The Active Life Podcast

Episode 63 - Nick St. Louis, Your Flat Feet don’t have to be permanent   Nick St. Louie is an absolute monster of knowledge and self awareness as it pertains to how the human foot is supposed to work! Did you know that you can temporarily reverse fallen arches in under 5 seconds? Did you know that if your arches improve in under 5 seconds, even temporarily that it means you do not have to live with flat feet? I thought it was pretty cool to learn about this simple test that we take you through on this episode. Nick and I also cover topics like taping ankles for sport, how using a balance beam can change your feet and hips, and how to choose the perfect shoe. This episode is pure knowledge and you’re going to love it.   Nick can be found at: @thefootcollective www.thefootcollective.com

“Injury prevention” is nonsense. No one can prevent injury. The best that we can hope to do is to reduce the risk of injury. In this episode Dr. jeremy and I (Dr. Sean) discuss how fitness professionals and athletes can drastically reduce the likelihood of injury in the gym. This episode should be a frying pan moment for anyone who is not already thinking in the way we discuss!  

“If you want to find a guy who can lift, make him work the fields for a day or do a bunch of manual labor, then invite him over for dinner and watch how much he eats. A guy who eats a lot is a guy who can handle a load” - Coach Joe Gazio Have you ever met someone who believed in something so intensely that you had no choice but to shut up and listen when in their presence? We have. His name was Coach joe Gazio.  Three years ago at Active Life Athletics we realized that the weightlifting coaching acumen while acceptable, or even good for a CrossFit gym was inadequate from an elite weightlifting perspective. So we sought out the most knowledgeable person who we could find to fill the void. Coach Joe, a Ukranian educated and immersion minded coach spoke to our staff and our members with very little sympathy for inadequacy. You did not question why he asked you to do something because you just knew he was right and he had already tried it your way and failed more times than you had even thought about it. We were looking for someone to teach us without gimmicks or tricks. With Coach Joe in charge you could PR your snatch with improper technique only to hear him say “that was all arms, do it again.”, with no acknowledgement for the accomplishment. When elite athletes come to our clinic for our help the person who they often stayed in contact with afterwards would be Coach Joe. They enjoyed sending him videos for review and questions about their programming. Coach Joe walked with a posture that seemed to be stuck in the starting position for a heavy lift yet he stood taller than most in the coaching world. Unfortunately we lost Coach joe to Pancreatic Cancer this past week. We don’t know many things, but one thing we do know is that there will never be another Coach Joe. After you listen to this episode that we recorded a little over a year ago, you will understand exactly why.

Most frustration in life can be avoided by doing your job and allowing other people to do theirs. The hardest part of achieving that end is having people around you who you can trust to do their job effectively. In this episode Dr. Jeremy and I (Dr. Sean) discuss the jobs that the Coach, and Doctor, and the Athlete have to execute on to keep an athlete performing at their best. Remember before you say “this isn’t for me because I’m not an athlete.”, as legendary track coach and Nike CoFounder Bill Bowerman once said “if you have a body, you’re an athlete.”

Episode 61 - Dawn Fletcher, How to Improve your Performance by Shifting your Mindset   Dawn Fletcher is an absolute savage when it comes to making athletes and high achievers better by building an indestructible mind. In this talk with Dawn we get into topics from how to approach difficult conversations to why effective mindset can make the difference between 30+ spots in the final standings of the CrossFit Games for an athlete.   Dawn Can be found at: @mentalitywod www.mentalitywod.com

Episode 60 - What we learned from teaching   We just wrapped up our third internationally attended assessments workshop and we learned a lot this time. Dr. Jeremy and I (Dr. Sean), spend some time with you today discussing what we learned from our attendees and how we are using it to make ourselves and our services better. If you are the head coach at a gym, a teacher, or a manager at a business, this podcast is for you. We are surrounded by opportunities to learn every day. On this episode we spell out under no uncertain terms how you can spot those opportunities.  

You have had the same injury over and over again, now you identify as someone who just has a certain chronic issue that you have no control over. Fortunately, you’re wrong. In this episode Dr. Ray Gorman, a Physical Therapist for the University of Nevada Athletic Program, Owner of Engagemvmt Physical Therapy, and member of our esteemed Workshop Staff discusses how you can have a smarter strategy when it comes to returning from injury. Dr. Gorman is our team’s post surgical specialist and when you listen to this episode, the way you thought about injury will never be the same.   Dr. Gorman can be found at @engagemvmt  

You have no idea how much opportunity you leave on the table when you are afraid to ask for something that you want. We constantly put ourselves in the position of others, or at least in the position we think others are in, and that’s the problem. When you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you risk them not fitting you. Often times people want you to ask them for things, for help, or to help them. In this episode we talk about how to ask in a way that will actually make you feel good about doing it.

CrossFit NYC AKA “The Black Box” pays almost $1,500,000 per year in rent. Staff members make over $100,000 per year. The concrete floor to buffer sound cost over $100,000. The cleaning service costs over $2,000 per week. And according to the gym’s owner, Hari Singh, that, and more is all worth it. In this episode we talk to Hari about the responsibility associated with the health and fitness of over 1,600 members and 26 staff members. We discuss how Hari and his staff brought CFNYC to greatness and what he believes the future of the gym and the gym business is. Any business owner can gain great value from this interview.   CrossFit NYC can be found at: www.crossfitnyc.com @crossfit_nyc  

This is an absolute must listen for anyone frustrated by their co-workers. “It’s not my job” might be the best thing to say if you want to lose your job but also the most tempting thing to say when your co-workers under perform. Usually we are proponents of just knowing and doing your job, staying within your responsibilities and absolutely nailing them. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask for more responsibility, it means that when you move off of your task you risk doing someone else’s job the wrong way and screwing it all up. But today we are talking about when that is poor advice. Today we are talking about how you can help your co-workers do their job better and in turn, make yourself more money.