HNL Movement Podcast

This week, welcome football coach Samson Anguay to the podcast!   As a coach, Samson is truly inspiring to listen to, being someone who truly believes in taking action with your calling. Samson has many experiences to share with us in this episode, from the beginning of his football career, overcoming injuries, and general life lessons he’s learned along the way.  Born and raised in Hawaii, sports have been a huge part of Samson’s life.  Growing up in a football-oriented family, he claims that football was more like something he was born into.  His love for football came naturally, and he loves to share that passion now with young men through his coaching.  Samson attended the University of Hawaii, which is where he learned a lot about overcoming injuries, performance, and mental toughness.  He didn’t experience injuries in high school, but in college, he went through a long journey with tearing his ACL and the recovery process.  Other injuries down the line, including a shoulder injury and a meniscus tear, Samson has a lot of wisdom to share when it comes to working through these types of setbacks.  Listen in as he shares the way that his experiences with injuries shaped him as an athlete and did not hold him back. Samson now leads a coaching organization, working with the youth, and he sees this as his mission to help these kids become the best that they can be.  Find more about his coaching by finding him on Instagram: @thecoach_samosonanguay.  You can also find him on Facebook by looking up Sam Anguay: Aloha Performance Academy.  Enjoy this episode, and stay tuned for more! Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, Andrew dives into the importance of properly rehabbing and strengthening following ankle sprains.  Ankle sprains are a common injury, and they’ve often been brushed off as not a big deal in the grand scheme of injuries.  However, an ankle sprain can leave you sitting on the bench and also restrict your daily activities, so it’s important to address an ankle sprain properly so that it doesn’t reoccur.  What causes an ankle sprain in the first place?  Andrew dives into the subject of kinesthetic awareness and the science behind what causes an ankle sprain.  Improving your kinesthetic awareness, proprioception, strength, and mobility are important factors that will help to prevent future ankle sprains from occuring.  Listen in to hear more about the fascinating ways the body communicates with the brain to protect your joints, muscles, and ligaments.  If you’ve ever had an ankle sprain, and most of us have at some point, you know that it takes time to heal.  This episode will provide you with all the steps that we typically encounter recovering from an ankle sprain, including the importance of not over-icing the injury.  Ice should be used immediately, the first thing after the sprain occurs, but be careful about using ice as a crutch.  Andrew will tell you the reasons for this. This episode is for everyone, and it’s a good reminder not to cut corners with any injury.  Injury recovery is a process, and this includes the ever-so-common ankle sprain injuries.  You’ll want to focus on restoring function through the recovery process and gradually increase your strength and conditioning as you return to your activities.  Listen in and enjoy all of the in-depth knowledge and information in this episode!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, Andrew interviews Liz Flannigan, a friend and colleague of his from athletic training school.  Liz is currently working as an athletic trainer at Waianae High School in Hawaii and has some great stories to share from her path and the reasons why she chose her career in athletic training.  Liz actually grew up in Wyoming.  Her upbringing was quite different from Hawaii life!  She covers a lot of the differences in this conversation between being an athlete in Wyoming and transitioning to life in Hawaii.  Growing up, she played many sports and always considered herself an athlete.  It was in college when she tore her ACL just before beginning her first track season.  The care and attention she received from the school’s athletic trainer are what inspired her to become an athletic trainer herself.  Liz has a lot of inspiration to share, and her enthusiasm is infectious.  Listen in on this episode to soak up some of Liz’s words of wisdom and the story of her journey.  Especially if you are an athlete, an athletic trainer or thinking of building an athletic career, this episode is not to miss!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This episode is all about the importance of off-season training, and how to do it so that your body gets what it needs to develop.  Everyone, not just athletes alone, can benefit from listening to this episode, as it can be applied to so many things.  The off-season is a time to focus on elevating your performance to set you up for the next season.  Emphasis should be placed on the word “training” during the off-season.  It’s a time to build your body up, develop yourself further, and get ready for the next season.  Part of this is letting your body have a break and focusing on these key elements:•   Developing movement•   Developing strength•   Becoming a more well-rounded athlete•   Becoming a well-rounded mover Off-season training is also a time for the body to get a break from all of the demands put on it during the season.  Think of training that is less specific to your sport and focus on strength and conditioning, as well as giving yourself a mental and emotional reset.  The off-season is not a time to continue going hard and strong in your sport, but it’s a time to let your body train in other ways so that you can elevate your performance, even more, when the next season comes around.  Listen in on this episode to learn how to train smarter during the off-season.  Andrew emphasizes everyone giving themselves a good reset during the off-season, and in this episode, he will tell you how.  Tune in and learn how to direct your training in a way that works for you to become a stronger and more well-rounded athlete.  Aloha!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this week’s episode, welcome UFC fighter, Louis “Da Last Samurai” Smolka to the podcast! Louis shares his passion for fighting, beginning with his story from childhood and growing up in Hawaii.  He has had quite the journey, beginning from an early age in martial arts.  As an MMA fighter, he has become agile in many forms of martial arts over the years, but the very first was karate. He began taking karate at 7 years old, picking up judo and wrestling a little later, which became his two major sports in high school. Louis was not athletically the best in high school, and he shares his story of how he overcame certain setbacks and worked through obstacles to get to where he’s at today. It took some true grit at improving his craft to becoming a professional fighter. His career has not been without setbacks either. At one point, he got let go of the UFC. Louis shares what he learned from that experience and how it developed his mental toughness to get back in.  Listen in on this episode as Louis shares some of his favorite memories and lessons from fighting in the UFC. Of course, his story does not come without injuries, so you’ll hear inspiration based on his injury recovery and his time working with Andrew. Louis encourages everyone not to push themselves too hard and to do what their body will allow. He also touches on the importance of body awareness, which is the best base practice for anyone, no matter their sport or lifestyle, that pays off the most.  Louis is very entertaining to listen to, this episode contains many gems that are not to be missed.  Be sure to listen to the end when Louis describes his experience playing X-box as himself in the UFC game.  Enjoy!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, let’s talk about calories.  How many times in the last week have you decided to eat or not eat something based on the number of calories it contained?  If you are a calorie counter, this episode is for you.  The truth, we have all been misled by the information we have been receiving about calories.  Listen in as Andrew provides a new perspective on calories and what they mean to us.  Andrew begins by diving into some history, but not too far back.  Calories were never a thing until the 1900s.  Before then, no one paid any attention to calories or even knew what they were.  At the same time, people were in much better physical condition back then, and no one was counting calories.  It wasn’t until the 1920s that calorie counting became a mainstream thing.So what is a calorie?  A calorie is a unit to measure the amount of energy that is in something.  This measure of energy has become a way for many people to determine what they can and cannot eat.  However, placing excess attention on calories is not health-promoting.  Here, Andrew gives us 3 reasons why:1.      Calories are not an accurate way to measure energy in food2.      Everyone utilizes calories differently3.      Calories don’t represent the quality of the foods we’re eating Nutrition is a complex issue, and there is a lot of information out there.  Let this episode help you gain some new knowledge on the ways to eat more intuitively, focused on quality and not quantity.  Enjoy this episode, and hopefully, it will shed some light on a subject that has been misleading people for almost an entire century.  Aloha! Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, welcome NFL linebacker, Manti Te‘o, to the podcast!  Listen in for some great stories and insight, as Manti Te‘o shares his background, journey, and everything he’s learned along the way.  He shares his stories from childhood up to college and playing for Notre Dame.  His entire journey has shaped him tremendously as a person, especially when it comes to his mental strength and sense of self.  Growing up in Hawaii, Manti was always active in many sports.  In fact, he played all of them!  Manti explains how playing different sports growing up helped him to become a better football player.  He agrees with the importance of trying different sports growing up to become better at the sport of your choice.  While playing the sports that he wasn’t the strongest in, that’s where he has learned the most.  Andrew and Manti touch on the subject that failure is where growth happens, and even as a kid, those times when you don’t succeed are the ones that lead you to the most growth. When it comes to his success, Manti emphasizes the fact that he wouldn’t be where he is today if he didn’t have parents who instilled important qualities and characteristics in him as a child.  Manti has some great stories to share here about his experience growing up and the different ways that he received encouragement and support from his parents.  This is a great episode for anyone looking to be inspired by ways of furthering their children or their students on the road to success.As a star player, one thing he started to become clear about before he even hit college was the difference between arrogance and confidence.  This distinction made him a better athlete and teammate.  It’s not just all about what you do, but it’s also about who you are.  There have been times in his career when this distinction was challenged, especially by the opinions of others.  These challenges are what led to him strengthening his sense of self and staying strong in who he truly is.  Listen in on this inspiring and entertaining episode with Manti and all the little gems shared throughout it.  Aloha!Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

How often do we say to ourselves or others that we just don’t have enough time?  We all have busy lives, balancing work and family, running businesses, or going to school.  How can we make the time for ourselves in our busy schedules, time for working out, and time for doing what we love?  If you have asked yourself this question, listen in on this episode about making time.  In this episode, Andrew highlights an inspiring TED Talk by Laura Vanderkam on making time for your priorities.  In Laura’s TED talk, she takes a deep dive into the fact that when we say that we don’t have time, it actually means that we’re not making it a priority.  What if we can all see what our priorities are and put them first?  She says, “We don’t build the lives we want by saving time.  We build the lives we want, and time saves itself.”Andrew invites all of us to see what’s been on the back-burner.  How can we utilize our time a little better and make our time more efficient so that we can do the things we want to do?  How can we make more time for taking care of ourselves?Listen in on this episode to learn how to make time more elastic.  Laura emphasizes that time will stretch to accommodate what we put into it.  The first step is to see what your highest priorities are.  Look ahead in the next year and decide what you would like to focus on the most in your professional life and in your personal life.  What do you want to accomplish the most out of your professional life?  What do you want to accomplish the most with your family life?  What would make you the proudest to accomplish by the end of the year?  When it comes to your fitness goals, what could you add to your routines that would elevate your performance?  What can you incorporate into your workouts that will elevate your performance that perhaps you’ve been skipping to save time?  How can we utilize our time better to meet our fitness and nutrition goals?  No matter what area your goals are in, this episode is for anybody who wants to make more time and build the life you want.  Also, try listening in on Laura Vanderkam’s TED talk:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kNlFMXsloEnjoy! Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

This episode features Tessa Fournier, who is professional volleyball player, Kupono Fey’s girlfriend.  Tessa speaks on playing volleyball, overcoming injuries, and playing smart to achieve optimal performance.  Tessa shares her story from growing up in Redondo Beach, California with a highly athletic family.  Her family was not just athletic, but highly competitive too, which gave Tessa her spirit for winning and success.  She speaks about the ways her family would compete over anything and all of their endearing qualities that made life fun.  Like many professional athletes, Tessa began her journey playing other sports, mainly soccer.  Yet, growing up in one of the volleyball hotspots of the world, she found her love for volleyball at age 11.  From there, she didn’t really look back.  Volleyball was her thing, and once she entered high school, she played on the varsity as a freshman.  Tessa is inspiring to listen to.  You can hear her passion and drive, but also her dedication to what she does.  Her journey has not been without injuries, and the stories of how she overcame those injuries are proof that she has developed her mental toughness.  Her first major injury was a pars defect, which is a fracture in a section of the vertebrae that make up the spinal column.  This took time to heal, and she shares her healing journey with that injury.  She also played several games at Seton Hall with a broken wrist, which happened following a collision with her teammate.  In college, Tessa landed a volleyball scholarship at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.  She shares a lot about that journey as well and what it took for her to pursue that dream.  She is now a coach for girls’ volleyball and feels passionate about inspiring other young women to go after their dreams and aspirations.  Listen in on this episode and to Tessa’s wisdom that she gained along the way of her athletic journey.  Enjoy! Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

In this episode, Andrew takes a deep dive into the subject of proper knee alignment and the importance of taking care of your knees throughout your life.  This episode is for anyone, no matter how active or inactive your lifestyle is!  Throughout each day, the majority of our activities involve weight-bearing movements that affect our knees.  This includes walking, going up and down the stairs, squatting, jumping, running, etc.  Having proper knee alignment is one of the big things we all need to focus on for injury prevention and knee health down the line.  This episode covers the details about what exactly affects the alignment of our knees.  It doesn’t start and stop at the knees.  Everything is connected, and there are so many variables that affect the knees.  Our knees are impacted, not just by our movement, but these other factors as well: Foot placementAnkle mobilityHip alignmentHip and core strength/stabilityHip and core mobilityWhen it comes to movement, our knees are only supposed to move in a hinged fashion.  In other words, our knees are not supposed to move in multiple planes.  This is when injuries and wear and tear on the knees start occurring.  If you do not have proper knee alignment, it creates the risk for these injuries:SprainsWear and tear on the knee joint itselfTears in ligaments, such as the ACL, MCL, and LCLPatellofemoral injuriesListen in on this episode as Andrew shares his in-depth knowledge on how to properly care for the knees and avoid any injuries or issues in the future.  The knowledge shared in this episode will help you learn how to bulletproof your knees and give you insight into the ways that all of our parts are deeply connected.This episode is complimentary to episode 8, which is all about how to improve your squat techniques.  To revisit episode 8, click here.Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio