RUNGA Radio

Today’s guest is Howard Martin, the Executive Vice President of HeartMath, an organization that teaches people how to cultivate positive emotions, enhance their wellbeing, and perform to the best of their abilities. HeartMath’s techniques are used by Fortune 100 companies, military organizations, and government agencies to help their employees build resilience and cope with stress, and its unique training system has enabled countless individuals to lead more balanced and rewarding lives. Howard is HeartMath’s key spokesperson and the co-author of The HeartMath Solution and Heart Intelligence, Connecting with the Intuitive Guidance of the Heart.  In this episode, Howard explains why breathwork is only the first step on the journey to connecting with the heart’s intuition and intelligence, and he emphasizes the importance of purposefully activating uplifting emotions, such as love, compassion, and appreciation. He also shares some simple techniques to help us change how we feel and improve how we communicate and relate to each other.Support the show

Dr. David Dodick is a Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Headache Program and the Sports Neurology and Concussion Program at the Mayo Clinic. He’s also the Chair of the American Migraine Foundation and the American Academy of Neurology Sports Concussion Conference. Dr. Dodick has recently developed a supplement that provides nutritional support for the brain and is particularly beneficial for athletes who participate in contact sports and are at risk of incurring a brain injury. The supplement is available in two forms, SynaQuell, which provides daily support to the brain, and SynaQuell Plus, which should be taken after developing symptoms of an injury. We talk about how athletes who play contact sports are likely to experience repetitive subconcussive head impacts during a season. Plus, Dr. Dodick explains how people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury are at an increased risk of developing adverse health outcomes, including coronary artery disease, psychosis, anxiety, depression, and epilepsy. He recommends taking a proactive approach to brain health that concentrates on optimizing cognition and helps protect against neurological impairment, dysfunction, and disease.Support the show

In my recent show with Graham Wardle, we talked about finding our why and following what we’ve been called to do. Today, I suggest adopting the same approach to our health and wellness. As a coach who wants to help people live longer, perform better and feel healthier, I believe we need to ask ourselves what we want to achieve from our fitness programs in order to adapt and tailor them to suit our individual needs. Above all, I believe we need to be flexible in our approach to our well-being and always remember that it’s healthy until it’s stressful.Support the show

Today, my guest Graham Wardle talks about mustering up the courage to move out of your comfort zone and create more personal and spiritual growth in your life. Graham has been acting since he was a child, and until recently, he played the part of Ty Borden in the long-running Canadian TV drama series Heartland. However, after years of inner work and self-inquiry, he made the decision to leave the series and pursue a new career as a podcaster and producer. Nowadays, Graham is committed to helping people live more authentically and adventurously, and his “Time Has Come” podcast inspires listeners to cultivate the strength and faith they need to move beyond the fears that hold them back. We discuss meditation, journaling, and self-knowledge, and Graham describes how he found the courage to embrace change and leave the comfort and security of his old life behind.Support the show

Today, I explore the correlation between nasal breathing and maximum aerobic heart rate and set out the criteria I use to define heart rate zones. To keep things simple, I break the zones down into Easy, MAF, Grind, and Max, and I explain what happens when you move out of the aerobic MAF zone into the more intense anaerobic zone. Plus, I advise how to avoid fatigue and declining performance and describe how to build up a strong base of aerobic fitness before adding more high-intensity exercise.Support the show

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In this solo episode, I dive into the subjects of coffee dependency, essential oils, and breathwork. Plus, I compare our hunter-gatherer ancestors’ physically challenging and communal lifestyles with our modern, isolated, primarily sedentary lives, which make us susceptible to chronic diseases and stress. Finally, as a father and a fitness coach, I express my concerns about how far we’ve deviated from the natural way of doing things and share my thoughts about the over-medicalization of childbirth and the problem of poor childhood nutrition.Support the show

Today's guest is David Weck, the inventor of the BOSU Ball and creator of the Weck Method. David is a physical education specialist who focuses on developing products and training methods that challenge norms, optimize performance, and produce fast-acting results. His principal interest lies in providing training tools that help people move better and experience less pain and more joy in their lives. To kick off our conversation, we talk about how David first came up with the idea for the BOSU Ball before moving on to the coreFIST and coreFAST hand positions he developed to increase physical strength and improve athletic performance. We conclude our chat with a discussion of the benefits of the ProPulse Speed Trainers, which David created to help the body move faster and with more fluidity. Support the show

Thank you for tuning into the Friday show. Today, I talk about running and explain how to increase your mileage without getting injured. Since it’s estimated that 82% of people who take up running get hurt, it makes sense to train appropriately and avoid doing too much, too fast, too soon.In this episode, you’ll hear from me on:My Seven steps for Injury-Free RunningLook after your feet. Roll the arches of your feet with a Runga mobility ball for at least five minutes each day. Space your long runs at least five days apart to give your body a chance to recover between runs.Walk before you run. Make sure you can comfortably walk the distance before you run it. Ideally, I recommend walking 10000 steps per day for 30 days before you start jogging.Remember to nose breathe. Nasal breathing forces you to keep your speed and intensity at a sustainable aerobic pace. Plus, it keeps you in the proper heart rate zone and prevents the build-up of lactic acid. Keep your eyes on the road ahead. To maintain good form and prevent your head from wobbling, keep your chin slightly tucked down and focus your gaze three meters in front of you.Keep your glutes strong. Since the glutes help stabilize the body, strengthen them by practicing Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats, Glute Bridges, and Kettlebell Swings.Strengthen your core. Adopt a daily movement practice, such as power yoga, or do some Side-Planks, Bird-Dogs, and Curl-Ups to keep the body symmetrically strong and stable. Exercises such as Get-Ups, Death by Carries, and One-Arm Kettlebell Carries are also great for building core strength.Support the show

Today, I sit with Sameer Sontakey and Kevin Longoria, the CEO and Chief Science Officer of Biostrap, a pioneering digital health company that provides reliable health tracking using raw waveform data to produce a detailed analysis of health biometrics. Biostrap’s mission is to democratize data by making it more readily available and to improve global health by making it easier to tackle long-standing health epidemics such as diabetes, obesity, chronic pain, and cardiovascular disease.  This show is all about variables, and we take a deep dive into the benefits of regularly monitoring biomarkers, such as sleep volume, heart rate variability, and oxygen saturation. Kevin and Sameer talk about what sets Biostrap apart from its competitors and explain how its technology enables its customers to become more knowledgeable about their health by providing accurate data to help them make informed decisions about their lifestyles. Support the show