Elevating Lives Through Fitness: Mark Roberts' Journey to Building Community and Wellness in the Gym (Part 2)

Transcript

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Hey everyone, welcome to Exploring Health Macro to Micro.

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I'm your host, Parker Condit.

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This is part two of the episode with Mark Roberts.

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This picks up right in the middle of the conversation, so if you haven't already, please go back and listen to part one, which includes the full introduction and background for Mark.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy part two of my conversation with Mark Roberts.

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Do you do anything where you're trying to teach people that introspective?

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That introspection?

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I guess it goes into the mindfulness where, like they're, they're going to be a better participant in that interaction of understanding when they don't feel great and when they do feel great.

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Yeah, I, a lot of it is introspection, a lot of it is being present.

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Um, phones are in phones in the gym, one of those big debates should you have your phone in the gym?

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Should you not have the phone in the gym?

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Um, when I, when I train, it's unfortunately as a gym owner it's pretty difficult to be away from your phone for two hours or whatever.

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But the best training sessions are the ones where I can leave my phone alone and I can stay present and focus on what I'm trying to achieve.

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And a lot of people these days are don't do that.

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They don't I call it a body check-in.

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I say I check in with my body every morning after years of of injuries and rehabbing and things like that.

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If I don't check, I call it a body check-in.

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I say I check in with my body every morning after years of injuries and rehabbing and things like that.

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If I don't check in with my body in the morning or after a training session, that's normally where things start to go downhill.

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So the biggest one is just remaining present, teaching people that they need to create.

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It goes back to I'm the co-pilot.

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I need to give you the tools, but you need to be the one that wields them, and so do you check in with your body.

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Have you actually woken up and done anything to see?

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Do you feel good, do you feel sluggish?

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And that's a that's a skill within itself and that's that's something that you can sharpen over time of knowing when it is there and knowing when it isn't there, and there's a big, big disconnect with a lot of people between their ability to mentally recognize what's physically going on, and so that's something that we constantly.

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It's a constant conversation with people to make sure that they're not disconnecting, getting on their phone and instagram between reps, especially in such a technical sport like weightlifting.

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I know, when you're just growing out and you're you're bodybuilding, you're weight training, and it might not be as crucial, but weightlifting is a skill-based strength sport is how I always describe it to people because, just like you play basketball and you have your on-court training and then you go to the gym and you do your strength and conditioning.

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The reason I love coaching weightlifting is because that's the same thing your, your, your on-court training is your snatch and your clean and jerk and its variations.

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Your strength and conditioning is the squats, the presses, the core work and all of the other things.

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So, as a strength coach, I love it because I get to do the skill and I get to teach the strength and conditioning, so I get to pair both things, which I love about sports.

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And so there's just no, there really is no other, there's no other way of being a good weightlifter.

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You have to be present, you have to understand what your body's feeling if it's there, if it's not there, and like gaining proprioception and understanding what position your body's in, and that's that's a skill that comes with time.

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But the more present you are, the faster you'll develop that skill.

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The more disconnected you are from how your body feels.

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And you know, oh yeah, my shoulder is hurting today.

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Didn't you figure that out eight hours ago when you woke up and you moved around?

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Oh no, I haven't actually moved with any intense yet today.

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Well, that's possibly one of the reasons why your body is in pain is because you don't move with intent.

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You're stuck up here.

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Instead of having that that mind body connection do you do anything in your classes with like breath work, maybe in the beginning of the class or maybe to cool down, just where people can sit with themselves, probably in some level of silence, just to kind of feel, be like you know, because when you do that you're like, oh, I can feel my heart beating, I can feel myself slowing down my respiratory rate, you can feel where muscles are sore.

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You can.

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If you're sitting on the ground, you can feel sort of your, your, um, your sit bones, like driving into the ground.

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You can feel, if they're uneven, um.

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Do you do anything like that in your classes?

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um, so I don't really teach the classes, so so it's not I do.

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In the weightlifting side of things, yes, we try and promote it gym wide.

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Uh, our classes definitely are.

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Um, when we're teaching our classes, we're teaching our classes, and then what we try and do is we try and take our clients away, taking from a different time, and teach them these things where it's not in a necessarily like a time based manner, because it's one of those things that I think is does take more time to learn, but it is, it is a hundred percent part of the conversation that when, when I'm stretching and I'm talking to people about breathing and I'm talking to them about sympathetic versus parasympathetic nervous systems and being able to modulate from a fight or flight to a rest and digest, so it could be 1990 kind of pri breathing at the end of a session.

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It could be breathing at the beginning of a session to get them in the right mindset for training.

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I talk about it in terms of self myofascial release that if you've got a, really if you got a lacrosse ball stuck into your terrors major, terrors minor and you want to scream that, if you, if you breathe and you take your time and every time you breathe out, you focus on that, that lacrosse ball sinking into the muscle more that you can actually.

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And I always laugh because some people say this is like not voodoo, but like like this is all hoo-ha.

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I'm like, no like.

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If you actually stay there on a lacrosse ball in tons of pain and breathe, you will feel the muscle relax.

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It's ART, that's.

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That's what active release techniques are.

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At the end of the day, it's what acupressure is.

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It's it's.

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It's a.

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It's a form of acupuncture, but the surface level it's.

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It's.

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It's a.

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It's a form of acupuncture, but the surface level it's.

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We have all of these other modalities, but when we talk about it in terms of breath work, people don't see it the same thing because it's not a clinician, it's a coach.

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It's back to that whole clinician versus coach thing and um, but it is a huge part of it.

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It's a huge part of recovery is breathing and just being present with your body, like you say so I I want to go to sympathetic parasympathetic only around the regards of olympic weightlifting, because I'd never thought of it like this.

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Sympathetic is fight or flight, parasympathetic is like rest and digest, but that's from like a nervous system standpoint.

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Your mind is not going to be as clear in a sympathetic state, right, like if you're running for your life.

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You're probably not.

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You're probably you're going to be very focused on just the singular task, but you kind of block out everything else.

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So maybe I'm answering my own question.

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But like, where do you want your athletes to be when they're on the platform?

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Right, because you don't want them freaking out, where you're just totally overdriven with parasympathetic drive.

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But you can't have them parasympathetic where they're, like you know, yawning on the platform.

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So how do you try to teach that?

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And also, where do you want them to be on that spectrum?

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Yeah, you're not going to hit peak power output when you're yawning, but you're also not going to have the skill and the precision that you need in weightlifting if you are erratic because you're in that fight or flight, adrenaline fueled position.

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And I found that everyone's slightly different in this one.

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Some people need to tone it down because just the environment of a competition will take them way too high.

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Other people feel very comfortable in competitions and actually will be too relaxed.

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So this is very an athlete dependent thing and there's a there's very much like we talk about the inverted U theory of arousal when it comes to performance, and too much arousal normally decreases performance, performance and too much arousal normally decreases performance.

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But I you do need that fight or flight, you do need that adrenaline, you do need your nervous system to be firing very fast for weight lifting, and so one of the breathing drills are a huge part of it.

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Being able to learn how to control your heart rate when you are in those environments is extremely important.

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So breathing is 100 one of the ways in which we do that, because when you're breathing it's the.

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It's one of the ways in which we can take something that is um autonomic.

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It's part of the autonomic nervous system.

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Breathing we can.

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We do it naturally.

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And then it's also part of that somatic where we can take control when we want to and use it.

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And breath work obviously is a very powerful way to modulate your nervous system.

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So we do teach a lot of that for our athletes as they go in and everyone kind of has to play with it.

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We as weightlifters, when you're beginning, we try and get our weightlifters to compete quite often.

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So beginner weightlifter, we want them to compete four, five, maybe even six times a year.

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Doesn't mean we're going to peak for a weightlifting competition, but it just means that we're going to have multiple exposures to that situation where they're going to learn.

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How is my body going to adapt?

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Am I going to freak out?

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And like one of my athletes who has always kind of struggled with this, one of the things I told her the other day in our last competition I said when you get out there on the platform I said you've already got a total, you've already hit snatch, you've already hit clean and jerk.

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This really doesn't matter.

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This last lift is for you, but what I want you to do as you stand there by the barbell is I want you to just look around, look at everybody, take a deep breath and realize that it's kind of like it's just a bunch of people.

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Right, there is, there is.

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No, you're not.

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You're not in trouble, you're not fighting for your life.

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Your body's telling you you are, but you're not.

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And I, a lot of the time, I tell people it's just a, it's just a metal stick with some circles on the end, like it's, it's not a big deal.

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We make it a big deal, and so I try and again goes back to being present and there's other ways to like.

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I have a mantra.

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I have a mantra that when I get on the platform, I repeat to myself and it centers me and it brings me back.

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So my awareness is to what I'm trying to do and what I'm trying to achieve.

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I think that's a big part of it is having that.

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So I repeat that mantra to myself.

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I go in with a mindset I have three words actually that when I compete, I tell myself that what I want people to do is, if they see me compete, I want them to say, wow, this guy really emulates these three things and I can really see them when he competes things, and I can really see them when he competes and so it kind of centers me in my behavior to the way that I want to portray myself when I compete as well.

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So it's a lot of a lot of mindfulness, right, a lot of being present, staying mindful, centering myself and then controlling that breathing as well, and it's definitely not something that you're like oh yeah, you'll have it like that.

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And I have athletes that five years in, still they get on platform.

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They weren't athletes when they were younger, so they haven't had as much experience being in competitive environments.

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And it does take a while, especially with adults who haven't been exposed.

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If you have as a kid, it's a lot easier to transfer that skill, jamie.

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For example, if you can do a back, it's a lot easier to transfer that skill, jamie.

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For example, if you can do a back flip on an, on a balance beam, you can probably go out on a platform and weight lift, uh.

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But if, if you've never done that it's, it's going to be extremely difficult.

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Or I came from team sports and so I played something I well, I did play like I played badminton, so I had some individual sports experience, but still stepping on a platform in a leotard and lifting three and only having three attempts at each lift the, the pressure is a lot higher and so everyone's different, but there are there certainly is tactics and what you can use, like you say, breathing and staying present.

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That can help all of that yeah, it's a skill like anything else, right?

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Um, I do want to highlight the importance of breathing because any opportunity I can get, I try to um you, like you mentioned it, where you can use your breath to control your states, which is unlike, almost like, unlike any other physiologic, uh like, process within us, like you can't.

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I mean, maybe, if you're like a monk, you can control your heart rate in a really powerful and direct way, but most people, you can just you can use your breath work, and it is one of those things that does run in the background, which is super convenient.

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I always give the example of dolphins.

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Right, dolphins don't have that.

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It's entirely a voluntary process, so dolphins can't really ever sleep.

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They turn off.

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The half of their brain sleeps, so the other half can keep them awake and alert and keep them breathing, and then the other half has to sleep, but they always have to be awake to some extent.

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Can you imagine how annoying that would be as humans?

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Yeah, so it's awesome that we don't have to think about breathing while we sleep.

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We can just sleep.

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But I think a lot of people just rely on that too heavily and they don't take advantage of the fact that it's like oh, this is something we can control too, and we can hold our breath, we all know, and plus, and that gets at a certain point, but then we can control how long we inhale, we can control how long we exhale, and once you start looking into those things, you can really start to manipulate and control your state in a more powerful way, where you're not just along for the ride but you can actually drive changes from one state to the other.

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So I highly encourage anyone listening to who wants to learn more about it to just start looking into breathwork.

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Do you have any resources that you point people towards when it comes to breathwork?

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I use some apps.

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Actually, I've used I use oak.

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There's an oak app which is pretty good Calm if you've heard of Calm, that's a pretty good app.

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So there's a lot of apps out there that will definitely give you some good baseline.

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I mean, wim Hof is a fun one to try out as well once you get a little bit deeper into it.

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Warriors um, that's a really good book if you want to dive deep into breathing and that talks a little bit more about, um, people who are actually kind of like bound up in in their core muscles so their abs might actually be super tight, which which causes them to struggle to take deep breaths.

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Um, but there's if I mean there's plenty of resources out there.

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Yeah, I would try those.

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Oak and karma definitely too.

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That I'd recommend.

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Okay, cool, we'll definitely link to those.

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But just for a quick reference, generally, if you're trying to relax or downregulate, you want to extend your exhales, you want your exhales to be longer than your inhales and you want to take fewer breaths per minute.

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And then the opposite is going to be true.

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If you're trying to upregulate yourself, you want a faster respiratory rate, so more breath per minute, and you want to be kind of doing kind of faster inhales and you don't want to be extending your exhales.

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So just a quick and dirty reference for people who don't want to do any of that research yet.

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So, when it comes to daily movement, why do you make the differentiation?

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I have my own thoughts on this because I love walking why do you make the differentiation that daily movement is not just exercise?

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One of the biggest differentiators, I would say, is the intensity level.

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When we train, pretty much most of the time, unless you're on a pretty rigid training program, you're going in to have an intense level of exercise for a certain amount of time.

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I'd say that kind of goes back to the idea about hits and when it came out that hits they're like you can get all of this benefit in such a shorter amount of time than the low intensity, steady states et cetera.

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So I do think that's true.

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Just to clarify that you need a level of intensity that at the end of the day, if you don't push certain body structures to their limits, they will regress to uh where, where you leave them.

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So if you, if you don't take your heart rate up, uh near maximal twice a week, then unfortunately the top end it's like anything if you don't practice that top end, you're not going to keep it.

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It's kind of like that use it or lose it.

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Analogy If you don't try and push your muscles to some level of maximum, whether that's a one rep max or 15 rep max or kind of like a rep max of another way, you're going to start regressing in some way.

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We see it in sarcopenia in adults and all sorts like that.

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But when we talk about recovery with our athletes and this actually speaks more to the daily movement kind of thing is you've got to remember that our body is.

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I try and explain it.

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It's, it's chemical, it's mechanical, um, and so there's all these different components in it that we need to make sure that are running smoothly.

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I think the car analogy is probably the most used analogy for a body.

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And if you, you wouldn't just keep your car in the garage and then open it up, rag it for 10 miles and then just put the pedal to the metal and then put it back in the garage and cover it up again and then leave it, that's not beneficial for the car.

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You need to have some level of keeping it moving.

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So for me I kind of tell people from the mechanical perspective is blood flow is huge.

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We, the body, has so much plumbing in it that if you don't keep that plumbing going, if you don't, if you don't make sure that you're using all the, all the plumbing in your house, what's going to happen?

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Gunk's going to build up, you're going to get stagnant water and all, and stagnant water is where disease festers.

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And and these are all great analogies for the body, that if you don't have perfusion of blood through muscles, uh, if you don't have synovial fluid and joints because you're not using them, then um the the cascade of of unfortunate events after that is not pleasant, and we see it a lot with people who are sedentary.

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So the biggest differentiator for me is making sure that people are really pushing themselves and keeping that top end, but then also doing the daily maintenance, and the daily maintenance is what allows you to keep pushing too.

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It's not one or the other, it's definitely a both.

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Yeah, I think describing the levels of intensity is very helpful for people.

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Um, and basically from a recovery standpoint, right, oxygen is so important.

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Um, basically oxygen just helps fix everything in the body and it kind of runs everything in the body.

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So oxygen gets bound to kind of blood through something in the lungs.

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So oxygen gets bound to kind of blood through something in the lungs and then the heart pushes that oxygenated blood around the body.

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So if you think about when you're sleeping, it's basically your lowest threshold activity, so you're not pushing a lot of kind of blood around the body.

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But then the next level up would be like sitting, like what I'm doing right now, what we're doing right now sitting I'm using a little bit more oxygen, the demand's a little bit higher, my heart rate is a little bit higher, I'm pushing a little bit more blood through the body.

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Then standing would be a bit more, walking would be a bit more, walking uphill would be a bit more.

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So each level of activity is also going to be kind of determined by the fitness of the individual as well.

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So that's why, you know, working with the coach is so important, because they can dictate what those levels are going to be.

00:19:47.996 --> 00:19:55.643
But to give an example on one extreme is like the marathon runners who are doing like sub two 30 marathons.

00:19:55.643 --> 00:19:59.112
You know they're running like four, four and a half five minute miles.

00:19:59.112 --> 00:20:12.478
So you know them going out and running a seven minute mile is I don't even know if it would count as recovery for them or I don't even know if it would count as a zone two cardio day for them.

00:20:12.478 --> 00:20:17.156
It might even be too slow, but a seven minute mile for most people would crush them.

00:20:17.156 --> 00:20:20.094
You could probably do a quarter of them or a half a mile at that pace.

00:20:20.094 --> 00:20:24.012
So understanding like intensity is very individually specific.

00:20:24.012 --> 00:20:30.057
Do you have recommendations for people around how much they should be walking or a general sense?

00:20:32.227 --> 00:20:35.980
I go with the general literature, which is like 8,000 steps a day, right.

00:20:35.980 --> 00:20:38.307
So I know most people say 10,000.

00:20:38.307 --> 00:20:41.595
I think I actually learned this from you, that that was.

00:20:41.595 --> 00:20:44.406
That was a number that was put out there.

00:20:44.406 --> 00:20:49.415
But the literature actually really said it was around 8,000 that was needed versus 10,000.

00:20:49.415 --> 00:20:58.156
But I try and tell people that 8,000 steps a day, however you get it, is a great, is a great start.

00:20:59.179 --> 00:21:06.866
I'm a big habit stacking guy, so not just doing something for doing something sake, but trying to maximize the benefits of everything.

00:21:06.866 --> 00:21:25.973
So, whether it's to me, I stretch before bed and I foam roll before bed, reason being is stretching and foam rolling helps me get into that parasympathetic nervous system so that rest and digest, which then will impact the quality of my sleep, and so I'm not just trying to do something for do something's sake.

00:21:25.973 --> 00:21:30.711
When I get up in the morning I take our dog for a walk, so I get a good amount of steps in then.

00:21:30.711 --> 00:21:33.933
Not only that, but that's where I get my daily sunlight in.

00:21:33.933 --> 00:21:48.266
I'm outside for a while there, so that sunlight in the morning helps my circadian rhythm and so my daily movement is very much built around the recovery number one, like you say so.

00:21:48.326 --> 00:21:50.193
Obviously, weightlifting is very lower body heavy.

00:21:50.193 --> 00:21:56.298
Nothing is going to help the hips and the legs recover like some low intensity walking, something like that.

00:21:56.298 --> 00:22:03.595
And then my other daily movement is built around making sure that I'm flexible and so before bed I'm getting that rest and digest.

00:22:03.595 --> 00:22:07.255
So I try and tell people that the walking is fantastic.

00:22:07.414 --> 00:22:08.779
Walking, get outside.

00:22:08.779 --> 00:22:14.472
If you're not getting outside for at least 30 minutes a day, that's life-changing, honestly.

00:22:14.472 --> 00:22:31.538
Get outside for 30 minutes a day and then you should be doing 10, 15 minutes of stretching light stretching to moderate intense if you have a reason to with some foam rolling and some other things as well which can really impact either your movement throughout the day.

00:22:31.538 --> 00:22:39.261
If you, if you get up and stretch or go for a walk and stretch in the morning, you'll feel so much better throughout the day and then again at night it will impact your sleep.

00:22:39.261 --> 00:22:54.729
So if you're someone that struggles to fall asleep, if you stretch, foam roll, breathe and then go to bed, that those, those four things as a habit stack is killer for anybody that struggles to sleep at night yeah, it's a great recommendation.

00:22:55.190 --> 00:23:07.932
Um, yeah, I think the 10 000 steps a day thing I forget when it came out, but I know it came from a Japanese pedometer maker, so it was a marketing thing, not a research thing.

00:23:07.932 --> 00:23:11.855
Say like you know, you should walk 10,000 steps a day and also buy my step counter.

00:23:11.855 --> 00:23:15.819
But yeah, 8,000 steps a day has a lot of research around it.

00:23:15.819 --> 00:23:25.657
From an all cause mortality standpoint, it's slightly above the 7,500 steps a day which is in reference to lower incidence of depression in women.

00:23:25.657 --> 00:23:33.198
I think 8,000 is also the threshold for being the minimum to maintain weight generally.

00:23:33.198 --> 00:23:38.576
So there's there's just a lot of thresholds right around 8,000 that are a good minimum to adhere to.

00:23:38.576 --> 00:24:13.305
And then the other thing I always say about step count is like it's a nonlinear dose response no-transcript.

00:24:13.384 --> 00:24:17.313
It really depends, too, on what you, what your job's like to.

00:24:17.313 --> 00:24:28.969
If you have a, a pre manual, manually intensive job, then then your, your need for this is a lot lower than somebody that is working from home.

00:24:28.969 --> 00:24:50.980
And I think, after covid and everyone, the the rise of people walking, walking, working from home, um has had a huge impact on some of the issues that we see in people's health these days and and for a lot of people, their daily movement should correspond to the other things that they have in their day as well.

00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:59.317
If you're already going to be walking a lot in your day, or, um, I was I knew I was going to be on this podcast, so I was.

00:24:59.478 --> 00:25:14.895
I'd been paying a little bit more attention to my daily movement, uh, uh, in a, in a 6,000 square foot gym, I'll sometimes cover five and a half to six miles a day, uh, which is pretty crazy when you think about the space we're in versus the amount of steps that we're taking, um and I.

00:25:15.336 --> 00:25:17.587
A mile of that is our walk in the morning with the dog.

00:25:17.587 --> 00:25:24.258
So, um, walking around four to four and a half miles a day inside a gym is do I?

00:25:24.258 --> 00:25:27.428
Do I need to go outside and get a walk in?

00:25:27.428 --> 00:25:30.717
Probably not, but I do anyway for that daily sunlight and that other thing.

00:25:30.717 --> 00:26:02.190
So, depending on what you're doing throughout the day, depending on what your job is, would dictate to me what, what you need to be adding, um, and especially people that uh want to lose weight, gain weight or or whatever it might be, might be Looking at your daily movement, your non-exercise activity time, we call it, where you're not intensely exercising or specified exercise is, more often than not, I find, the factor that plays the biggest role in success in manipulating body weight as well.

00:26:03.593 --> 00:26:07.326
Yep, yeah, walking is incredibly important for for that reason.

00:26:07.326 --> 00:26:10.032
Um, I, yeah, I want to.

00:26:10.032 --> 00:26:13.874
I had another question but it's uh, escaped me right now, so hopefully I'm going to come back to it.

00:26:13.874 --> 00:26:29.109
Um, do you can you kind of describe how you, how the class is, how the classes are structured, because I know a lot of people it can be enticing to kind of chase performance, but a lot of people don't have that foundation.

00:26:29.109 --> 00:26:39.193
So do you kind of structure a hierarchy of from like the fitness side of things that sort of forces them to kind of go through these levels and not immediately chase performance?

00:26:39.737 --> 00:26:40.902
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

00:26:40.902 --> 00:26:48.871
So that movement session we talked about earlier, although we say it's not a movement assessment on the athlete's part, it's a movement education part.

00:26:48.871 --> 00:26:53.009
For us it's giving us an indication of where somebody needs to start.

00:26:53.009 --> 00:27:06.653
There are weak points where we need to front load more education, and then what we do from there is we always try and tell people it's a prescriptive way of doing fitness, not you just deciding.

00:27:06.653 --> 00:27:14.655
So we want to always prescribe the right dose amount for somebody when they come into the gym, and for some people we have rehabilitation.

00:27:14.655 --> 00:27:31.459
So some people might be injured or just extremely detrained and we recommend them actually working a little bit more one-on-one with a coach so that they can get to a point where they can jump into a class and work in a class-based environment with a coach watching them.

00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:34.501
And then we have two levels of class.

00:27:34.501 --> 00:28:01.611
We have our CrossFit class, which is a lot of people that should not be going straight into crossfit and can get can get pretty badly hurt from overuse injuries if we don't take care of them first before putting them in a class environment.

00:28:01.611 --> 00:28:07.673
So so we do have what we call our movement classes, which are more of a strength-based class.

00:28:07.673 --> 00:28:17.233
So CrossFit very much is a little bit more conditioning-based and strength is applied to the conditioning, even though strength is sometimes prioritized.

00:28:17.233 --> 00:28:21.316
And then our movement class is where we teach that foundational movement.

00:28:21.316 --> 00:28:30.175
So we teach squattinginging, lunging, push, pull and carry, and then we get somebody to do some conditioning at the end.

00:28:30.175 --> 00:28:33.433
So the conditioning is a little bit less, a little bit lower of a skill level.

00:28:33.433 --> 00:28:35.805
It's not going to be quite as intense as crossfit.

00:28:35.805 --> 00:28:44.173
So it's going to help people baselining and get a little bit more of a bigger foundation before they then progress to something like cross, which is going to increase the intensity.

00:28:44.173 --> 00:28:56.231
And then from there, that's where if you want to really take CrossFit and this is where I tell people, if you look at the CrossFit games, it's the sport of fitness, it's not necessarily CrossFit.

00:28:56.231 --> 00:29:05.291
And there's a big differentiator when you talk to HQ about that is, the sport of fitness is very different from your everyday Crossfit class.

00:29:05.291 --> 00:29:07.810
And if you want to do that, then we can scale up.

00:29:07.810 --> 00:29:19.469
Or if you want to go from that movement class into strength training, we can go into a strength training route and then you can even go into sports performance weight lifting, power lifting on top of that.

00:29:19.469 --> 00:29:40.219
So we really kind of try and place people where they want to be, with also us saying this is where you need to be, and then we create a direct route for them to actually know that you're not going to stay here forever but actually you'll get to where you want to be faster if you work on the things that you need to.

00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:46.105
Versus us getting into that top end I see that a lot with weightlifters to.

00:29:46.105 --> 00:29:46.946
Versus us getting into that that top end.

00:29:46.946 --> 00:29:47.808
I see that a lot with with weightlifters.

00:29:47.808 --> 00:29:49.712
Weightlifting, like I say that's that really really high level skill.

00:29:49.712 --> 00:29:53.171
I mean we have weights overhead in every movement, snatch and clean and jerk.

00:29:53.171 --> 00:30:02.036
And if you don't have prerequisite core control to be able to stabilize your spine, then shoulders and hips are just going to take a battering.

00:30:02.036 --> 00:30:10.019
And so if we, if you really want to be a great weightlifter, we also have to take care of some of those other things first before you can really excel at weightlifting.

00:30:13.047 --> 00:30:15.955
So that's from kind of a Gen Pop example.

00:30:15.955 --> 00:30:18.994
I think this will probably translate to youth as well.

00:30:18.994 --> 00:30:22.054
Do you work with youth athletes for weightlifting?

00:30:23.650 --> 00:30:40.569
Yeah, our eight athlete is eight years old, and then we have 10 year old, 12 year old, 13 year olds, and then quite a few 13, 14, 15, um, all the way through to to masters, lifters as well over 35, so quite a few youngsters so I want to hear your opinion on this.

00:30:41.071 --> 00:30:42.675
I know your opinion, I just want you to talk about it.

00:30:42.675 --> 00:30:45.713
Uh, you posted something on instagram a few days ago and I screenshotted it.

00:30:45.713 --> 00:30:47.551
This was a quote from Fred Duncan.

00:30:47.551 --> 00:30:56.971
I'm not sure who he is, but he said in the US, sports skill outpaces physical development due to early specialization and lack of physical preparation.

00:30:56.971 --> 00:31:01.011
That's why we have young athletes that run like newborn giraffes and don't know how to skip.

00:31:01.011 --> 00:31:09.549
Let's break that down like.

00:31:09.549 --> 00:31:14.405
So can you just start by describing, like, what, um, sports skill is versus physical development?

00:31:14.405 --> 00:31:19.508
And I think this will relate because most of our audience is between like 35 and 50.

00:31:19.508 --> 00:31:30.973
So they're kind of the age of like, uh, like, yeah, kids that have that are like getting into the athletic development phase, um, so can you start by describing what sports skill is versus physical development?

00:31:31.625 --> 00:31:35.545
Yeah, so sports skill would be something that is specific to the sport you're playing.

00:31:35.545 --> 00:31:53.518
So, for example, it might be swinging a bat in baseball high velocity pitching Baseball is a great example, kind of unfortunately because of early specialization so something that I would argue creates pretty big imbalances too.

00:31:53.518 --> 00:31:57.816
So obviously you throw with one arm and you swing one way with the bat.

00:31:57.816 --> 00:32:19.534
So if I'm going to be playing baseball four, five, six days a week and I'm going to be rotating to one side over and over and over again or throwing with one arm over and over and over again, that's a very sports specific skill, Whereas, like that GPP, that general physical preparation, is going to be focusing more on some of those movement patterns that we all use.

00:32:19.534 --> 00:32:25.007
So I talked about earlier in our movement class that squatting, hinging, lunging, push, pull, carry.

00:32:25.007 --> 00:32:27.715
Those are movement patterns.

00:32:27.715 --> 00:32:44.428
But then there's also things like proprioception, so working on hand-eye coordination, body balance, making sure that you have aerobic capacity, stamina, some of those things the things that underpin the high-level sports skills.

00:32:44.448 --> 00:33:13.377
So those general physical preparation are the things that actually underpin how advanced you can become in those sports specific skills yeah, so a trend that's been and, like what this post was referencing, there's been a trend and increase in early specialization where kids are no longer playing two or three sports up until high school, they're getting to one in like middle school or maybe even elementary school where they're like I'm gonna get good at this.

00:33:13.377 --> 00:33:16.213
And let's be real, at that age it's not the kid, it's the parents.

00:33:16.213 --> 00:33:24.435
They're making that decision and they're saying my kid's going to be really good at this and you can get a kid very good if you specialize to that early age.

00:33:24.435 --> 00:33:26.372
But maybe you can speak to this.

00:33:26.372 --> 00:33:48.472
The research that I've read on it is that injury risk is significantly higher in early specialization athletes because of kind of what you just alluded to about the kind of the imbalances and then also just like the lack of general physical preparedness where, like, they don't know how to do normal things that, like a human body should be able to do.

00:33:48.854 --> 00:33:50.580
Yeah, uh, massively, I mean.

00:33:50.580 --> 00:33:51.182
Uh.

00:33:51.182 --> 00:33:56.950
A good example of this is, uh, I had and she's a little bit older, but I had a volleyball player coming to the gym.

00:33:56.950 --> 00:33:58.534
I did a consult with me.

00:33:58.534 --> 00:34:05.457
It had acl tear, came back and went through rehab with a, with a physical therapist.

00:34:05.457 --> 00:34:09.989
Once they, once they got cleared and they went back into volleyball again.

00:34:09.989 --> 00:34:12.375
Uh, fast forward, I think six months.

00:34:13.016 --> 00:34:29.427
Uh, knee pain again had to go back in, clean out the meniscus, uh, physical therapy again finished physical therapy and then six months later she's kind of now she's come to us at the gym and uh, I did a bit of a, just a exercise history.

00:34:29.427 --> 00:34:40.068
And once they were done with the physical therapist and cleared she and this is never a slight on the athlete, this is, this is always kind of like it's our job as as coaches to to educate more.

00:34:40.068 --> 00:34:52.916
Um, but she was uh, training by herself in like a crunch fitness and so, post acl, post meniscus, so two surgeries and then she's doing her own coaching, she's doing her own training.

00:34:52.916 --> 00:35:02.387
So there is there's no, there's no guidance, there's no load management, and uh, and kind of said to her, like what, what else have you done?

00:35:02.387 --> 00:35:09.152
Oh well, we did some speed, quickness and agility drills with another coach and it's, and it's always, it always goes back to that.

00:35:09.152 --> 00:35:10.918
I've got to get better at my sport.

00:35:11.806 --> 00:35:27.367
And people don't equate what we do in the gym, the strength and conditioning, the core strength, the hip mobility, the, the all of all of those just baseline, boring, quote unquote kind of things, skills that aren't flashy and aren't sexy for Instagram.

00:35:27.367 --> 00:35:29.911
Um, they don't think they're that important.

00:35:29.911 --> 00:35:37.653
And one of the things that her dad said was oh, we don't have time for this.

00:35:37.653 --> 00:35:43.456
Like that's going to be our biggest issue because the coaches want her training five days a week.

00:35:43.456 --> 00:35:51.875
And it's like she tore her ACL and she had meniscus surgery because she didn't have that strength back.

00:35:51.875 --> 00:36:29.025
She damaged she's now damaged her knee twice and she's she's a, she's a junior in high school and she wants to play at college and it's like how do we educate in a way that says that you have to volleyball coaches, sports coaches they start to see these kids as dollar bills, more than kids that need to be developed properly so that they are able to be healthy for the rest of their lives, not just win a championship, and then, when they're out of your care, when they age out and go to college.

00:36:29.025 --> 00:36:31.652
Oh, it's not my problem, like it's.

00:36:32.152 --> 00:36:56.469
I think this goes back to talking to coaches that aren't just strength and conditioning coaches like myself that we have a responsibility, and as much as I want uh, I want my athletes to be some of the best athletes in the us, they won't be if I don't keep them healthy and I have a responsibility to them.

00:36:56.469 --> 00:37:10.753
That goes far beyond the sport and is about setting them up for success in life, not just in sports, and I don't know if it's parents to blame or it's maybe the sports coaches or kind of.

00:37:10.753 --> 00:37:13.239
The blame kind of is spread around a little bit more.

00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:31.938
But there's definitely a big, a big conversation that I think needs to be had about making sure that these kids aren't permanently damaged in all ways, physically, uh, as they become adults, because I mean, as a rugby player, I was training in the gym and I still got injuries that I'm still dealing with at 33.

00:37:32.418 --> 00:38:06.159
So how we, how we approach that in in a, in a, in a country where we prioritize sports as a business and a lot of the time it's it's not thought about like these are, these are people, these are kids that we, we could be harming for a lot longer than the the one year, two year, three years that they're under our care, that when we pass them along to the next person, we should be trying to pass them along in a way that they are their absolute best, even if it doesn't necessarily help my bottom line or help me in my career as a coach.

00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:12.567
And that goes back to, like I say, I'll be a successful coach and business owner if I create successful athletes.

00:38:12.567 --> 00:38:17.157
And successful athletes doesn't always mean the ones with the top results.

00:38:17.697 --> 00:38:39.851
It means the ones that are going to come back and remember that we made an impact, a positive impact on their life physically, mentally and emotionally, not just, oh, we got some championships yep, it's a much broader conversation and I think a lot of there's definitely societal pressure, right, and social media is probably showing exposure to this and there's probably a lot of like me to behavior.

00:38:39.851 --> 00:38:47.096
Well, it's like you see what the competition is doing, be like I have to be doing that too, and my kids have to be doing that too, or my team has to be doing that too.

00:38:47.096 --> 00:38:58.722
There's a lot of influences to this, for sure, and usually I always on the side of thing that I don't point towards nefarious behavior right away.

00:38:58.722 --> 00:39:02.344
I think most people are operating thinking like this is the best for these athletes.

00:39:02.445 --> 00:39:23.414
It's usually a lack of education, so it's why it's like one of those points I usually try to bring up anytime youth athletes come up, because, yeah, I trained plenty of really good youth golfers like unbelievable, and talk about a like a skill and precision based sport um, mental precision as well but then, like you throw them a tennis ball and like they don't know what to do with it.

00:39:23.414 --> 00:39:24.827
It's like their first time in their body.

00:39:24.827 --> 00:39:41.259
Or skipping is another good example where it's like that reciprocal opposite arm, opposite leg movement which you do when you walk, naturally, but you try to add a little bit of intensity to it and people end up doing like right arm, right leg going at the same time and you're like it's like against what the mind wants to do.

00:39:41.259 --> 00:39:48.364
Um, so like their body's just not even moving in a way that physiologically and instinctively it should be moving.

00:39:48.585 --> 00:39:49.666
Yeah, we're.

00:39:49.826 --> 00:40:37.652
It's like motor development is something that if you, if you even go to less developed countries, that you'll see that the motor development in kids that aren't sitting down a desk all day, they aren't sedentary these days, just because they're exposed to more things with a more variety, and so that foundation and we talk about that foundation and strength all the time of like, if you want a higher peak build, a better foundation, but that, but that, that translation from physical, general physical preparation to sport specific skills, I think is a little bit harder to explain because there's no direct correlation from how is this in the gym going to help them do that?

00:40:38.432 --> 00:40:52.309
Um, if they want to jump higher, then let's just keep jumping and it's like, well, yeah, but then we've got to think about tendon strength, we've got to think about, like, reactivity, we've got to think about proprioception and all of these other things that go into it.

00:40:52.309 --> 00:40:59.422
But, like you say, it's a, there's the, it's a definitely a multifaceted conversation, uh, that we need to have.

00:40:59.422 --> 00:41:03.271
It's not nefarious intent, but it's definitely has nefarious results.

00:41:03.271 --> 00:41:08.728
Um and uh, and unfortunately it's not the coaches that suffer, uh, it's the kids.

00:41:08.728 --> 00:41:30.195
Like two surgeries at 16 and an ACL, like that's a lifelong impact if it's not dealt with correctly and the last thing we want to do is have a whole generation of kids that are suffering long-term because of choices that we made as adults, when we could know better if we wanted to look into it.

00:41:31.364 --> 00:41:31.465
Right.

00:41:31.465 --> 00:41:37.590
That could potentially hinder their ability to exercise the rest of their lives in the way that they want to.

00:41:37.590 --> 00:41:43.030
Yep, so I want to go through a few rapid fire things.

00:41:43.030 --> 00:41:44.956
One thing I finally.

00:41:45.045 --> 00:41:49.914
I remembered what I forgot earlier the distinction between like walking versus exercise.

00:41:49.914 --> 00:42:04.474
I always prioritize those as like two separate entities because if you lump them together then I think when life gets busy, an exercise routine can really be something that drops off pretty early.

00:42:04.474 --> 00:42:16.313
But if you build a foundation of like a daily walking habit and you kind of split those apart, it's like you can lose your exercise routine but still be able to hit like a daily physical activity threshold.

00:42:16.313 --> 00:42:25.831
You may not be getting the intensity to drive performance and drive additional fitness, but not being sedentary, there's a lot to be said for the value of that.

00:42:25.831 --> 00:42:31.409
So, just kind of circling back, because I always love talking about walking, I'm like I can't believe I forgot about that.

00:42:31.429 --> 00:42:34.257
Just kind of circling back, Cause I always love talking about walking, I'm like I can't believe I forgot about that.

00:42:34.257 --> 00:42:40.653
Um, I wanted to get, uh, hear from you If there are any like common fitness misconceptions that you see or hear about in the gym.

00:42:40.653 --> 00:42:49.027
Um, I do a segment with a friend of mine, Danielle, where she asked questions of people like on the gym floor, and that's just always fun to hear, like what people are asking about.

00:42:49.027 --> 00:42:56.579
But you're kind of exposed to this all day, so are there any like common misconceptions that have been coming out that you'd want to share and dispel?

00:42:57.445 --> 00:43:04.288
Um, I think probably one of the biggest ones is just that more is better, that always people just think more is better in the gym.

00:43:04.288 --> 00:43:05.391
More is better in the gym.

00:43:05.391 --> 00:43:14.123
And, uh, I see far more people that are under recovered, um, than they are like not doing enough.

00:43:14.123 --> 00:43:14.545
You know what I mean.

00:43:14.545 --> 00:43:23.346
Like so many people are are training willing to do more in the gym, but just aren't willing to do more at home and they just think, okay, all my problems will be solved by doing more in the gym.

00:43:23.346 --> 00:43:31.117
Uh, I'd say that's probably one of the most common ones and that goes back to, like you just said, when fitness drops off, like if you have that baseline of health, that's a huge one.

00:43:31.117 --> 00:43:32.460
More is not always better.

00:43:32.460 --> 00:43:34.465
It's quality over quantity.

00:43:35.728 --> 00:43:37.653
Cool, yeah, I think that's a great one.

00:43:37.653 --> 00:43:39.036
We don't need to dig into that too much.

00:43:39.036 --> 00:43:45.449
I'd love to hear about the sponsorship program you've been trying to get up and running and kind of to that note.

00:43:45.449 --> 00:43:53.458
A lot of this conversation is based around, like we've been speaking largely to people who are lucky enough to be in a position where they have access to a gym.

00:43:53.458 --> 00:43:56.715
They live in a safe enough space that they can kind of walk every day.

00:43:56.715 --> 00:43:58.947
They have access to food, so it is like a.

00:43:58.947 --> 00:44:02.391
It's a privileged position and not everyone has access to these things.

00:44:02.391 --> 00:44:07.277
Right, unfortunately, money is such a driver in this world, but it is one of the realities.

00:44:07.277 --> 00:44:15.014
So you've tried setting up a sponsorship program for four kids, but can you just share the issues with that?

00:44:15.014 --> 00:44:19.721
It's crazy the amount of red tape involved with just trying to get some kids sponsorship to your gym.

00:44:20.585 --> 00:44:20.905
Yeah, definitely.

00:44:20.905 --> 00:44:42.012
So what we tried to do was create a program where people who are fortunate enough to have excess finances would be able to sponsor a child to come to the gym, would be able to sponsor a child to come to the gym, and so, as a gym, one thing we wanted to be able to do is have some tax relief for those people, so they're not just giving more money to the gym but they have a benefit to it as well.

00:44:42.012 --> 00:44:43.030
So it's more fair.

00:44:43.030 --> 00:44:57.853
It's funny, because we talk about early specialization and things like that with kids, but then you have people that have maybe really really loved their sport.

00:44:57.853 --> 00:45:28.780
Um, a prime example of this was somebody who had tommy john surgery, came back and then doesn't have, uh, the finances to be able to pay for proper rehab, for something like tommy john surgery and yep, and so what we tried to do was try and set up a way in which we can have either find donations from the local area, get local businesses involved or even just our members donate to be able to provide rehab services or just gym memberships for people is.

00:45:28.780 --> 00:45:55.614
Just setting up these things is extremely complicated and difficult and is a whole other set of of, uh of kind of like taxes, finances, bookkeeping, things like that um, and then also making having that where we benefit ourselves is also a bit of a gray area, so that can be difficult as well, but the one of the big things is also finding people that uh are good candidates.

00:45:55.856 --> 00:46:04.206
Funnily enough, uh, people that uh, when you do give them sponsorship, actually are uh, uh stick to some of the parameters that we give.

00:46:04.206 --> 00:46:06.452
So we basically say you do have to come in three days a week.

00:46:06.452 --> 00:46:08.385
You do have to fulfill these obligations.

00:46:08.385 --> 00:46:13.527
So if you are going to be sponsored in the gym, you, you have to do some of the cleaning in the gym and you have to do these things.

00:46:13.527 --> 00:46:29.056
And it's uh, it's been an interesting thing to see just how hard sometimes it is to help people genuinely Um and uh and see some of these kids uh actually give back because they're being gifted a gym membership and things like that.

00:46:29.056 --> 00:46:37.561
So it's definitely something that we're going to keep working on in the future, but it's, it hasn't come without its struggles, unfortunately, uh, it's, uh.

00:46:38.282 --> 00:46:48.110
I think it's one of those areas that it's funny when you, when I saw this the other day, was uh, so about nonprofits and the money they make versus the impact they make, um, and things like that.

00:46:48.110 --> 00:46:49.353
So it's definitely it's a.

00:46:49.353 --> 00:46:50.695
It's an interesting area.

00:46:50.695 --> 00:47:09.576
That's, uh, when I've got more time as a gym owner and business owner, that I want to dive into, because I know there's people out there that genuinely need this help, people that have been a victim of early specialization and that financial barrier is the barrier for them to get the help they need so they can really become an athlete.

00:47:09.936 --> 00:47:47.230
So, uh, making sure that we do that later on, I think is is important because there are there are an extreme, there's an extreme amount of of athletes out there that deserve to be helped, um, and could be incredible athletes, but don't have access to proper coaching and proper training and a lot of the time, I feel like some of the best athletes we see are their situation allows them to excel, and there's a lot of kids in the same position that they could really excel, but they're just not able to get themselves in the same situation.

00:47:47.230 --> 00:47:54.601
And I'd love to be able to impact those people that just fall through that net and don't get the support that they need to get, to impact those people that just fall through that net and don't get the support that they need to get to the next level.

00:47:56.061 --> 00:48:06.271
Yeah, um, so anyone listening who happens to know a good Florida lawyer who specializes in nonprofit work or an accountant who could advise on these, who wants to do some pro bono work?

00:48:06.271 --> 00:48:12.652
Um, we'll make sure all of Mark's contact information is in the show notes so we'll try to get you some help on that.

00:48:12.652 --> 00:48:14.574
Yeah, cause it's a.

00:48:14.574 --> 00:48:15.876
You know, I love that.

00:48:15.876 --> 00:48:23.344
You've been working on that and it is it's.

00:48:23.344 --> 00:48:28.846
It's strange how much paperwork and how tricky it is, especially from like somebody who doesn't normally operate in that particular space, to just trying to figure out that sponsorship side of things.

00:48:28.846 --> 00:48:31.452
I do have one final question.

00:48:31.452 --> 00:48:33.795
Um is is Coda a gym dog?

00:48:34.257 --> 00:48:35.505
She absolutely is a gym dog.

00:48:35.505 --> 00:48:37.309
Yes, yeah, she's a.

00:48:37.309 --> 00:48:38.050
She's um.

00:48:38.050 --> 00:48:39.974
It's funny being in Florida.

00:48:39.974 --> 00:48:47.547
We get a lot of thunderstorms and you hear a lot of dogs being afraid of thunderstorms and the amount of weights that she hears dropping at the gym all day and the weightlifting right.

00:48:47.547 --> 00:48:50.251
She has never once been afraid of any any thunder.

00:48:50.251 --> 00:48:59.467
And she's, she's out there, she lies on her bed while we're all dropping heavyweights every day and she's in there for some cuddles for anybody that isn't feeling it.

00:48:59.467 --> 00:49:07.172
Like we said, had a bad day at work but like, hey, well, just you know, I'll go to the office and go say hi to Coda for a little bit, and that normally turns their day around a little bit.

00:49:07.932 --> 00:49:09.355
I bet it's a big help for a lot of people.

00:49:09.355 --> 00:49:13.641
Are there any, any resources you want to point people towards?

00:49:13.641 --> 00:49:21.074
I know we cover a lot, but anything that you like, that you consume, that you think would be along these same lines, that people can kind of go to as well.

00:49:23.226 --> 00:49:31.007
If I'm honest, I try my best other than my own continuing education to try and stay away from it as much as I can.

00:49:31.007 --> 00:49:35.487
When I'm not in the gym, I, uh, I'm a big, I'm just a big audio book guy.

00:49:35.487 --> 00:49:41.849
Fiction, audio books, um, one of my favorite I did read recently I'll tell you a good book recommendation is shoe dog.

00:49:41.849 --> 00:49:44.375
If you've heard of shoe dog, uh, yep, that's.

00:49:44.375 --> 00:49:45.846
Is it up there somewhere?

00:49:45.846 --> 00:49:46.746
There's somewhere.

00:49:46.947 --> 00:49:48.309
Yeah, that's, that's a great book.

00:49:48.309 --> 00:49:50.512

Elevating Lives Through Fitness: Mark Roberts' Journey to Building Community and Wellness in the Gym (Part 2)

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