Shaun Newman Podcast - #291 - Erin Baker
Episode Date: July 20, 2022She was chosen in Edify’s Top 40 under 40 class of 2020, she's spent 15 years studying the art of movement around the world and is the founder of True Movement. Let me know what you think Text me 58...7-217-8500 Support here: https://www.patreon.com/ShaunNewmanPodcast
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C.A. She was chosen and identifies top 40 under 40 class of 2020. She spent 15 years
studying the art of movement around the world and is the founder of True Movement. I'm talking
about Aaron Baker. So buckle up. Here we go. My name is Aaron Baker with True Movement and welcome
to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. I'm out in the field today with
Aaron Baker from True Movement. So first off, Aaron, thanks for hopping on. Thank you for having me.
Now, I'm going to guess my audience is like me and has no idea what True Movement is, but first off,
certainly doesn't know who Aaron Baker is. So, Aaron, can you give us a little bit of your background?
And we'll just dive in from there. Yes, absolutely. So I was born in Barhead, Alberta, which is a small
town about an hour from here. And after high school, I went to Redger College, or I started at Nate,
started with my business diploma
and marketing and then I transferred to
RDC and finished
my business degree
there and then I studied
movement globally
for probably about 10 years.
What does that mean? What does it mean to
study movement globally?
Are we talking yoga? What are we
talking movement? No, so there's so many different
movement methods out there
but my greatest passion
was that I wanted to be able to
continuously exercise. Fitness has always
been a part of my life. But I wanted to make sure that I was setting myself up for success to
take as much pain out of my body as I could. So I thought, how can I have the greatest
longevity for fitness, but do it in a really smart way that I wasn't going to hit pain point
sooner than I had to. So I originally started in Pilates. So I went to many different places,
probably for about five or six years studying Pilates.
And I appreciated it.
So every method that I've studied,
I appreciated the principles and the intentions behind it,
but I was always craving more.
So with Pilates, I appreciated the stability focus
and that foundational start.
So teaching people right from the basics on how to stabilize.
But I wanted more from that because I thought,
well, once you're really strong on center,
it's a little boring.
like there has to be more to movement than this.
So then I started studying gyrotonic and gyarcinesis,
traveled to the states and over to the UK a lot for that.
Jirtonic, like, I'm...
Yeah, it's very foreign unless you're in that movement world,
but needless to say, it was more mobility focused.
So it was very, you know, you moved around off center
and it was basically the opposite of what I had learned in Pilates,
which is what I appreciated.
I really like when different,
perspectives come to the table. It makes us have to think and it makes you have to
wonder why you're different or how like why was I constantly searching for other ways to learn
aside from I believe it's important to learn from different people with different perspectives.
But I could see how it evolved over, you know, the course of a decade and how I wanted my brand
to be different and how I really looked at the body differently. Most movement backgrounds like
this, they're women-based. They're usually come from a dance background. So I was always the
tightest one in these courses because I definitely love volleyball and basketball and baseball, but not
a dance background. So I was always, I always had that, um, that tightness to my body. So I didn't
really relate to other people that were on those trainings. But I, but that was okay because we're in
the land of tight hamstrings in North America and there was a huge demographic here. And I just,
I was looking at people's bodies differently,
and I knew that my message was going to be different
than anything that was out there right now
and how I wanted true movement to represent its message
in the movement industry.
Remind me about tight high-strings here in a bit if I forget.
I want to go, you go and study movement for like a five, six year,
15-year period.
Yeah.
You mentioned that, you know,
you didn't want to have pain in your joints.
and everything like that.
I'm just, I'm really curious.
At a young age was that,
how did you stumble into that?
Because you didn't go to school.
I was expecting you went to school for it,
but you didn't go to school for it.
No, I went to school for business.
I actually, which serves its purpose now.
So I see how it all comes together.
But I was an avid fitness person.
So when you put that much wear and tear on your body,
pain just finds you a little bit sooner in different ways.
So you have some people that don't move very much.
and then they have, you know, their feedback is I walk up the stairs and my knees hurt,
or I have to take an Advil to go to bed because my hips hurt because they don't really move in the day.
Then you have the complete opposite with athletes, obviously even more athletic than me because now we work with professional athletes.
So you've got me a regular person who just loves to work out.
And then you have professional athletes, they dramatically speed up the wear and tear on their body.
So it's like all of these people came together completely different walks of life.
and fitness levels, but they were all experiencing the same pain points and they were all giving
me the same feedback. So the true movement method and how we've grown has really just organically
evolved over time. Yeah, well, it isn't, I guess it doesn't, what's cool about it is like seeing
different perspectives. I think that's, you know, if that isn't the podcast, I don't know what it
is, right? Right. Like that's what all these different conversations, they had different perspectives
on many different subjects ranging from sports to health.
to politics and everywhere in between.
But the different perspectives on any issue is really interesting.
When I come back to this pain thing, I'm going,
what you're talking about now, like enacting it is really interesting.
And I want to get there, but I still want to drag you back to when you first started.
I'm like, so you're an avid, like, I was an avid athlete, you know,
played hockey all my life and had certain pains and everything else.
my brain never went uh let's figure this problem all did you have a bad injury then and then
we're just like i got to figure this out or you were you know you said you're an avid um fitness person
where you just like working out so hard that you're like man like i can't seem to do these things
after i hit a certain point i wonder if there's ways around it no you know it was almost neither
of those like i just i almost looked at it from a preventative part so i didn't have a serious
injury where I had to really dial it down and rehab myself, but I wanted to make sure I never
got to that point. So it was almost from my perspective was very prehab, very preventative maintenance
so that I'm not having to solve this problem later or being forced to solve this problem. You don't have a
torn PCL and you're going now, how the heck do I move around? Right. We would try and prevent that.
Hmm, that's interesting. I just find the entire process of how people get into, you know, like you're 15 years
into this now, right? 15? Yeah.
Like, so you've had a good stretch of your life where you've been now like
analyzing. Yes.
How movement works and how it can be preventative to ensure that the wear and tear
doesn't become serious injuries. Yes, absolutely. And it's movement is an ongoing thing.
Like, we're always learning more. Um, it's, it's really about crafting. Because I get this,
this asked all the time about how true movement's different from other movement. And they're just
trying to decipher those types of things. It's really about your message with your movement and how
you want to help that person. So that's why when you have all of these different methods,
it's all about how they speak to their client. And I feel like that's where true movement really
differed was when I studied other methods, I appreciated what I learned, but the message wasn't
how I wanted to give my message. So what is your message then?
like I felt with the true moot method I wanted my message to be how do we how do we help people live without pain so how do we teach them to think about their bodies differently how do we educate them to think about how they move differently with the ultimate goal of them being able to live a happier life because they're not in pain nobody wants to live in pain it's horrible to wake up with the stiff back and stiff knees and tight hips and so I really wanted it to be crystal clear and how we wanted to help them and then when we
worked when I built out true movement, there were always three things that I went back to.
And it was restoring posture, increasing mobility, and enhancing performance.
And I feel like the true movement method is one of the only movement methods that looks out
all three of those.
So when I studied movement, you know, we're talking about globally for so long, they each
focused on one thing.
And I felt, well, if we're only focusing on one thing, once they kind of graduate from that
learning curve, they're going to have to go learn something else because you're at some point
you're going to plateau. So for us, even when I teach the certifications, we, we teach the teacher
through assessments that we've built out, but you have to be able to teach a client how to
stabilize. So restoring posture, bringing their body back to that most shock absorption position
for their joints. We see it all the time when you're looking at people walking the heads forward,
or they're really sticking their bum out there in that lordotic tilt or they're hunched over, right?
You look at kids nowadays when they're on their X-boxes. I can attest to that through my son.
They're just, they're hunched over. So we want to start by bringing their body back into that ideal
alignment, which is stability work. So it's all those tiny muscles around your bones that help
pull you back into an ideal alignment. Now once that happens, you have to go to the next phase.
So now we have to create space and length in their body,
but you're not forgetting about what you taught them in the foundational stage.
This is what really sets true movement apart from other methods out there,
is that we don't give up what we just learned,
but now we're going to teach you something totally different,
which almost contradicts what we just taught you,
because now we're going to teach you to move off center.
But if you think about it,
so if we're talking about athletes or just people,
even when you walk, you're catching yourself from falling forward,
every time you take a step.
With athletes, specifically hockey players,
as soon as they touch the ice,
they're never on their center.
You can't always train standing on your center
because it doesn't correlate to real life.
There's a place for posture and stabilization,
but then there's a huge place for mobility.
If you learn one without the other,
you really do yourself a disservice.
Like if you're only going to embrace one of those,
you have to learn both of them.
Then once we have that stable body
that also has length, then we focus on strength.
But the way I designed the machine, especially with the legwork, we can take gravity out
of the equation.
So where we talk about strength is in weight shifting because you absolutely strengthen
through weight shifting as well as resistance loading.
But when you put them on their back and you take gravity out of the equation, it allows
people to strengthen their legs without putting more pressure on their spine, knees, ankles,
etc.
What's it to the common person, we'll start there, or maybe it goes across the board, what's
the common problem we all have that?
Ooh, there's a few, there's a few common ones.
I would say back pain is a huge one.
Athletes is usually tight hips, but yeah, I would say tight hamstrings, spine hurts.
We do a lot of shoulder, a lot of shoulders.
a lot of shoulder work. It's actually a little bit of everything. Because if you think about it at the
end of the day, whether whatever age you are, whatever fitness level you are, we all have muscles,
we all have bones, we all have joints and nobody wants to live without pain. So biomechanically,
we all have to learn how to stabilize our spine and mobilize our spine. We all have to learn how to
activate our glutes, right? So that's why, that's what it's really neat. And I just love this about
just, you know, I'm so grateful for how true movements been able to help people.
because it really is all walks of life because we all have the same muscles, bones, and joints.
And we all have the same goal.
We all want to live a really healthy life without pain.
And whether you're a professional athlete or whether you're sitting at a desk all day
or whether you like to enjoy hikes, the goal is the same.
Yeah, I would agree with that.
I just, I guess from coming from an athlete's background to now having three kids and sitting,
at a desk and then, of course, the pandemic on top of that and everything else, right?
Right.
I'm not moving enough and everything like that.
I go, in your head, you assume that an athlete is peak condition, that they don't need to worry
about some of the wear and tear necessarily.
And yet, what I'm gathering is, but there is wear and tear, and they can be preventative
about that.
Yes, there's a lot of wear and tear, and they absolutely can be preventative.
And even you'll find like athletes right now, they have a really dialed in program.
So they, especially top athletes where this is your career, they do pay attention to that.
I mean, it's probably more paid attention to than people assume.
In 15 years, you've seen, I mean, yeah, probably 50.
Yeah, you've seen a giant change in athletes, specifically hockey.
I'm coming from a hockey background from almost summers off.
and I'm being a little bit general about that.
I mean, obviously, 15 years ago,
people were training through the summer.
But now it's like hockey year round, train year round.
Does that, have you noticed from a movement standpoint
that that not giving the body, I don't know,
and maybe I'm a little too old school when I say this,
but like a body a break, like just letting it go play a different sport even.
Have you seen in the movement world that that's really caused some issues?
That they haven't been.
Taking a break via summers or going to play, you know, like lots of kids now will play hockey year round.
So instead of having summers to play ball or what have you, right, dual sport athlete,
now they've become almost singly focused.
And I assume that's caused issues as well.
Probably because you're doing so much repetitive motion, like when you're doing the same
and not switching to those other sports, you know, probably a multi-sport athlete would be the best kind.
but just with what I've seen specifically just with what we're doing in the off season,
it's growing and growing and growing with hockey.
Well, that doesn't spread.
I mean, you're in hockey, the hockey.
And they're just doing hockey.
Like these athletes aren't going to play ball anymore or play soccer and those kind of things.
So from what I'm noticing, it's the hockey's just sticking to hockey.
What's the major issue with hockey players?
You mentioned hamstrings, hips.
Is that the main thing you're paying attention?
to then or is it just full body? Yeah, there's a few things. So we've got some specifics. We do a lot of
work. We work a lot with agents, coaches, skills coaches and those kinds of things. So one of our
focuses with a lot of players is helping increase their stride length. So we do a lot of stride work,
ankle work, knee work. It's actually really the range is wide on things that we're working. So we've
got some players, hockey players posture is very anterior tilted usually. So we do a lot of,
which would be all stability work. So we would do a lot of posture, pelvic work from a groin
prevention pulling perspective. So we do a lot of that hamstrings back. Because the thing is in
off season, that's when they come back in and they're really, well, I guess I shouldn't say all of them,
but some of them are really weight loading all summer.
So in that case, we've got athletes that will come in once or twice a week
and we're trying to offset all of the compression work that they've been doing.
So we're just trying to decrease all of the compression
so that they wake up ready to go back to do their program again.
And then we've got some guys that are coming four or five days a week.
And those are the ones that will do the explosive training, stride, stride improvement.
So getting more length in their stride.
huge focus we do on glute activation.
I found that hockey players are really quad dominant.
So they're overworking in the front of their bodies.
So feedback we would get is by the end of a shift,
they're rounded forward and their legs are just gas,
but their quads are gassed.
So one of the things we do is we work on widening and strengthening the back of their body
and really getting the glutes to activate so that the second they go on the ice,
the glute turns on and it's not the quad doing all the work.
So feedback we get instantly,
the guys will be like,
oh, I felt great.
Like I didn't get so tired.
I felt like I wasn't so heavy in my gear.
It's like, well, yeah, because now you're letting the back of your body help with the
movements and you're not doing so much wear and turn the front, which would go into
your knees if forces a lordosis and those sorts of things.
This is probably, I hate saying this over and over again, but whatever, I'll say it again.
It's probably a dumb question, but.
No dumb questions.
I don't know.
Some days I test the method.
I sit and I listen to that.
I go, I feel like if you were an athlete or anyone and started doing this, it'd almost be
imperceptible. And then if you pay attention, but if you're paying attention, you'd be like, I don't know
if I could ever go back to normal life again, like where you don't do this true movement,
because it would be perceptible. Like when you're talking about stride length and like changing,
you know, more coming from your glutes instead of your quads and things like that, I'm like,
to the converse and they're like, what? But to an athlete that's, you know,
trying to run at peak performance, that would probably be subtly noticeable.
Oh, absolutely.
Or would it be even more than that?
It's noticeable and it's noticeable very quickly.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
What do you mean quickly?
How quickly?
Like you can come in on one session and notice the difference.
Like we would have some guys that would come in specifically on a skate day and we'd be like,
come in and we would do lengthening, glute activation and then we'd say go skate and they
would message after and be like, I feel absolutely unreal.
I could tell the day.
difference. And there's there's some guys that pick up obviously not just them but people in general.
Like everyone's body awareness is different. So some people, you know, it might take one or two times
and the other and some just pick it up right away. But it's, it is true what you just said.
It's hard to leave it once you started doing it. I remember when I opened my first studio and it was
just me and I would, you know, if you had any kind of holiday, people were like, my back
stiffening up like you need to come back. Because when you take it out of your body,
like it really does become a way of life,
which is also why it has to be gentle on your body
because you're in there quite a bit.
But there's so much,
there is so much to teach people
that, you know,
just coming in once a week isn't enough.
Like there's so much to teach and show the progressions,
the modifications.
That's why I built out the business
and made the machines so that we can work with teams now.
Because then what I found was we'd have a really great off season.
We'd make all of this progress.
And then they would leave.
And then I wouldn't see them all season.
And then when they came back, it was like we were starting.
It was like ground holiday.
And it's like there's so much to teach you, but we'll never get there because we're
always starting back at square one again.
So that's why with the machines and the teams, we're really making a push to implement
the true movement method as an integral part of an athlete's training program.
So my goal has always been, I want the platform to be as recognized as a squat rack.
Like how much street credit squat rack has?
The platform needs to have that.
Lots.
Yeah.
Because from head to toe, whether you're focusing on strength, minimizing compression,
stability training, or lengthening, creating space, it can all be done in the true movement method.
There's different, sorry, where I'm going is you're staring at me like, I wonder what's going on in his head.
Lots.
Lots is going on here.
I'm wondering, you know, so much focus has been put on nutrition.
you know what you can put in your body can reduce inflammation and different pains and everything
like that uh can this remove the same thing that neutral or do you need or is it all like
the same kind of object i i hope i'm explaining this not so vaguely but you know like can you
take somebody who's a couch potato and they start doing this and they just instantly feel better
or is this something like where you need to have some of the pillars in place in order for it to
be like really beneficial. I definitely feel like we're one lane and nutrition is another lane.
So I feel like it goes back to when we're talking about, you know, these puzzle pieces of
training and how they're all nutrition would be one of those. So I feel like you would start to feel
better physically maybe a little bit. But if you were really wanting to make a change,
nutrition would be taught nutrition, sleep, water, all of that. Well, I'm chuckling because I'm
drinking a coffee and of course you're drinking water. And I'm like, I'm really putting myself at a
disservice here. Yeah, so it really is one of the quadrants to a pain-free lifestyle for sure.
You know, you've studied movement for a long time, you know? What was like, there had to have been a
light bulb moment where you're like, oh man, that is cool. You know, you talk about all the different
disciplines. Yeah. But, you know, was it just one from each? And as soon as you realize there was
nuggets in all the different disciplines, you're like, I just got to go find the nugget? Or did you, you know,
like you developed out a business plan of like this is what it's going to be.
It's going to try and take all these disciplines we're going to work on more than just one
pillar.
Right.
Was there a light bulb moment in there?
Or you're like, ooh.
I feel like it probably, I don't know if there was one or there were a bunch that came over
time.
This is where my business background really came in, that entrepreneurial side that I have
where I always knew that I wanted to create.
And I felt like, I really believe that sometimes you have to study other things to realize
why you're different as well. So when I study different methods and had those, you know,
those key nuggets that I really liked, I would appreciate it. And then something would happen
where I would go, oh, this isn't exactly where I want to be. Like I find out with movement methods,
everyone really sticks to their own. So they're saying, this is the way. It's this way. And then
I would go to another one and they'd say it's this way. And I always thought, well, you're both
correct. It just depends on what your client needs. There's,
there's beauty and value in all of what you guys are saying,
but if you're constantly putting each other on a side of the fence,
you're never going to meet those goals,
because you might come in with a stiff spine.
So I want to work on mobility,
but someone else might come in with back pain,
and then after assessing them,
I realize they have a really weak core,
now I have to focus on stability.
So it's like, who's to say your way is the right way?
I feel like it's almost like a UFC fighter, right?
Like they have to train on a ground game.
But then, I mean, in UFC, they can also stand up and absolutely deliver knockout blows, right?
So there's multiple disciplines that have to go into an athlete.
And that's evolved to where it is now.
And when I hear you talking about it, it's interesting because you're so right.
Like, I really enjoy a squat rack.
I really enjoy certain movements.
But that probably is, you know, as good as it is, for the first.
for a lot of things, probably by not being stretching and doing, you know, something like this,
I'm probably opening myself up to different, well, I got horrendous flexibility. I don't know what
that equates to long term. You should probably come into the studio then for a session.
Are you coming to Lloyd?
Yes.
Are you? Yes, in September.
You're coming in Lloyd in September. Like opening in-
True movement is opening in Lloyd in September. Really?
Yes. So now you have no excuse.
I really have no excuse.
That's going to be open to the public then, not just like specific to athletes or anything?
Yeah, it'll be open to the public.
Really?
Yeah, it's exciting.
So that's part.
They'll be the first license studio.
So we're launching our license studio model now because then that was the other roadblock.
I mean, this is again, when we talk about how it just organically evolves because we had people
reaching out saying, oh, I wish I was in Emmonton or do you have a studio here or here.
So then it rolled into the next phase of the business plan.
So it's just, I mean, it's been so fun being able to.
to scale and grow and have other people in other cities doing true movement and being on the
platform how many how many are you just we just started so we are here and then lloyd's going to open
um we've had we've have about five other studios applying right now and it's just by word of mouth we
haven't actually publicized that we're about to open in other cities but we are which is well
in September i know where i'll be heading but then you know i feel like if i get a taste of it only like
Now how do I...
It's very addicting.
Well, I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
It's a good thing.
There's no better feeling than having no pain.
Hmm.
Well, right now my knee is sore, but I do have a torn PCL, so...
Right.
Physio.
Lots and lots of physio right now.
Yes.
And then when physio gives you the green light for other things, that's when you'd come.
Which is actually the other angle.
That's why we work really well with practitioners.
My first studio was in Red Deer, and that's how we really grew, was physios and car
factors started saying referrals to us.
So we would definitely want them to give you the green lights and then we would take you.
Is this a poor, like in your movement studies, did you study a lot of yoga?
No.
No.
Nope.
I didn't.
Really?
Yes.
Why is that?
I don't know.
I just felt, I was more interested in the biomechanics.
So I wanted less of the, and actually I shouldn't even speak for a yoga because I really don't know anything about it.
But I went more to like the anatomy, physio injury, rehabilitation, biomechanical side.
So I haven't studied anything.
Well, then I got to stop saying when somebody asked me where I was going today.
I was like, oh, I'm going to talk to, of course, Aaron with true movement.
And I was like, and they're like, well, what's that?
And I'm like, oh, it's like, I feel like it's yoga for athletes, but I probably shouldn't say that.
No, nope.
Not yoga.
Huh, I would have thought for sure in movement.
See, this is the other interesting, sorry.
No, no, no, no.
This is the other interesting thing.
Welcome to podcasting.
Because the thing is, there is, there might be movements in the true movement method.
That might be in yoga.
For example, a downward dog, right?
So it's like, I think, again, it's how yoga would have a different message
and how they teach those things and the intention behind it,
which might be different than how we're teaching it with our intention.
But again, both are correct.
It's both a downward dog.
It's both a long spine, right?
So that's where it's always interesting and confusing at the same time with movement methods.
It looks like yoga.
It looks like Pilates.
It's like those are biomechanics, right?
So no one can claim the squat is theirs.
But it's how do you teach the squat and how do you deliver the information to your client to do the squat,
which is what makes you unique?
And I feel like that's all.
Giving the people the building block.
so that they can slowly work up and have perfect form for the different activities that you're teaching
that eventually alleviate all the pain.
Yes, absolutely.
And it really comes,
and I really feel that's why true movement,
we're having so much fun with the athletes,
because there's something,
I always wanted the,
I wanted the brand and just the feel to be very light.
It's very simple.
It's to the point,
when you come in the studio,
it's very colorful,
it's very friendly,
it's very non-intimidating.
it's it's about delivering the information in the simplest way possible that that the person can hear you and execute that exercise.
So we're very careful to not to not overextend what we're trying to say, right?
Just keep it simple and just get to the point and get them to understand how to do this movement.
I feel like a lot of times, especially in competitive markets such as movement or strength and conditioning in those things, people start really getting competitive with their vocabulary, which I
get is great, but it's your client is not your physio. So it's important that you're,
you're teaching them at a level that they just need to know. They don't really need to know,
like physios and I could talk about those, but to the client, just get to the point. Just tell
them exactly what to do, which will help them feel better and move better. It's just, it's very
direct and it's simple. And I feel like that's really important because when you're moving on a
machine or a not on machine if we're doing mat work, it can be overwhelming. And it just,
and it's different than what they've known. They're used to, like you were saying,
the squat racks and other things. So you got to keep the learning curve simple. Otherwise,
if it's confusing, nobody would do it. You can't have it confusing. Yeah, well, and the thing
is, is there's tons of options, right? We bring up the squat rack a lot. But it feels like,
if you want to strengthen condition, there's a whole plethora of options.
Athletes are turning to different ways to ensure their body doesn't break down on them.
Because I mean wear and tear, as much as when I was an athlete, I was at my peak performance
or whatever the terminology is, right?
Like when I was, you know, just at the, you know, high end of my abilities,
I still broke, I still had injuries specifically with my knees, actually, playing lots of hockey.
I mean, it's physical and everything else.
I seem to wreck the one knee in particular, the one that's wrecked again.
And it's curious, you work with a lot of hockey players?
Yes.
You mentioned pros as well, yes?
Yes.
Anybody that I should know?
Oh, there's probably a lot that you know.
Well, what's some of the high-end guys?
What's some of the things that you see them dealing with?
Not to get too specific.
Right.
For the high-end, it's more about maintenance.
So in season, we would always, you know, talk about the resetting those movement patterns.
I mean, your bodies go through so much trauma in games in season.
So a lot of it is offsetting the trauma around your joints throughout the games.
So lots of mobility work in season, probably more than strength work.
But we have done some strength work because, again, we can get away with it because there's no compression.
So they don't need a recovery after you're doing jumps or legwork and stuff.
But in season, more of a mobility focus just to avoid as many injuries as possible.
So it's got an injury prevention focus on that.
And then off season, we just do everything.
do you see a difference in what's the youngest age group you work with you know it's funny we
started this year with i believe nine year olds or 10 year olds more stressful for me those went to
other teachers i couldn't handle it um but they they're coming in a lot younger so we just have
to be careful with the machine because there's a there's a lot of moving parts on that machine so
um but with the littles there's more of a stability focus
because they're so hyper-mobile when they're that young,
that that's why we can work with them when they're that young,
because there's so much we can teach them that they should learn now.
And I mean thinking, if you're going to learn this at 9 or 10,
you're just going to be so set when you become a teenager
and then you start adding on the weights
because you're so dialed in on your foundation and your stability.
Well, that's an interesting view you'd have
because, I mean, I don't know, I can ask when you were not.
And I can certainly remember when I was nine.
I wasn't worried about stability or any of that.
Right.
I was certainly active, playing lots of sports and everything else.
But the maintenance, as you say, I don't know.
Did anybody talk like that back then?
I mean, I'm talking early 90s.
Nobody talked about it.
Right.
Do you see a little bit of a shift in the mentality from the little ones to even the pro athletes?
Are you starting to see like this is becoming a big chunk of the culture?
is you really got to pay attention to your body, so to speak?
Yes, absolutely.
And I believe it helped because with our marketing,
they're seeing the older players in there,
so then they're wanting to come in younger.
But maybe that gets them in the door the first time,
but then they actually start learning and then they understand the value of it.
But yeah, especially if your goals are to be a hockey player when you're older
or a volleyball player or anything,
If you want to be a pro athlete, you're seeing what everyone else is doing and you're understanding that you have to keep up to that level and this is what that level is turning into.
It's always, I'm always mind-blown when I see the little guys come in because maybe they don't retain information as well as a pro.
They are sponges.
Yeah, it's a little different when they, I think it's funny when they first started, I think they thought the machines were more of a jungle gym.
so they definitely love that side of it.
So we rained them in a little bit.
And now, and, you know, it's gotten a lot better.
But they just, they see what it takes.
They see what the, you know, some of the best hockey players in the world are doing.
And that's, if that's where they want to, if that's who they want to follow,
then they're going to be doing the things that these pros are doing.
Are your machines, you know, when you bring up machines, I wish we would,
now in thinking this through, I should have totally, you know, space my time properly.
I could have actually gone into true movement and seen.
everything you have there. Are your machines different? Like you mentioned the different.
Yes. Are they completely different than. Yeah, there are designs. So we design and manufacture
them in Poland. Yeah. So because the other thing, so when I study different methods,
they all had their own machine. Most methods have their own machine. But again, when we were
talking before, they were usually designed more like we were saying for women shorter, lighter.
whereas I've got some goalies that are six foot seven.
You mean you got some big hockey players?
There are some tall guys.
Yes.
I mean,
we've got players that are six foot seven.
And if they're jumping,
A, your machine has to be durable enough.
It needs to be able to hold them.
So I really,
when I designed this machine,
there was a huge focus on having it look very masculine,
especially because we were growing so much in pro male sports,
that it looks very industrial.
And it actually looks aesthetically similar to a squat rack.
And I did that on purpose because I wanted the platform to be able to plop right down in the
middle of a training center and it holds its own.
Can you, I'm, I'm, you got to design a machine is what you're saying.
Yes.
Yes.
And my engineer is in Poland.
So did you go over to Poland and like get to like pick away or is this something done
through Zoom?
Well, you know what's funny is I couldn't because the borders were closed because of COVID.
so I couldn't go over and beta test it.
So we sent a batch over here.
So last summer, two summers ago was our beta testing.
So it's actually all the hockey players and clients, yes, that's it.
So all the hockey players and clients basically tested it out.
So when they came in, we said, you know, break what you can and let's see what doesn't work.
And they broke a lot of things and we changed a lot of things.
and now we're rolling.
Now you got me curious for September
because I'm like,
well, now I'm going to have to come in
and see what it's all about.
I think a lot of people are,
because now you got me stuck in my phone
and I shouldn't be doing that.
I just, when I hear of the machine
looking like a squat rack,
I'm like, okay, I got to remember this, you know.
For the listener, I forgot some of my materials.
I brought the most important things,
but I forgot all my notes sitting in the studio
and Lloyd. This is what happens when you travel with the podcast. Some days, you're genius and other
days. You just wing it. Well, you just wing it. You know, I put all the pressure on Aaron to be what
Aaron is. That's all right. I actually feel like it's better when it's not planned. Well,
in fairness to the podcast, there's always a cheat sheet, but this is what it is. Right. I mean, if it isn't,
you're asking when we first start, well, what, you know, and you'd be the, about 300th person to do the
exact same thing in your chair and it takes you know a few minutes of being in here to get oh this is what
it's going to be this isn't so bad this is great yeah this is the way um my wow this is this is what
uh lights up my life so to speak like you you you get uh passionate about uh movement and reducing pain
i really enjoy talking to people and i really enjoy hearing um how they uh you know what
gives them purpose one but also how they found it right like that's why
I go back to, when you talk about kind of going through the different movement programs,
I'm like, oh, that's interesting because I'm like, but why did you do that, right?
Like, because you, you know, I'm sorry, I'm going all the way back to the start.
For me, going into podcasting, being in talk radio or radio in general has always been something
I was interested in.
And then I heard my first podcast and went, holy,
Dinah. I can do that. And actually, I could do it with a full-time job and everything else, right? It can be that
kind of like after hours, before hours kind of thing. And so when you talk about movement, I'm just like,
I'm in movement sports, you know, I've done, I've done all half the stuff you've talked about. I've
tried, and with hockey teams, we tried it. But I never ever once went, ooh, I really like this. I'm
going to stick with this, except for the squat rack. I really enjoyed the squat rack. And so I come back
to some of the fun things about the podcast and getting to talk and converse with people.
is seeing how they stumble into true movement, right?
How you, how you, how is it that movement,
all of a sudden you're like, this is it.
I really enjoy this.
I really feel like it has to do with branding.
And it has, and I spend a lot of time learning about it from the client's eyes.
Like what would make them appreciate coming into the studio?
What is the experience going to be like when they come into your studio?
When, when if they walked out of your studio and ran into someone
on the street. How are they going to feel? How are they going to feel? So I felt like a lot of,
I feel like that's actually a missing piece in a lot of brands and companies is there's not enough
looking at your brand and your business from the eyes of your client. Sometimes we get caught up too
much and we'll, I want to do this for them and I want to do that for them. Instead asking what do they
actually want? Would they like that? How do they, how do they, like I say to my teachers all the time,
your client needs to leave every session feeling successful,
but you have to recognize that success looks different to every single person.
Sometimes they just want a shoulder to talk to you, right?
They've had a bad day and while they're moving and you're taking them through the program,
the more important piece was the human connection.
It was the mental health.
Yes.
Some people come in.
They don't want to talk.
They had a hard day.
They want to hammer through their program because their knees hurt.
So there's so much value in the quality of the teacher.
that's actually where most of the work comes in is making the true movement teachers because
it's not just about the work and it's not just about the human connection. You have to bring
both of them together. And I really feel that's why how you were just saying like why some people,
you know, when movement's been around for so long, what makes them want to stick to true movement.
I really feel like they, it's fun. They learn a lot and they see results. And you're building a team.
And building a team. That's my favorite part. I'm so excited for how the team,
of teachers is going to grow and how the studios are going to grow.
That was always my goal was I wanted after the certifications.
It's the quality and the level of support that we're going to provide for the teachers.
I felt like that was also a missing link when we talked about studying different movement
methods.
I felt like there was so much emphasis on, you know, let's put tons of people on a course.
We're going to teach them.
And then you go.
And that was it.
And there was no support and there was no community.
And that was one of the biggest things that was one of the biggest things that was one
my top priorities with the certifications was that no if you're coming into our true movement family
where you're going to make sure all your questions are answered if someone comes to you with a pain
point and you're not sure the answer will help you with that because again because we market with
from pain points we see a lot of different things lots and different things people will bring in their
x-rays or their MRI reports or we'll have a conversation with their physio or their doctor
and it's you know they're trusting that we're going to help them and when you
you're in pain, the last thing you want is someone to pull on your leg if your leg hurts, right?
And there's a lot of hands on when we teach. So the fact that these clients and people who
pretty much become friends after they've been training for a while, the fact that they
trust us to move them in a way that's going to make them feel better when they've experienced
pain before, I mean, that's, that's priceless. There's no greater feeling than that.
Is there, like I'm sure there are, but like limitations to what you can
do, right? Like if somebody comes in with the broken bone, I don't suppose that doing this
fixes the broken bone. Now, I assume that's just a given. But let's say somebody has a torn
PCL or a shoulder that is out of whack. Is there like limitations to what you can do or for a lot of
things? It's just like, no, we can help. There is limitations, which it's important. And we do this in
Eminton a lot. Lloyd will end up doing this, all these studios. It's important to have that
inner circle of practitioners that you can go to for this. We can't, we can't diagnose at all.
So if you came in saying, I think my my PCL or my ACL might be torn on my shoulder,
we would refer out. So we would send you to doctor, physio, to get the imaging done.
We definitely take the advice from medical practitioners. So we definitely stay in our lane on
that one. And it's really important that we do because when we can work together with
them, it speeds up the success of the client. So if we have a player coming in, we just can't get
their glute activating and we've tried different things. We'll send them for needling because when
they can have needling, then they can come back in and that glue can fire a lot quicker. So it's
really important that we are in the sandbox with those practitioners and we understand when we just
can't seem to figure it out or like you said, something feels torn. We would refer you right out.
then we would take you back when they've given you the green light that it's safe to move.
Now, go back to this machine, actually, now that I'm thinking about different things on it.
You mentioned your engineers in Poland.
Yes.
Did you, like, you don't have a medical background, do you?
No.
So did you work with, I don't know, like physiotherapists and different people on this machine,
or is this machine designed around certain movements and that's how the design happens?
The machines design around certain movements and what we needed it to do for our clients.
Yes.
When we build the, so when I build out the certifications, we also teach the anatomy.
I consulted with a physiotherapist on the anatomy.
So we have a really great, a really great lady who helps do the anatomy with us.
So we definitely bring in physios when we're building rehabilitation workshops and those sorts of things,
which again goes back to the importance of staying in your lane.
so anytime we need to outsource stuff like that, yeah, we would consult with physio's
osteopaths I consult with quite a bit.
So we definitely take that into consideration when we're doing more of the rehab-based
stuff because they understand their side and then we reverse engineer it to the movements,
right?
So it's like even with true movement, I've certified physios in the true movement method.
And then I also learn from them on the anatomy side.
So it's a really great working relationship.
because they don't necessarily do the movements,
but they understand that piece,
and we understand the movements,
but we still have to learn the other piece,
especially when you're talking about injuries.
When you're, I feel like your brain would do this
and correct me if I'm wrong,
but as you walk around the city of streets of Edmonton or wherever,
you're constantly like dissecting people,
that guy could use this or that woman over there.
24-7.
24-7.
What's the biggest issue you see?
Posture.
So I see the heads go really far forward or when people walk, their whole body shifts forward.
I even was doing this with my mom because she has knee pain.
Sorry, mom.
She's probably listening to it.
And so when she was walking up the stairs, she kept leaning really far forward.
So people will grab the rail and then they'll lean really far forward, which puts so much
pressure on your knees and it doesn't allow your glutes to activate.
So when she was going out my stairs, I said, pull on the rail.
And lean back.
Like bring your head back in line with your spine and think about your glutes pushing you.
And she was like, oh, it didn't hurt my knee.
It's like, yeah.
Like those little things that seem minimal make a huge difference.
And we have to walk, right?
We need to walk.
We have to walk up the stairs.
There's certain day-to-day movements that if people would just think differently
about how they do them, how do you pick up your coffee cup,
how do you pick up your water bottle, how do you turn your steering wheel?
Those little things make a huge difference.
as far as headaches and, and, you know, we hear it all the time.
I've rocks in my shoulders.
It's because they don't think of those things in those everyday simple things.
And they just keep adding up.
You keep doing it.
And then you build those neuromuscular patterns to continuously do it in that not ideal pattern.
So it's not like this is just for people who want to work out.
It's for people that want to garden without back pain who want to golf.
The amount of golfers that we see, I always say this summer is golf and garden injury season or preventative injury.
injury season. People get injured gardening. Yeah, because it's the same thing. You
bend over and everything. And if you bend over and your spine, you know, if you bend over and you
flex your spine and you don't have glute activation, you blow your back out. So it's like those
little things, I feel like the world would be a lot less painful if we could all just
think of those tiny things a little bit differently. You've had time to analyze me because I'm
sure your brain's just like twitching. He's leaning a little far on the
I'm just picturing you on that machine in Lloyd in September.
Well, well, for sure do it.
Yeah, for sure.
Why not?
You're going to be in my hometown.
I'll come embarrass myself or you can make me feel like a million bucks.
I'm always good with that.
Yeah, it'll be great.
Now, if you got, you got listeners from all over to Saskatchewan listening,
you got somebody on there going, yeah, I got pain in here or whatever,
and they just kind of, I almost think people don't realize they can get rid of it, right?
Right.
What would you say?
Like how would you, you know?
So there's a huge education piece there as well.
You know, it's funny because even with True Movement, a lot of people have never heard of us before
because it's just been, yeah, it's just been word of mouth.
So you'll start to see that shift in education and awareness over the next six months with us.
We're going to do a huge push for that because that,
actually is part of the problem is people think pain is just you got to live with it you got to live
with it and that was always my or you got to take a pill for it or you know you got to do these you know you just
think it's it's like well of course i have pain every day it's like but you don't have to have pain every
day so if we would just do a few things to have that pain gone you'd think more people would want to
there's nothing worse than having physical pain in your body well i just once again i i i i i
I lean on my own personal experience.
I'm an athlete or was a former athlete.
And there's days I miss it where I was, right?
Because like there was times where you could just like,
I was never a runner, but I could run if I wanted to.
I was in great shape.
And I could do certain things that I've slowed down on.
Heck, I was playing noon hour hockey.
That's how the injury happens.
I'm like, maybe this happens back when I'm younger.
Maybe it doesn't.
But one of the things that scared me was,
when it first happened, I'm like, I can't go on living life like this.
Like, my knee feels like it's going to fall off.
It's gotten so much better.
Physio credit to them for a lot of things they've done for me.
But, like, I couldn't imagine living life like that.
Like where you're just like, and I think a lot of people, you know, whether they know it or not,
or like, I got joint pain or whatever, some of that can be affected through diet, water consumption.
there's lots of different things that can really change that.
Of course, being active can help.
But this seems like, or is, an option that is sitting there or going to be sitting there for a lot of people that they could make use of.
Right.
And then, you know, the quality of life can go up and up and up.
Right.
And we'll always give people that perspective, too, that we'll say, you know, you want to implement true movement so that when you're not in true movement,
you're doing things that you love to do without pain, right?
So if you're a triathlete,
you're coming into true movement so that you can,
you can train your body in a way that will allow you to keep doing those for a long time.
So we're almost trying to offset.
So you're always trying to prep your body.
So for me personally, I run every morning.
But I have, I've got one of those machines in my house.
So I'll run every morning and I get off the treadmill and I hang upside.
down with my legs and straps on that machine to lengthen my hamstrings back out again.
Because if I didn't do that, I would probably be limping and I wouldn't be running for as long
as I could because I would be in pain. So you have to offset what you love to do.
There's the hamstring word. We've been going for a little bit. What is it with the hamstrings in
North America? Or is it Canada? Or is it North America? I feel like it's North America. And I feel like,
and I say that jokingly pretty much because of the hockey. But we just, it's a, you know,
know it's a big athletic North America is filled with athletes and especially in hockey they've just
there's tight hamstring so I you know we're a very active athletic population.
Are you going to be, are people going to actually be able to buy the machine or is it you're
the owner and you just have one in your like I'm curious. Is it going to be like a squat rack where
you can mass produce so to speak and actually can be in people's gym, gyms or basements or
wherever else they stick it? Are you going to?
Is that going to be an option at some point?
Yeah.
So when we did the first batch, we actually had 10 clients that put them in their homes.
Really?
Yes.
And that was, we were almost going to launch it at the same time as the license model, almost similar to a Peloton.
So we have our online program built out.
You can go in, you know, you could hit the video for back pain or hip pain or full body workout for 45 minutes.
All the videos are there.
When we launched the license studio model, it started growing so quickly with, with, within,
interest that we had to stop the home model because we couldn't make machines fast enough.
What a problem to have. It's a great problem to have. So that is definitely going to be in the works.
We're going to get to a point where they'll just be sending batches of machines over continuously,
but we just both grew too quick. And so we just had to focus on the studio one first,
and then we'll swing back to the home one later.
That's, yeah, that's quite the problem to have. We were selling.
them and couldn't keep up to demand. That's, that's, uh, yeah, you know, you got something going on when
that's the problem. Yeah, it's definitely a good problem. And especially because they were overseas,
so we want to bring tons over here, but the ones that we were bringing over here, those are the
ones that we just, we just sold them already. So it would, it would be nice to get to the point where
we had so many here that when we did sell them, we could just ship them out. You're not waiting
eight or nine months because they're coming out from Poland. And, you know, it's a little,
scary over there right now anyways.
So we're just trying to to keep the...
Navigate the waters, so to speak.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
So it's going to be interesting.
It's just going to, we're going to learn.
We're going to learn a lot over the next year of launching studios and we'll figure out
little tweaks we need to make.
And I mean, those machines aren't small.
So even when you have them in your house, you've got to have a footprint for it.
I have had people ask if we could make smaller versions of them.
the only thing is when we do that we lose what makes them so great so i was stuck on that one so we just
capped it for now studios we'll start and what makes them so great at being a certain size well because
we need the length when you jump so if you were going to to jump so say we're doing legwork you just
you'd hit the end too fast you would just max out so we need that stretch like i think these ones are
about 10 or 11 feet long we need that length and then we have a sling that hangs off of it
to traction.
So when we work on the inside,
you need that stretch for your body.
So I don't, yeah,
I'm not sure about that.
I know we have a product.
We'll eventually roll into a product line,
but I don't think it'll be a smaller version of the platform.
I think it'll be something different,
which is exciting.
You have me all sorts of curious for September now.
You realize that?
Because I'm like, jumping on the machine.
Okay, now I'm like,
but you're on your back, so your knee will be fine.
It's going to be great.
We'll get some video.
Absolutely.
we will. Absolutely we will. Well, have I skimmed over anything? I don't think so. I mean,
I can go into such a rabbit hole with true movement and talk, so hopefully I, hopefully I answered
all your questions. Well, you've done a basic introductory level for me in that there's
something here that I'm very curious about, and then I look forward to seeing, you know,
the fact is going to be in Lloyd makes it perfect, you know? Like it's, it's making it to the city.
I feel the pain of anyone that is traveling to do anything.
You know, that's one of the, one of the curses of Lloyd, you know, like, we're, we're,
kind of an island.
We're not, and we kind of are, you know, being on border city, we're not Saskatchew and
we're not Alberta.
We're kind of the, the ugly stepchild, so to speak, or something along that lines.
But the fact it's coming, I think that getting to actually try and do it will be something
to wait and see because I think that'll be something to wait and see because I think that'll
be a lot of fun. One, and then two, actually feeling the effects, then, you know, I hear I sit,
and I'm like, in hindsight, we should have, what I should have done was like, okay, I'm going to
come in, let's do it, so then we can talk about it and have some questions around a whole bunch of
that. And now where I sit here, I just go, well, sounds like in a month and a half's time,
or more than that, actually, we'll have to harass you again. And by that time, there will be
a video of me looking like a jackass, jumping around on a machine.
or maybe I'll look graceful, who knows.
I feel like it'll be graceful.
You think it'll be graceful?
I do.
I really do.
You should have saw me in my, it was only, it was only, what is it, two, three months ago
that I had my missing teeth still.
I went, I went.
Really?
Yeah, I lost, I got hit twice in the face with slap shots back in junior hockey.
So I had missing teeth and, you know, I put it out to the listeners,
and listeners who, there's still people that are angry with me.
But, uh, the dent is.
This is like, oh, people are going to love this.
And I'm like, you think so?
Let's put a polo.
I bet you it comes back.
And it was like 60% said don't fix the tooth, right?
Really?
My wife, when we got married, I got the tooth fixed.
I think it was like three days before my wife's from Minnesota.
So we got, you know, just before we flew down to Minnesota, I got my tooth fixed.
And she didn't think I was getting it done for the wedding.
And I'm like, no, I'll get it.
It was just a temporary one.
You know, this is years ago.
And, you know, so it became very much part of who I was.
and now, like, I'm, maybe I look a little more respectful.
Maybe I can be graceful because I'm pretty sure there was a time of my life,
handlebar mustache, missing teeth, long floy hair,
just like only a hockey player can probably pull off,
looking like a complete nutter jackass.
I don't know if I could ever look graceful.
I should see a picture of that look.
Do you want a picture of that look?
I do want to see a picture of that look.
I was thinking that too, though.
I'll have to do this again post session and ask you how you felt on the machine.
Oh, 100%.
I think that's what we'll do because that's easy enough.
September we'll just mark it on the calendar and do it up.
Now, before I let you get out of here and now I'm going to butcher this last part,
maybe I've said it long enough now that I'll get it right.
But we always finish with the crude master final five.
Shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald.
They've been supporters of the podcast since the very beginning.
Heath came on the podcast and said something to the effect of if you're going to stand behind a
cause, then stand behind it absolutely.
What's one thing Aaron stands behind?
Oh.
You know, one of the things I stand behind that I talk about all the time is I want people
to fight a little harder to be happier in their life.
So one of my goals is always to teach people it's okay maybe if you're not happy right now,
but to get there. So do a deep dive on your mental and physical health and fight a little bit harder
to be happier. That's a skill, though. It's a skill. I'm a huge proponent of all therapies.
Like my children go to therapy. I go to therapy. I'm a huge advocate for mental and physical
health. So that is actually a huge cause that I would stand behind. That would be my answer.
I want people to give a shit a little bit more about about their life and about living a good one and
living a healthy one.
Why do you think people, I'll even speak to myself, right?
Like through COVID, I mean, COVID was itself and itself.
But, you know, when I was playing hockey, it was just part of the lifestyle that you,
you literally got up, worked out.
I mean, the routine used to be workout, go to practice, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, play games.
It was just, it was just part of your, and then when you were done, you know, you play your
final game. And certainly in Saskatchewan, I love Saskatchewan. And of course here in
Alberta, you have it as well. But Saskatchewan, there's like a huge senior hockey culture.
So like my little town of Hillmond that has a rink in a school and that's it, but it has
senior hockey. Right. And that's, Saskatchewan has like a hundred of those.
Little communities with senior hockey, sorry. But there was a mentality change. And I don't know
if it's like laziness or you get busy with life or what it is.
But some people can hold on to that level of like, this is my routine and others struggle
with it for the rest of time.
Some never even get put into it.
And then when they find it, are like, wow, I've been missing this all my life.
What have you seen?
Like, is that mental health or is that just education?
I think it's probably mental health.
it's interesting when just coming across so many people and talking with them,
it's surprising how many people aren't overly happy,
especially with the pandemic throwing it in like that brought up,
even for my own kids,
tons of mental health issues, right?
Not being in school and sports taken away.
So I feel like even if you're going to stick to that routine,
stick to it because you like it,
not because you're just complacently going through the motions of it.
So if you're going to have a routine, at least enjoy it, not just because you think you kind of have to do it.
Otherwise, what's the point?
What do you think is the hardest, toughest, mental hurdle to get over for someone to change their routine?
To start, you know all the benefits at the true movement.
You're like, everybody could use this.
Like, absolutely everyone.
Well, I think that's a big, I think that's a big rabbit hole probably, that would probably be, I mean, again, when we talk about therapy,
there's so many fears in people that are very different depending on on their story that
that that would be it could be very different depending on different people and I feel like
I've I love personal growth work and therapy and all of those things so I feel like
I can help offer advice sometimes with clients with that because you can kind of pick it out a
little bit but it's and I was actually chatting with a friend today about this that it's
it's mind blowing at how many people just um they have fears of getting
getting started or fears of trying something new.
There's just a lot of fear-based thinking,
which would be, again, when it goes back to the cause,
one of those things that I feel so passionate about
is trying to get people to be uncomfortable,
be comfortable in the uncomfortable, like push past your comfort zones.
Because if you don't try it, you're never going to know if you like it or not.
And if you don't like it, then you just, then that's it.
But you're not going to know unless you at least give it a shot.
Well, and I'll lean back on my,
my my different experiences I had when I was finishing up hockey so I'm 36 so when I was 25 and heading over
to Finland I remember approaching a personal trainer to like get me ready and I just thought
the cost was too high so this is just me personally as a you know a young kid I guess it's not that
young but um and i it's probably one of the things i regret the most uh over my hockey career
because i think i didn't fully understand what the extra little added benefit of not only knowledge
but the value the value in it yeah absolutely um would have given me uh against just training myself
the way i knew how right but that was like that's we're talking 11 years ago now 11 years ago
certainly there was things in the works for where it is now but
It still isn't where it is now, right?
But I still think back to that.
I'm like, I wonder what that would have done for me just in general.
Because, you know, when I was, it's funny, like, conditioning is just in general.
I'm a huge pusher for it.
Like, when I was 20, going in my last year of junior, I biked across Canada.
Oh, wow.
And when I came back, I literally was a gazelle on the ice.
Like, my legs were in such phenomenal shape.
Right.
Nobody, like, I just never tired.
I just, so you can understand right away, it's like, well, there's a certain push of, like, your conditioning is going to be huge.
But then, like, strength and everything like that, certainly, I mean, you're the weakest guy on the ice, but I mean, your legs were giant anything.
I mean, look at Sidney Crosby's legs are freaking monstrous.
Right.
But this, this movement portion of it is interesting to me because, like, my career, as you can tell, I was not the,
I was a defenseman.
I was not six foot four.
So I had to be a little bit agile and mobile in order so I didn't get killed.
And I'm,
I listened to bits and pieces of this and I go,
I wonder how much that would change a person's ability on the ice.
It would change drastically.
And I obviously am not a hockey player,
but we'll have,
you know, guys all the time,
when they're talking about just the way it's training has changed,
they'll say, you know, decades ago they were built differently,
hockey players were built differently. Like the game has changed that way. You have to be more agile and
mobile. So it's agility and mobility 100%. I had a player text me actually yesterday. So we've been
going five days a week for probably two months. And then he just started his skates with his,
where he's doing his other training at. And he's like, I feel like I upgraded my engine. And I was like,
that's the best analogy. I'm like, you're a Lambo now. But he was like, I felt unreal. He's like,
it was so weird. I felt lighter in my gear. He's like I was lower in my stride and I felt amazing.
So we've been more agile, more mobile out there. That's, that is a really cool analogy.
And to me, I don't know why I think of edge work, but when you're on the skates, what you're
talking about feels, and maybe I'm wrong, you know, I've been out of the, I'm no, I'm not teaching
kids on the ice all the time. But one of the things I hated, absolutely hated the most as a kid.
was edge work was going to power skating and stuff.
But the most beneficial thing I had in my entire career was those skates because that's what allowed me, you know, if you can't skate in hockey, I'm sorry.
You're going absolutely nowhere.
So learning the basic building blocks of that is so important.
And what you're talking about with your body translates probably, like you say, to hockey players, athletes.
I'd be curious, you know, my wife's a volleyball player.
You know, we talk a lot about hockey and what it does to the other athletes because, I mean,
obviously, the world doesn't all play hockey.
Oh, absolutely.
And it'll definitely grow into other sports.
We've just been so busy with hockey right now because probably we're in Eminton.
But we have had volleyball players in there.
We had one girl who was in, she was a setter and she always had knee pain.
So when we watched how she landed, which again, when you're playing, she's obviously not going to be looking at this.
But when we could test out her landing, her foot.
would land and her knee would go the other way.
So all she really had to learn was how to stabilize her knee and track it properly.
And she had two sessions and her knee pain was gone and that was it.
So all of those sports have a place for, 100% for biomechanics.
Yeah, it's, it's great.
And I'm actually looking forward to when we have, like right now we've got our true
movement hockey program, we will have volleyball and basketball.
My son, both my kids play volleyball and basketball and we're always jumping for his
vertical. So it's like there's there's absolutely a program for other sports.
Well, it's, it's, what you're doing is like a universal, right? Like it's, it's, it's not like
it's only meant for hockey. It can be meant for, I mean, some cricket guys going,
I don't know, I'm going to use this for cricket, right? Because, because, you know, we're
talking about how everyone has the same, you know, bones and muscles and joints and we need to,
to learn all these things. But then you can dial in the program based on the movements. And then
that's where we can reverse engineer the movement.
So whether you're a pitcher or a setter, those types of things you can get more specific with per sport.
So there's almost like a general program and then you can get sport specific.
Well, I could hold you here all day.
I appreciate you giving me some of your time today and doing this.
I've enjoyed this.
This was great.
My first podcast.
The first podcast.
Geez, I've been getting a lot of that lately.
So I guess I'm finding some newbies, but I appreciate you coming on and talking a little bit about true movement.
and I'll be excited for September when you're in town,
and we can actually see the machine and some athletes and everybody else,
and maybe even this guy looks graceful on it, and look forward to that.
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm making the drive out here.
Anytime.
