, um, I think a reason why, why Brittany's been so successful is that, um, and by the way, there's still plenty of kind of physical work for us to do. Right. So we'll leave it out there, but I think that,

you know, we'll all get into why she's in the way she's been very successful, but I think one of the biggest reasons why she's been so successful is that she and I are very, very similar in a very, very specific way. Um, And I think that is how ready we are and how much we actually crave very, very deep involvement in whatever we're doing. And when I say that, I don't mean like, oh, I want you to include me in your game. That's not the kind of involvement I mean.

I mean, whether we're doing something solitary or i'm ready i've never really asked you this so i could be wrong but whether we're doing something solitary or uh social um i think that we both are interested in being as deeply involved and engaged in what we're doing as possible and the way that shows up with Brittany's programming is that she wants to see and be able to appreciate and respect every word that she's getting from every angle. And it helps her make progress. Brittany, am I right about that? Yes, 100%. So that's really cool because I also understand that way. There have been plenty of people who have told me, you know, who have kind of been overwhelmed by how, how, how interested I am in things and

how engaged I want to be with them. Uh, and Brittany's not that way because she, she's the same way I am in that respect. So it's cool to be able to get back the, the paragraphs of questions, because I know that it means this isn't going to be the kind of thing that she has to backtrack to figure out every single workout for her is a very, very solid step in a direction that i know she's not going to have to go back over which is really cool it's funny you say that about yourself because you're the only person i know who's ever been like i need 18 seconds of your time called me asked me a very very simple straightforward question without any introduction gotten the answer and said, okay, cool, and hung up the phone. Not a ton of expression thereafter.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. It's cool. I don't need the paragraphs. It's good. You and Brittany can share your paragraphs back and forth.

So Brittany – well, actually, let me send this one to Larry. In the very beginning, Brittany couldn't fit the mold of what a standard client was, right? She wasn't going through our typical movement assessment to start things off. So how did you start things with her? And when I say movement assessment, she probably did go through the movement, but she certainly wasn't going through the strength assessment that we set up for clients. No, for Brittany, it was establishing, hey, what can you do without pain? And then it's whatever knowledge I needed to know about all shoulder actions and say, okay, great. How do we get her shoulder a baby step better in all directions and everything it can do, right? How can we get her shoulder to hold,

push, pull, carry, and support in all directions through every, whatever, a millimeter more than all the range of motion she currently has. And Brittany, do you remember a moment early on when Larry gave you an exercise to do and you were like, what the fuck is this guy thinking? I can't do that. Very vividly. It was high pulls. Okay. So the high pulls, which is the exercise that most people love to criticize us for that. Nobody should do high pulls. Tell us about what the high pulls were like for you. Um, they were, first of all, I was like, who, who does this movement? Like this isn't a real

life movement. Like you just made this up. Um, even though I had been doing CrossFit for however many years before that but it never really clicked in my head that oh yeah when you clean you high pull um but uh I think he gave me five pounds was the weight um and I tried five pounds and I had a absolute temper tantrum. And then it ended up to being, I think I... That's a very fair description. I think I ended up dropping down to, I think it was a half pound plate. And I got it, I don't know,

maybe two or three inches of range of motion and had another temper tantrum. And I sent the film to him. I was like, here's my temper tantrum. Do with it what you want. But it was, it was excruciating. And I was like, there's no way, like, I can't, I can't do this. Like there's no way. So how'd you get through that? It was kind of a mental battle. I mean, Larry did tell me, he reassured me that it's okay to

have pain. Um, he gave me the whole kind of pain scale and explained to me the difference between insult, irritation, pain, and injury. And, um, I don't know, he kind of just talked me off of a ledge. And so I was like, all right, I can, pain is good. Pain is how we heal. This is a different kind of pain. And you got this, like, if you want to, you know, you have to feel a little pain to feel no pain. Yeah. So what I want to do here is I'm going to take, we're going to go for a short commercial break. And when we get back, I'm going to tell the listeners what those four words mean, insult, irritation, pain, and injury.

And then we're going to talk to you, Brittany, first about whether or not understanding those terms actually reduced the amount of pain that you were experiencing without any physical change. So we'll be right back. What's up, Shrug Nation? Are you enjoying this episode? I bet you are. I'm going to keep this brief. We'll get you right back to the show in a moment. In the meantime, if you're interested in anything

that we're doing at Active Life, make sure that you head to ActiveLifeRx.com slash shrug. You want to be a better coach. You want to help your clients better. You want to get out of pain, but you don't want to go to the doctor or miss the gym. ActiveLifeRx.com slash shrugged. That's where you need to be. We'll see you when you get there. Turn pro. Here we go back to the episode. Okay, Brittany.

So before we get to you, actually, before we get to me, did understanding the definition of those four terms, insult, irritation, pain, and injury, just knowing what they were, did that reduce your pain? 100%. Yeah. Yeah, that's fucking crazy. So here's what I want to do for the audience. I want to give you guys definitions of these four terms that we use with our clients. We are not pain scientists. We are not psychologists.

These are just things that we have found to be effective, both to help people alleviate painful situations and to communicate what is and is not acceptable in terms of how the body responds to exercise selection. Insult is simple. It's happening right now. It's what we call the subconscious intake of stimulus. That means if you sat in a chair and didn't move for two minutes, it would be no big deal. If I said sit in that position for three hours, no movement allowed, eventually you would feel like you needed to squirm. You need to shift a little bit. The moment that that sensation became conscious, when you wanted to shift, you were no longer comfortable. That moved from insult to irritation.

Everybody is okay with being sore the day after a workout. But what if you didn't work out the day before and you woke up as if the day before today you had done the most difficult squat, deadlift, shoulder press workout combination of your life? Everything was on fire. The sensation of what you're feeling would be out of place with what you normally feel. And that would drive you to a sensation of, is this normal or is this not normal? And that's when we run into becomes pain. Pain is the negative emotion often tied to uncertainty related to irritation, right? You wake up the day after

you work out, you're sore, great, no problem. You wake up the day after you work out and you're not sore, great, no problem. You wake up on a random Wednesday, you haven't trained in like four or five days and your entire body is aching as if you did the hardest workout of your life the day before, you're nervous. That's pain. Same sensation, less certainty, more emotion, pain. Injury is when you decide that you no longer can do something. Injury is literally saying, I can't. So what we explain to our clients, like Brittany, is that you're experiencing something, but whether it's pain or not, we don't actually know. You're the only one who can decide that. So what we tell our clients is to follow the following rules. If it hurts on a scale of zero to 10, five or more,

it's too much. Four or less, great. If it's staying the same or getting better from rep to rep, continue doing it. You're on the way to improving. If when you stop doing whatever you're doing, there's no pain left at all. Good news. If 24 hours to 48 hours later, there's no onset of the symptoms that you have while you were doing the set, then we are doing exactly the right things. So Larry discussed these things with you, Brittany, how did that reduce the amount of pain that you felt just by knowing that? I mean, it, it kind of brought it from what I thought was like a pain on the scale of like one to 10 being like a seven to, I was like, Oh no, this is really just maybe a 10 on the irritation scale or maybe a one or a two on the pain scale.

But this isn't. How did that flip? Um, I don't know. It was, I really just started thinking about it and I was kind of comparing it to the feelings that I was feeling before. And is this, um, is this that feeling or is this something different? And I realized, oh no, this is something different. And that I had really actually never felt this feeling before. Um, so I really just, when I was working out, it was no longer a like physical high pole. It was more of like a mental high pole. Like, what am I really feeling and why am I feeling this? And can I do one more rep? And yes, I can do one more rep. Okay. Then let's, let's do,

let's do two more reps. Cause you're already at number six right now. You could just get to eight, like get to eight rest and we can do this again. Um, yeah. I think from a lot of what I'm finding, it's, it's that, um, when, when we understand that a little bit of irritation or a little bit of pain is required to get the favorable adaptation that we want, things change. So, for example, like you said, everyone expects to feel uncomfortable after they do an intense workout. We're used to it. That's what training is for. It's to create a very deliberate stress response so that we respond favorably to it. I think when we start to understand, oh, got it, we need some irritation, some pain to kind of drive the

response that we want. It frees us. It frees up a lot of energy from the fear of, oh, these are my limitations. So instead of thinking about all the things I can't do anymore, and won't be able to do anymore. Now it's just got it, there's some discomfort. And we just have to kind of respect what discomfort is okay, along the way towards just getting better and better and better. Yeah, I agree with that. So how did that respect for what you were feeling carry over into other exercises that Larry gave you later on down the line, Brittany? Do you have any thoughts on that? Were there any other things that came up later

that you were like, oh, I don't know. Like, for example, maybe hanging from the pull-up bar for the first time again. Yeah, but not, I don't know, by the time I was ready to hang from a pullet bar, I, I mean, I was definitely nervous, but it was, it was almost like a nervous excitement. Um, once I kind of knew that, that I, not only do I have this, but like Larry has this, like, as far as like the programming, like it was working, um, you know, I was really happy with it and I was seeing baby steps of progress. It was more so movements in that I was doing like for other body parts that I would get

pretty scared when we were about to do them. Um, I remember the first time he told me to run and I, I think I sent him a message like, is that a typo? No, we didn't, we didn't touch on the Achilles pain you were having. Is that, is that what you're discussing? Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I was, I was so nervous that day and I was like, there's no way, like, I can't do this. There's no way. And I think it was like a 20 meter run or 50 meter run. It was nothing crazy. And, um, I was like, nope, like you've trusted the process so far.

You haven't been steered wrong yet. And I kind of brought my head space back to like, what does this really feel like? And what am I, what am I scared of? Cause right now I'm not having any discomfort, but I was scared of the idea of running was going to make me uncomfortable or running was going to give me pain. Um, so I just took it really slow. And again, it became more of a mental exercise than a physical exercise that every step I was checking in with my body mentally, like, are you feeling anything? No. Okay. One more step. And if I felt something, I was like, what does that feel like? Like, is it pain? No, it's not. Okay. Keep going then. Yeah. And Larry, was that the intention

when you gave her a 20 meter run? I mean, like, obviously there's very little physiological change that's going to happen from a 20 meter run. There was almost no physiological change. None of what I was trying to give her there was, was a physiological stimulus. It was all, it was all a mental stimulus. And I think what, what Brittany's an awesome example of, and frankly, what most of our measurable progress has been the result of is when you take an athlete who is after it, when you take a CrossFit athlete who is about it,

who is about showing up and going in, the change that you have to make after you have an injury like Brittany did is you have to greatly reduce the scale for your wins. So basically, instead of these massive leapfrog jumps as often and as intensely as you can, you have to take 12 inches and you have to make every quarter inch mark on the ruler feel and be, understandably, the kind of win that you were looking for when you were trying to jump five feet at a time. So putting Brittany in a position where she can say, okay, here's where I am right now. This is just what it is. This is where I am. If I want to be better, what direction

do I have to go in? Got it. If I take one step in that direction, am I in a better position or a worse position? Got it. Let's just keep doing that. And the idea of just put your head down, just tend the garden, pop your head up every three months and say, how am I doing? Oh, got it. This is much better. Yep. Let's keep doing this is a really, really effective mindset for someone who has been so emotionally rattled by being in a place that they never want to be in again. And Brittany, Brittany did that really, really well. And frankly, all the momentum that she's seen. When I say momentum, I don't mean linear progress. I mean, exponential progress, especially mentally. All of that is a result of her respecting

a win for a win, if that makes sense. So Brittany, was that something that you were prepared to do except a win for a win? Or is that something that you had to learn how to do along the way? Oh, I was not prepared for that at all. It was definitely something that I had to learn and adapt to along the way. Um, and I think it's still a work in progress. I think, um, yeah, I don't think that that's something that you ever kind of learn and accept and you're like, okay, this is, I got it. Here we go. This is life moving on. Like I think that that's something that you're just constantly, um, aware of and, and working on. I know I have a question for Brittany about her,

her and her husband was your husband. Let me, let me rephrase my back to step. Do you bring this kind of stuff to your husband and ask him for help with it? Or are you guys in the kind of relationship where it's like, you know what, I'm going to let this compartment be this compartment with this coach. And I'll talk to you about marriage stuff. Um, do you mean like, do I bring to him like the stuff that Larry and I talk about or like what I'm doing in the gym to talk to, to him about? Yeah. So for example, I think it's valuable for people to have an outlet at home, right? So whether it's a spouse or a friend or whoever, that you can say, Oh, I'm doing this. And I felt great today. Isn't that amazing?

Besides the coach to tell you that you did a great job. So were you and your husband having conversations like that along the way? Um, yeah. And they definitely, in the beginning, it was more frustrating conversations and it was more so me being frustrated like why can't i do a five pound high pull like i used to be able to clean x amount of weight like this is ridiculous um wait what's x amount um i could clean i think it was 190 pounds was my pr surgery number one brit is yote all right that's like what's that like 35 more pounds than you oh get the fuck yourself 40 that is not more than me okay so um let's let's we're gonna stop bullying all right and we're gonna get back to britney here so at what point um did your husband notice did he ever say anything to you that he noticed your mindset changing that you were going from the why can't i to look what i can

that's a great question um i don't know the answer to that um i mean he definitely we've had conversations like recently where he kind of talks about like how i was back then to how i am now but i don't really know if there was like a point where like there was a flip or he he was like oh hey like you switched starting you know today or two weeks ago or whatever right um i think it was really kind of i don't know like i would come home from the gym like really happy and excited rather than saying awful things and being frustrated and and being in a worse mood than i started when i before i went there i'm sure that that was relieving on the relationship yes absolutely absolutely okay so you've been with us now for like a year yep and we're still not at a hundred percent

nope um how close to a hundred percent would you say we are oh god um my 100 percent oh my gosh i don't i don't even know um nowhere near where i want to be. Um, but so far from where I came from, I, I feel like if I put that in a different context, I feel like I have made like a 500% improvement from where I was last September to where I am today. Um, but I'm not going to settle for that. And I want like a 5,000% improvement from where I am today to where I want to go. Um, yeah. So, so, so a question to go with that, let's first start by creating some context. What would, what would, what would represent complete success? What would be that 5,000% for you? What would it look like? Um, that's funny that you asked me that because if you asked me that question six months ago,

I would have told you, I want to be able to clean 190 pounds again, or I want to be able to snatch, you know, whatever my old snatch was. And I can't wait to throw 300 pounds and squat that again, but I could honestly give a shit about the numbers now to me. It's just, um, I want to just prove to myself that I can do this and I want to, I don't, I mean, yes, I would love to, to be able to dance with the barbell again, as, as I say, like, but it's bigger than that to me. Like to me's I don't know it's it's so hard to put into words like what that looks like but it it's just having the mental capacity to say like oh there's pain here it's totally fine like it's fine because this is what we're gonna do to fix it and knowing that it's not the end of the world and that i'm not going to go into a downworld spiral again and that it's not

going to affect my relationship and my job and my friendships and and and me like i mean i i don't know i don't really know how to answer that question all right i think one thing that britney's that britney's learned and and i'm only saying this and that I've learned about Brittany is that she's realizing that there are two ways to win. And the first is being able to do the same things with less and less pain over time or reporting a similar amount of discomfort, but performing at a much higher level. And, and she's done both. And so both of those happen for her regularly. And so for her, it's always like, Hey, it's, it's a back and forth and kind of constant reevaluation of what's more important and what's more exciting and what's more valuable to you. Um, and that's always gotta be the conversation. And I think both are valuable and she's done a really good job of kind of appreciating both of those wins, if that makes

sense. Yeah, totally. So Brittany, can you provide some imagery, if you will, for the listeners as to what you can do now? Because before the images, brushing teeth is is hard putting deodorant on is a definite no-go and pulling up the jeans well let's just say we're better off in sweatpants yeah so now what does you know we're recording this on a wednesday what is thursday gonna look like when you go to the gym, what, what, what can you do? Um, I can do 10 to 15 pound high pulls. Um, I can pull my pants up with no problem. Um, deodorant is put on every single day, twice a day now. Um, cause it's summer. Cause once in the morning, once before you work out, just trying to make up for lost time. Um, I am working with 25 pounds for pressing.

I'm about to start, um, a progression to actually get my pull-ups down. Um, working on static hold hangs. Um, yeah, I'm trying to think what else I'm doing. I mean, I'm dancing with weight now that I thought was going to be like maybe impossible ever again. I never thought that I would be in the double digits, let alone 20 pounds, 25 pounds. And to some people that might not sound like a lot, but that's fucking huge. So you're talking about with the pressing. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So I think that the, the logical next question is what makes you confident? Cause I mean, you just sent an email. I should have had it up. I should have been ready to read it about how you knew once this thing started going that you were going to be a lifer working with us.

Now, I appreciate that, by the way. You're a year down the line and there's still a ton of stuff that you would love to be able to do that currently is not something that you're able to do physically. What makes you confident that you're, you're working with the right coach, with the right company, given that you've come so far, but there's still so far that you still want to go and everyone else told you you needed surgery again. I mean, there's a ton of ways I could answer that. But I think the fact that, that Sean, you answered my call on labor day, like you stepped away from your family and your friends and your kids to take my call and um that to me it blew my socks off and Larry did very something very similar around um the holidays where he was on vacation with his family I think

it was a Saturday night and 6 30 at night and he talked to me for an hour, hour and a half. So to me, it's kind of bigger than like, what's physically going on. But like, you guys are there for your clients when your clients really need you. And you I don't know, you guys like put your heart and soul into this. And physically, I like I said, I never could have imagined going from a half pound high pole to a 15 pound high pole. And so what's going to happen in a year? What's going to happen in two years and three years and five years? And what else more can I learn about not only my physical state, but like my mental state and emotional state of like, like how I don't know how tough I, I, I really am. Um, Yeah. Well, let's talk, let's talk about what's going to happen in a year, two, three,

because I think it starts not like it already started with you, but now you've come to a workshop. You enrolled yourself in our immersion course. Yes. Were you coaching before you worked with us? I was. Yeah. Okay. But I took a little bit of a hiatus because of everything that was going on with my shoulder. I really hadn't coached in probably about a year. Okay. So what made you want to take the workshop? What made you want to take the immersion course? And what do you plan to do with that education now going forward? I just – I want to tell the world about you guys. But you can do that without those courses and I appreciate that you're the evangelist that you are for us. But why spend all that extra money getting all that education when – why?

What's the value for you um because i wanted to know more so the why and how this is working and kind of the thought process behind it more so than like what larry was giving me as the coach um you know he's answered all of my questions but i feel like i could i mean unless he wants to be on the phone with me for three hours a day, answering all the questions, there's just, there's not enough time. Um, but I want to learn it for myself. I want to learn it firsthand and not through my coach to then not only be able to advocate for you guys and how you changed my life, but also learn the, the things that I need to learn in order to potentially save someone else from the pain and the trauma and the downward spiral that they are either in or headed in in their own life. I wished so bad that I could go back three years ago. However, whenever it was two years ago, um, and said yes on that first call. And I wish that I never had surgery. Cause I think that was

one of the biggest mistakes I ever made in my life. But now sitting here today, I also think at the same time, it was one of the best really bad, like don't give up and it can go from being bad to really good in a really short period of time, as long as you're dedicated to it and you have the right people in your corner. And sometimes those people aren't friends and family. That definitely helps, but sometimes you need an outside perspective looking in to be able to kind of call you on your own bullshit. Well, I mean, I think that it can go really bad to pretty good in a snap once you change your perspective on what really good looks like.

Yeah. And, um, where did I want to go with that? You said something that sparked my interest. Um, but I mean, like, that's exactly what we hope for. You know, we hope to be able to help somebody in such a profound way that you then are inspired to take up the job of doing that for other people. So, I mean, you're the perfect person to be on this show. So what was it that you're now getting the education in the immersion course? And for people who don't know, our immersion course is a 13-week long intense live online course where there's a test every week, there's application every single week,

and you're learning how to assess and correct for people. And three of those weeks are spent learning how to sell and communicate your value. I tell the story in the first sales call with everybody in the immersion course of me failing to sign Brittany up the first time that we spoke. And the fact that I just forgot about it. That was the end. I felt bad about pushing you even harder to sign up, Brittany. I was like, you know what? Whatever.

It's not going to work. And a year later when we talked again and I understood that it was now two – like you did need the other surgery. We couldn't help you yet because it was a third call. It was call, a year later, call again It was call a year later, call again. And then six months later, call again. That second call, I lost sleep for like a week. I'm not kidding. My wife had to explain to me that it's not my fault that you didn't sign up the first

time. It's not my fault that you needed to get surgery again. It's not my fault that you're having these issues at home, that I did everything that I could. She literally needed to convince me of that. And I explained this to people when we explained to them how and when to sell something to somebody who is in their own way of getting the help that they need. And it was, it was, it was wild giving that talk this week to the group, knowing that you were going to hear it. Yeah. Um, Larry told me that when him and I were talking about immersion and I thought he was just kind of blowing smoke. I was like, you're just saying that to like, that's not a real story, whatever. And then unfortunately, I wasn't on the call because I ever think that I would be an example for not just one

person, but in this case, I think it's 16 people who are taking this immersion course. So, um, it's pretty awesome. And Brittany, you're, you're making some professional moves with this. Yeah. Yeah. So I wonder if that has anything to do with the three weeks since. Oh yeah. Yeah. I almost forgot about, I was going to wrap up. I almost forgot about that.

Tell me about the three weeks since the workshop. It has everything to do with those three weeks. Um, so on where it's Wednesday, um, on Monday, I made the executive decision to give my notice at work. Um, I don't have a job lined up other than

the fact that I'm going to grind and, and make, make this different. Um, you know, it, my job wasn't somewhere that I was happy with anymore. Um, and it re I realized that I truly wasn't happy there. It had nothing to do with my me and my physical or emotional pain. Um, and I just said, enough's enough. Like I can't do this anymore. I'm better than this. I'm scared shitless. Um, but this isn't, this isn't good for me. And, um, Larry and I were actually exchanging emails. I believe it was like a week ago. Cause I was having shoulder pain again. And we just kind of thought like, all right, it's a little bit too much. You need to deload, relax, take it easy. And realized very quickly that my pain was a direct correlation to the stress in my life,

which the stress in my life right now is currently work. So I said, fuck that. My shoulder is more important. I'm not going to deal with this. So I'm out. Damn. And you got, you got a really exciting email recently from someone, didn't you? Yes, I did. It's good to be of Larry on this show. I don't know any of these things. Um, that was actually the same day. It was about three hours after, um, I gave my notice at work that I got an email. Um, I'm training as a client of mine, one of my coworkers, and he must have been talking to, um, somebody at his gym, but the director of operations at the gym local that I've never even heard of said, you know, we've heard all about you. Your client has been doing amazing.

He's been sticking to his workouts. He's having huge progress and it's only been two weeks. Love to work with you to see how we can help you develop your business, but then also to see how I can help them develop their business and serve their clients better so yeah that's a good wow that is a good that's full circle right there that is awesome oh that makes me so happy it may like i mean no one can see but i'm like i have this massive shit-eating grin on right now because like I mean that's like that's everything you know that's the whole thing it's it's somebody is in a place of need can we solve that need yes great do it then they get that need solved for them so well that they're inspired to do it for

other people and in your case gain so much personal empowerment that you just said, fuck it to the job that was making you unhappy. You connected the dots between emotional and mental stress to physical pain. And you just set out to do what you really want to do. And immediately the world started knocking at your door. Yep. And I, uh, haven't told Larry this yet,

but this is, so this is news to the whole world because this just happened last night. I have another meeting on Saturday with another gym owner that's local in the area to discuss kind of the same thing. Let's go. So, yeah. I just picture a bunch of like bulldogs and pit bulls trying to pull at a rope and that rope is Brittany and she's like, I'll go whoever pulls the hardest. Yep. Or, guys, you can each have a rope. It's fine. That's true. And people, I want listeners to know also before you bought the immersion or no, you had already bought the immersion.

It was before you came to the workshop. We talked me, Larry, and you and your husband, Brittany about you jumping onto our pro path, which is like the highest level of education that we provide to coaches and business owners right now. And we all agreed together that it wasn't the right time for you to do it yet, that we needed to really solidify you as a coach first. And then in time, once you found your stride, that might be an option for you. So I'm thrilled to hear that right now you're finding your stride, that you're going to have a place that you're going to be able to do it, that you're going to'm thrilled to hear that right now you're finding your stride, that you're going to have a place that you're going to be able to do it, that you're going to be able to build. And that quite frankly, even if that place ends up going to shit, uh, you're going to be mentally strong enough to

handle it and figure out the next step. That's what's most exciting. Yeah. I love it. So Brittany, any last, uh, thoughts that people who are going to be listening to this need to be taking home with them i want you let me give you a reframe i want you to imagine you are talking to somebody like you from two years ago what do they need know? And I'm not asking you for a commercial. I'm just asking you to help Brittany from two years ago. Not just don't give up. If you know deep down that something isn't right, as far as like whatever the pain or discomfort that you're experiencing,

find someone who is determined to help you as long as they are able to help you and find someone who is honest. Um, someone who's not afraid to say no, or I'm sorry, or we made a mistake and we have to back up. Um, but you know, I, but like, find your motivation to, find your motivation to make that step and pull that trigger to, to get out and make a change in your life and believe that it really, it really can happen. I think once people kind of change their mindset and believe that it can happen, and they're not going to be this way forever, that's when the big things happen and the big moves are made. So, yeah. I love that. And I didn't ask you this before the show,

so I hope I'm not putting you on the spot too much. But if there are people who are listening to this and they're like, man, I don't know how to find that motivation. How did you find it, Brittany? Can they reach out to you? Oh my gosh. Yes, absolutely. 100%. Night and day. I don't care. It's now my life's mission to say, you know, this is where I was and this is where I came from. And sometimes all you need is one person. Like you don't need an army. You just need sometimes one person to, to hold your hand and help walk out of the dark with you. Um, and I think that's the biggest piece of it is that, um, sometimes you do need someone to do it with you. And I think sometimes you need to check your ego at the door

and not think that, you know know all the answers and you you can do this um everybody needs everybody needs somebody or something so lean on the people who want you to lean on them and god damn i want people to lean on me britney where can people find you great question question. I am on Instagram and Facebook. You had to ask me what my Instagram handle is, and I don't know what it is off the top of my head. I can look you up. On Facebook, it's Brittany Stevens.

But on Instagram, I think it's B133M. Perfect. I think it's B133M. Perfect. I think is what it is. Brittany is an avid Instagrammer, as you can tell. I know. That's like a downfall. I love social media, but I'm never active on my own social media.

So I have to get better at that. It's all good. Just tell people your story. You'll inspire a lot of people. All right. I'll never stop. Perfect. I love you for coming on.

I wish that you lived closer. We would be fucking hanging out all the time. I told Derek that we might have to, uh, to move to New York after the workshop. I was like, man, there's so much more information. I have so many questions.

I want to learn everything. I just want to hang out with them all day well bring it bring it down one time i will i definitely will yeah we know two good pizza places and dr ray has no idea what he's talking about we'll take you to the better one yeah and i already told him too when you guys are in boston doing your workshops i'll come down for a drink and dinner say hi whatever deal it's funny that she decides to come down to meet us for a drink when she knows that we're going to be taking everyone out for one yeah sure very convenient yeah very convenient yeah when hey whenever you're doing a workshop i'll come i'll go out for a drink with you guys of course you will we take the whole workshop out for a drink by the way name another company that does that. Everyone who attends the workshop gets to come to happy hour on the company.

Nobody. Ain't nobody doing that. All right. I'm going to wrap this puppy up. Larry, I appreciate your attendance on this call. You brought some real important perspective and value. Brittany, I think you probably saved at least one person's life. And I was happy to be able to facilitate this conversation.

So thank you guys so much for coming on. Thank you both. That's going to be a wrap for this episode of Active Life Radio on the Shrugged Collective Network. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please head to wherever you listen to podcasts and leave us a five-star rating as well as a great review. If you really love this episode,

make sure you're sharing it with the people who need to hear it. Value unshared is value wasted. And of course, if you're looking to get more from us, whether it's coaching courses, one-on-one coaching from one of our staff members to help you get out of pain without going to the doctor or missing the gym, head to ActiveLifeRx.com slash shrugged. We'll see you then.

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