The Ready State Podcast

A conversation about pain would not be complete without acknowledging opioids and all of the drugs used to treat pain. Chris Bell is the award winning documentary filmmaker behind Prescription Thugs (2015) that explores the opioid crisis in America. His newest film, A Leaf of Faith (2018), covers all aspects of the controversial drug, Kratom, a plant-based supplement showing big promise in pain relief. Chris has first-hand experience with chronic pain and the all to common drug abuse that comes with it. He talks openly about his experience with pain, drugs, death, and we go deep into all things Kratom. Chris joined us via Skype.

Sue Falsone is the first female head athletic trainer in any of the four major sports in the US, most recently with the LA Dodgers for 6 years. Functioning as both an athletic trainer and physical therapist to her athletes, she was able to develop a truly innovative and successful approach to treatment. She discusses her philosophy on pain and treatment, returning injured athletes to an elite level of sport, as well as being female in a male-dominated field. Sue joined us via Skype.

You may know Laird Hamilton as a big wave surfer, innovator, actor, and writer. What you might not know, is that Laird suffered and surfed through extreme chronic pain from a hip injury (and various other injuries). Laird has an interesting perspective on pain and helps us understand how his philosophy on life, nutrition, and fitness all play into health and recovery. Laird joined us via Skype from his home.

Dr. Andrew Huberman is a professor and researcher at Stanford University and is one of the foremost experts in neuroplasticity. He talks about the experience of pain, the brain's capacity to re-wire itself, and what he calls self-directed and adaptive plasticity. As we get into the specifics of his current work around fear and anxiety, he even gives us some fear reduction techniques. Andrew joined us via Skype from his lab at Stanford.

Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the biggest influences on the spine-first philosophy laid out in Becoming a Supple Leopard. He is a retired Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, the writer of many influential books, and is an expert on back pain. Stu speaks with us about pain, the mechanisms, and his unique treatment methodology with clinical examples including his work with legendary powerlifter, Brian Carroll, the subject of his newest book, Gift of Injury (written with Carroll).

To dive right into the subject of pain, we knew we had to talk to the one and only Georges St-Pierre, UFC's 2017 Middleweight Champion of the World, and formerly 2x Welterweight Champion of the World. You can't talk about UFC without considering the role that pain plays in both training and competing. GSP talks frankly about how he experiences and deals with pain, both physical and mental, at the highest level of competitive sport. Georges joined us via Skype from Montreal, CA.

Pain is a universal experience for every human and we wanted to understand more about how it works, the role of that the brain plays, and how we can shift our relationship with pain. We spoke with athletes, scientists, filmmakers, and writers to help conceptualize the very complex and subjective nature of pain. Check out Season 2 for chats with Georges St-Pierre, Chris Bell, Laird Hamilton, Amelia Boone, Sue Falsone, Stu McGill, Andrew Huberman, and Alex Hutchinson.   Welcome to Season 2. We think you're gonna like it here.

We are continuing our discussion on nutrition in this episode with Dr. Catherine Shanahan. Dr. Cate is a board-certified family physician with a background in biology, biochemistry, genetics, and ethnobotany. She attended medical school with an interest in how nutrition affects genetic health but graduated not having learned much about nutrition. It wasn't until she relocated to Hawaii that everything she did know about nutrition was turned upside down. Hawaii has the longest lifespans of any state and she was able to study the culinary habits of her patients – each of whom were raised in rural areas on home-grown foods prepared by simple methods. These findings were the start of her groundbreaking book, Deep Nutrition. This book is the single most important nutrition book that Juliet has ever found, and has truly changed the way the Starretts think about food and the way they eat.   For more info on Deep Nutrition, check out Dr. Cate's website!

Nutrition is a huge part of the conversation for us, both personally and professionally. We are constantly hearing about fad diets and calorie counting. Our basic philosophy is to EAT REAL FOOD. Even still, we are always exploring how nutrition affects our overall health and fitness -what we eat, when we eat, the quality of the ingredients, even the types of oils we use. We are excited about this conversation with John Berardi - he is a writer, coach, researcher, athlete, and the co-founder of Precision Nutrition. John has devoted his career to making health and fitness something that can be achieved by everyone. Precision Nutrition is built on the simple idea that "Good health and a thriving body are the birthright of every single person on this planet." They have an extensive network of multidisciplinary, research-driven coaches that have helped tens of thousands of people work toward their goals and live healthier lives. Precision Nutrition also offers two certification programs enabling fitness and health professionals to become elite coaches using the latest nutrition knowledge in their own practices. Check out more info on Precision Nutrition! Check out the infographic that Juliet mentioned at the top of the episode!

Rebecca Rusch has famously been dubbed "The Queen of Pain" and is one of the toughest athletes in the world. Her litany of accomplishments literally defies belief. She's a seven-time World Champion in multiple sports, four-time Leadville 100 MTB Champion, the first person to ride the entire length of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the list goes on. We asked Rebecca on to talk about fear. In thinking about raising kids, as well as training high-performance athletes, we've developed a fascination and respect for the role fear plays in helping us all grow and be our best selves. We've started to think of training for fear and becoming fear-adapted as a vital component of any training plan.   Check out more about Rebecca here!