More Train, Less Pain; Engineering the Adaptable Athlete

Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of various internet health personalities- Attia, Huberman, and Rhonda Patrick all come to mind. In a lot of ways, we’re fans. Especially with the ever-declining standard of care for conventional insurance-based medicine in this country, it’s heartening to see so many folks attempting to take matters into their own hands. Never before has the national discourse actually centered around topics like protein consumption, light exposure, or strength training for longevity. However, these thought leaders have had to learn to play in the medium of the day- namely podcasts, IG content, and YouTube clips that reward sensationalism, quick fixes, and “hacks” over tried and true practices. Save the carnivore diet, nothing has gotten more play amongst the fitness intelligentsia of late than deliberate extreme temperature exposure, a la cold plunges and saunas. What’s the deal with these modalities? Are they a flash-in-the-pan fad or facets of an intelligently designed physical practice that will endure the test of time? For answers to these questions, and more, listen to Tim’s sit down with Sam Leffers, friend of the pod and mental health practitioner extraordinaire, as they dive deep on the research and practical utilization of this type of work. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

While you are waiting for MTLP Season 4, Michelle sits down with her microphone and gives some insights into how she reflects on 2023 and plans for 2024. In this episode, Michelle lays out her struggles and successes in 2023, what will be new in 2024, the story behind Reframe Performance, MTLP Season 4 planning, running 100km in the Swiss Alps, and her annual planning strategies. I think you will find something useful, learn some things to avoid, and realize that we probably share the same struggles. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle countdown their Top 3 Takeaways from Season 3. In this episode we discuss strategies to build rapport, developing intuition within the body, compassionate presence, low tension as a default resting state, negative transfer of training, gen pop vs. performance training, Kintsugi, momentum vs. progression, practical vs. optimal, and reframing performance. Thank you for listening to Season 3! We will be back for Season 4 in a few weeks! Tim and Michelle hope you have enjoyed Season 3, as much as they have enjoyed recording it, and while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let them continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with Dr. Lisa Lewis, EdD, CADA-II, Licensed Psychologist who is known as the ‘psych coach for fitness pros’. Dr. Lewis works with a wide variety of clientele but her passion for wellness and fitness has fueled working with trainers and therapists, just like yourself. In this episode we discuss her personal experience with training and pain, what coaching skills trainers are lacking to help motivate their clients and facilitate change, client relationships, the capacity to tolerate client’s discomfort, compassionate presence, and working with “tough clients”. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle answer all of your questions about pain and training in this week’s episode. We tackled your questions with all of our might to provide you answers about Tim’s hip pain status, Tim’s pain management strategies, what books we recommend related to Season 3’s theme, how to evolve your model, our thoughts about common three letter acronym systems, and our own struggling working with persistent pain clients. Michelle and Tim hope you enjoy the show as much as they enjoyed recording it, and, while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let Michelle and Tim continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Embarrassingly, Tim didn't create an Instagram account until early 2018. For the first 6 months of having that account, there were precisely two entities he followed - Zac Cupples and Resilient Rehab and Performance. If you listen to this podcast, there's a good chance you know of Zac. However, the Resilient boys (Trevor, Greg, and today's guest, Doug) have flown a little more under the radar; nevertheless, since 2015, they've quietly built a private PT empire spanning Manhattan, New Jersey, and Connecticut. If you scroll WAY back on Resilient's account, you can still see Doug sprinting in a field or Trevor goblet squatting a kettlebell so large it looks more 15th century cannonball and less weight training implement. Anyhow, these guys have some shared mentors with Michelle and Tim, and they very much respect Resilient’s base of knowledge when it comes to all things biomechanics and persistent pain management. Doug, specifically, has been through his own personal ringer with back issues so severe that, at one point, he could hardly walk more than a block at a time. Additionally, he's a badass backcountry skier, and his life before PT school was jumping out of airplanes to administer emergency medical care to military personnel in war-torn lands. Tim... managed the carts on a golf course. Tim wanted to talk with Doug about how personal experience has impacted Doug’s treatment style, popular misconceptions regarding persistent pain, and skewing strength and conditioning exercises towards higher reward and lower risk. They covered those and then some, also working in a discussion of "Goggins versus coddling", the necessity of treatment models to be both explanatory and predictive, and normalizing pain amongst practitioners. Michelle and Tim hope you enjoy the show as much as they enjoyed recording it, and, while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let Michelle and Tim continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with Lucy Hendricks, owner of Enhancing Life Gym in Lexington, KY. A biomechanics nerd turned client relationship wizard, Lucy is a well-spoken teacher and guide for trainers working with persistent pain clients. Her ability to skillfully coach exercises and conquer the art of communication makes Lucy the perfect person to discuss bringing awareness to the human body, why it is so scary for trainers to work with people in pain, the art of communication, fighting beliefs around pain, the skill of reading people, first interactions, training model adjustments for people in persistent pain, and normalizing feedback. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with the walking king himself, Dean Guedo. Dean is a former athlete and powerlifter turned nutrition coach and rucking enthusiast with a simple message: walk more, WAY more. In this episode we discuss, Dean’s personal fitness and pain journey, the searching process of fitness through life changes, high flux, why we need to move more, why going to the gym may not be enough, structured lifts vs. building capacity with moving, and why your step count may not be a bad obsession. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

There are a few voices in this industry that simply have a knack for being incredibly reasonable with their training approach and evolving their model gradually over time. Eric Cressey, Dan John, and Tony are all names that come to mind. So, when it comes to having thoughts about the day to day realities of training people experiencing persistent pain, it was assured Tony would have some fascinating things to say, in addition to a few off-the-cuff 90s movies references- he did NOT disappoint in either regard. In this episode, Tony and Tim get into the concepts of “training through” injury, delineating fitness versus rehab, Tony’s “trainable menu”, lowering pain sensitivity thresholds via lifestyle interventions, the red light/green light system, and a whole host of other topics. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Want to add a new tool to your toolbox? Join Michelle as she sits down with Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFRT) experts to talk physiology and implementation. Dr. Susie Lachowski, PhD, CSCS is the Founding Director and Assistant Professor of the Division of Exercise Science at American International College in Springfield, MA and Owner of Glass Training and Education. Susie is a leader within the industry on BFRT and certifies Exercise and Sports Medicine professionals in the BFRT modality across the country. Dr. Connor Sheridan is a physical therapist at Divergence PT and Wellness in Wellesley, MA and puts BFRT into action. In this episode, we discuss the physiology and implementation of BFRT, case studies and examples for its use, strategies for working with both performance and persistent pain clients, BFRT as a modality to train at low intensities with muscle growth, cardiovascular, and recovery benefits, how to prepare persistent clients for BFRT, specific training protocols, and much more. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt