Explore every episode of the podcast Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness
Dive into the complete episode list for Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
The most requested topic from a recent round of surveys, how to train around minor injuries is a real and pertinent issue for all of us at some point or another. Whether you wake up one morning with a crick in your neck or you twist your ankle while running, learning to train with limitations is a skill that can be learned.
In this episode, we dive into what constitutes a minor injury, why it's important to keep moving, and how to assess your situation and stay productive so you don't feel like you're wasting away while you heal.
Key Points:
How to Define ‘Minor’ – the criteria to distinguish what’s “minor”
Why It’s Important to Keep Moving – what the body needs to heal correctly
Know Thyself – the ability to assess your needs and tendencies is invaluable
How to Continue Training – the smart way to adjust your focus to continue training in a productive way
Reading Your Internal Barometer – learning to track and trust your subjective experience for longevity and autonomy
The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next
In a few recent polls, we found that about half of you say you move on from a training program when it gets boring. Given that repetition is basically requisite to any physical training, we thought we’d tackle this topic and vouch for the grind of donut making.
Boredom is part of the process. Whether you learn to get interested in the details or just accept the repetition and cruise through it, sexy results come from unsexy efforts. As do delicious donuts.
Key Points:
Who Gets Bored? – most of us do at many points, but learning how to continue is essential to real progress
How to Define Boredom – assess first why you think you’re bored
Goals & Expectations – figure out if you are making values-based intrinsic goals vs. failing at arbitrary external goals or expectations
Staying Engaged is a Learned Skill – we can develop the capacity to notice nuance and grow our capacity for boredom
Progress Is Non-Linear – we often can’t see our progress while we are in it or without an external marker
Know Yourself, Plan for What You Need – set up what you need so you have support for when you do plateau
Progress Is Not the Next Step – why progress isn’t the next progression, movement, or fancy add-on
The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next
On any given day, we get dozens if not hundreds of questions on our YouTube videos, social posts, and via email. And we enjoy answering them because we never want you to get stuck or give up. Most of our answers have carry-over to whatever situation you find yourself in, so we thought we'd share the love.
In this episode, Ryan and Andy answer a handful of commonly asked questions. Some of these are about advanced skills and others are about how or where to begin. So whether you've been sitting on the sofa for the last decade or are working on your Bruce Lee kip up, we've got you covered.
Questions & Answers
Question #1: Muscle-up Transition — how to build up the strength, range of motion and control so you don’t get stuck
Question #2: Seal Walk; Wrist Mobility & Strength — how to slow down, assess your pain or weak points, and make adjustments
Question #3: Out of Shape, Where to Start — how to start if you’ve been sedentary for some time but not overdo it
Question #4: Kip Up — how the hell Ryan does this in jeans and movement tips so that you also can skip the Lycra one day
Question #5: Walk to Squat — how and when to get creative, use props, and use progressions that allow you keep to working on whatever is difficult for you now
Resources
Dealing With Injuries – Our episode on the not-so-secret key to recovery that everyone tries to ignore
Nike says that "if you have a body, you're an athlete." That's BS, and it can lead to poor decisions and wasted energy that don't benefit you.
Of course, you may be an athlete. We've worked with clients competing at all levels in just about any sport or activity you can name. But the vast majority of people we work with are definitely not athletes.
What does that mean? Are we saying they're not good enough? Serious enough?
No. Simply that their lives don't revolve around their training.
This episode talks about the choice to become and athlete - and the choice not to. The latter gives you freedom to make different choices and to enjoy your practice in the best way for you.
Key Points:
Why We’re Not Athletes: Calling yourself an athlete can be destructive and limiting
How to Differentiate: The difference between hobbies, sports and workouts; Andy gets spicy about CrossFit and Cupcakes
Freedom & Fun: By not being an athlete, you get make the best decisions for you and enjoy your activities
Resources:
Physical Autonomy – Our favorite topic, figure out what to do to meet your own needs
Play is a topic that is often left out of the conversation in fitness.
This is in spite of the fact that experimentation, exploration and going off script is at the core of many physical training disciplines—dance, martial arts, acrobatics, any sport you play. However, play is not just free form improvisation or what children do on the playground; it requires a foundation in what you are practicing.
In this episode, we get into a subject that is near and dear to our hearts and some of our other parts: how to play with yourself.
Key Points:
What Play Is: It’s not just what kids do, what Play is in the context of training and skill acquisition
How to Play Effectively: Play with what you already know; examples of how to explore what you are practicing
Safety & the Unknown: Learn specific ways to maintain safety while doing something new
Other Tips: Keeping an open mind and noticing opportunities can help you create more options
The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next
Resources:
The GMB Method – A breakdown of the 5 P’s including Play
Chances are if you like what we do at GMB, you don’t want to spend hours each day working out. Like us, you want to focus on just the essentials in order to help you better enjoy the things you love to to do like practicing your martial arts and being active with your families.
In this episode, we were happy to be able to chat with Philip Chubb, otherwise known as the Mindful Mover, in which we discuss how to minimize the time you spend training while maximizingthe range of gains you make.
This is not just the cliché of "less is more," but practical things everyone can apply to their training to get a life beyond the gym.
Key Points:
Do Fewer Exercises: We are mortal and have limited time, do exercises that have carry over to other ones
Do Less Reps Less Often: Learn how to use Accommodating Resistance to maximize every movement
Stop Over-training: Training injuries aren’t worth it, find the minimum effective dose
Cardio: Sprint drop sets are miserable but you only have to do them once a week
Get a Life: Training is fun but it shouldn’t be everything
Martial art has its history in combat, so as a company founded by three martial artists, Rule #1 (Don't Die) is fundamental to GMB.
If you die, you don't get to do anything else. It's over. That's the end.
It might sound dramatic but self-preservation is key to making any kind of progress. While this seems like a fairly basic and obvious fact, it is one that often falls to the wayside when we start taking on new challenges.
In this episode, we talk about how everything comes with a trade-off and how to assess your training in order to not make irreversible decisions.
Key Points:
Don’t Die: It’s a metaphor, don’t do anything that has lasting or permanent negative implications
What to do Instead: Reassess what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and why
Challenge Doesn’t = Pain: Don’t conflate pain with progress, there are many ways to make gains
Our Advice: Examples of avoidable mistakes + two tips to use for any movement
Irreversible Decisions: Challenges are good, but don’t go past the point of no return
The Future: Help us decide which episodes to record next
As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply.
So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear out all her hair, so she’s got a lot to say about parenting girls in today’s world.
Key Points:
Body Image: You don’t have to be a size 2 to wear spandex, tactics to instill body positivity
Role Models: There are many measures of success, role models can show what is possible
Sex, Porn, Difficult Conversations: This conversation is going to happen when you least expect it, have it early
Letting Go: Your children’s job as they grow is to learn how to separate from you, letting go of them and your own expectations
As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply.
So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear our all her hair, so she’s got a lot to say about parenting girls in today’s world.
Key Points:
Relationships & Community: Participating in the community, modeling good relationships
Social Media: There’s a thousand ways to do social media as a parent, it’s possible none of us are getting it quite right
Technology, Self-Regulation, Sleep : Phones are like heroin, how to make a constrained environment
We get it - you were born before the turn of the millennium, so much of your knowledge of health and fitness comes from the Jane Fonda Workout VHS and watching interviews with Arnie in junior high PE class. But you’re a grown-ass adult, and you’re still capable of learning new things.
It’s time to learn how to prepare your body for a productive training session.
“But I heard warming up is a waste of time!” I’m sure your buddy with the bad back who told you this helpful tidbit had your best interests in mind, and we completely agree that warming up like a recreational jogger in 1983 isn’t going to help you much. But if you spend most of your day in a low exertion environment and try to immediately transition into a high-exertion training session, you’re going to have problems.
This episode is about the right way to prepare yourself for training - how to get your mind in the right place, how to prepare your body to maximize the benefits of training, and how you can organize your environment for productive training.
Is it OK to skip prep and just start training? Sure, and you can also eat a frozen sausage without taking the wrapper off. But you’d be acting like an idiot, so cut it out and learn how to do things right.
As sentient beings in the 21st century, we all have pretty solid bullshit detectors by now, but when we're facing challenges, it's still tempting to believe the easy answers. And why not? Mostly, they're offered in earnest from friends with the best of intentions. But sometimes, there's an insidious bias behind the rec.
In either case, "just X" is usually masking a litany of gotchas and caveats that you should understand before jumping in.
This episode is about investigating claims without wasting time researching beyond your necessity as a layperson. If you're gonna trust someone as far as you can throw them, you better learn to throw! We'll look at veracity, context, and incentives as heuristics for casual analysis of "maybe too good to be true" claims.
In other words, it's a tune-up for your bullshit detector so you can skip the crap and start using the solutions that suit you best.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities out there. Decisions are hard, and we can't make them for you. We can, however, show you how we make a lot of our decisions.
In this episode, we revisit the framework "Hell Yes or No," give examples of how to apply it in both your life and training, and explain how it can free you up from indecision, inaction, or overwhelm.
Learn how to practice saying "No" so that you are spending time doing what you really want to.
"Boredom, I think, protects the individual, makes tolerable for him the impossible experience of waiting for something without knowing what it could be."
Here's the deal: you will get bored.
We all love that new-car smell and sense of novelty when we start something new. The first couple of weeks on a new program or routine usually feels like you're really making progress, but then the honeymoon ends, and you find yourself knee-deep in The Grind.
The Grind is the inevitably boring middle part of a training plan when things stop feeling exciting and fun, and you might even wonder whether you're making any progress at all. And that's why most people quit or program hop sometime in the third or fourth week of a program.
Unfortunately, the grind is super-important. It's where you cement your learnings and really start making headway. Without the grind, you don't build to the eventual results you want.
The Grind can suck, but we'll show you how you can learn to love it.
"Progressive overload" is a principle in training that says you need to continually add greater stimulus to an exercise to keep seeing a training effect. And it makes sense. To get stronger, you need to continue pushing your body.
But the history of popular fitness has instilled a bias here that overload can only be achieved via a handful of training variables, primarily load and repetitions. So once we get to a certain point, we naturally start looking at adding weight to our training. It works great for exercises like pull-ups and dips, but in others, it's a recipe for injury... or at least for poor results.
When it comes to bodyweight exercise - and especially skill-based training - complexity and sophistication of movement are often neglected as pathways for progression. This episode hopes to change that. We'll explore why adding weight works and when it's the wrong choice. We'll also cover examples of sophistication instead.
We know that making the right choices is tough! There's a lot of nuance involved, and this episode will provide the context you need to figure out what'll work best for your goals.
If you've tried something new even once in your life, you might be familiar with falling flat on your face, possibly literally.
In this episode, Ryan chats with David 'Jacko' Jackson and Tim Stevenson, founders of School of Calisthenics. They talk in-depth about how they developed their philosophy of "redefining your impossible" by exploring your physical potential through body weight training.
Jacko and Tim share their stories and thoughts on:
why play might be more the most important thing you can do
how breakthroughs in your training apply to your life
how to start working on hand-balancing on your own
why humour and community are key
If you want insight on how to reframe something that feels out of reach, this is an episode you definitely want to stick in your ear hole.
We get a lot of questions about Recovery which is not surprising, given how much information there is out there.
There's no easy way to cut through all the noise since Recovery is and should be subjective, but in this episode, we break down:
why Recovery is not separate from your training
how only you can decide what you need
the importance of tracking your baseline
common recovery methods and tools
examples of when to do what
Recovery, like any aspect of your training, cannot be cookie cutter and takes practice. Learn how you can apply recovery methods based on your own needs.
We've all been there -- schedules and routines change, and we can't fit in our regular workout. Rather than trying to stick to your routine amidst a big project, the holidays, or a busy time, tailor your workouts to better serve you.
In this episode, we talk about:
changing your mindset when your needs change
specific adjustments you can make to your training
how to plan in advance so your workouts help you focus
examples of how to structure short, effective sessions
Learn how to use life changes to your advantage; adjust your training to help you focus on what you need to get done.
Have you ever Googled a topic and been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of products that are supposed to solve your problem? Or underwhelmed by the lack of real answers?
In this episode, Andy chats with Andy Morgan of Rippedbody.com about why helpful information doesn't sell, and how to figure out what to do based on your own needs.
We cover a variety of simple yet effective guideposts and strategies for working on your physique, including :
why context matters
when to use supplements
how to get results without counting calories
day-to-day tweaks and easy wins for almost everyone
solutions for social settings
Whether you are looking to lose weight, get ripped, or create healthier habits, the answers are often simpler than you think.
You want to be able and ready, not just good at working out.
Readiness means going beyond just capability so you can actually access and apply your skills and abilities when needed. Chances are, you don't wear sweats and trainers all day, so you really have to stop a moment and think about how your clothes limit you.
That why we say that if you can't perform a skill you've practiced while wearing the things you usually wear, you can't really perform that skill completely on-demand.
Andy wrote a loooong article (not really) about jeans.
This episode extends the premise with tips for making the most of your actual capabilities under everyday conditions. We'll tell you how to assess your wardrobe, how to learn to move as well as possible in what you already wear, and how to consider physical autonomy both seasonally and as you add to your wardrobe.
No, we can't believe it either - the first GMB Show about shopping...
The Scout Motto is be prepared. As lifelong martial artists, we look at situational awareness and defensive capability as basic skills.
Don't get tripped up (literally) when life throws you for a curve.
You don't like them, and they don't like you, but if you're training your body at all, you're going to have to learn to live with each other.
There's tons of myths about muscle soreness. Some people think they're the surest sign of a good workout (they're wrong). Others seem to think they indicate overtraining (also way wrong). While getting sore is a stupid thing to shoot for in your workout, they're also nothing to worry about.
We'll teach you how to know if you're too sore, what to do about it, and how to stay productive in your training without getting derailed by sore muscles.
Balance is one of those things most people don't realize they can improve - or even that they might need to improve . . . until they start trying to learn different ways to move.
The fact is most people don't have a problem with balance so long as they stick to normal activities. But when you're outside your comfort zone, things change. Luckily, balance is very trainable. This episode covers our a simple framework for improving your balance step-by-step, with our favorite drills and techniques.
When we think about fitnessing, a relative few activities come to mind. Weightlifting, running, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, etc. Why? Mostly because they're very efficient at producing very predictable results.
But they also leave some things out, especially:
non-linear, off-center, and multi-planar movements
continuing skill development
Now, we're not saying you should quit using efficient methods just because they're reductive, but you do need to address those important areas. There's a trap here too though - majoring in the minors.
This rambling, unfocused, and nearly incoherent (just kidding about the last one) discussion between Ryan and Andy goes over why you need skill development and unconventional movements, even if you're not training for a specific sport or activity. We also cover self-assessing so you can focus on the supplemental training that fits your needs rather than just trying to cram in every "prehab" exercise you saw on YouTube.
Understand what your routine is missing and discover how to choose the right things to fill those gaps.
Anyone experiencing anxiety lately . . . ? Congratulations, you're human. The good news is you're definitely not alone.
Studies show that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the US affecting 1 in 5 people every year and that 1 in 3 will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Things like pandemics can lead to higher feelings of stress and anxiety, which can impact sleep, diet, and overall well-being.
In this episode, Ryan and GMB Trainer Jenn Pilotti discuss how feelings of stress and anxiety influence you physically and how exercise and movement practices can influence feelings of stress and anxiety. Learn how anxiety is influenced by interoception (internal sense of self), and why learning new movements is good for your brain.
When people start with GMB, we almost always recommend starting with Elements. It's our broadest and most foundational program, and it's structured to provide a scalable challenge to just about any level.
But what happens after that?
This is one of the top five questions we get from active clients, and the answer depends on a few things. Many people repeat Elements. Some use it for recovery or warm-ups. Some people move on completely to other training.
This episode goes over the best strategies for moving to the next phase in your training and which factors determine the right move for you.
The diet world teaches us that beating ourselves up about food and our body is what "motivates" us. We've been taught that feeling badly enough will help us hit our goals.
Of course, beating ourselves up didn't work the last time. And it didn't work the time before that. It's never worked. Yet, we still keep getting sold the same lie.
In this episode, you're going to find out what the four levels of motivation are. Beating yourself up actually is on the list — it's the lowest level. If you want to change your eating skills practice--or any skills practice-- you're going to have to level up your motivation.
Learn how to upgrade your motivation, increase your eating skills practice, and hit your goals.
There's not a more cliché phrase in all of fitness, but here goes: if you want to improve, you have to push yourself.
Pushing yourself is hard, and it can be counterproductive too. In fact, we've devoted a lot of carbon dioxide in past episodes to talking about some of the ways pushing yourself - too hard, too often, or just in the wrong way - can cause problems. So consider this episode the balance to every time we've said "maybe you should do less."
Here's some of what we're gonna cover:
3 kinds of days: how to know how hard you can go
How to plan training intensity around your life
15 (we counted!) ways to increase the intensity of a training session
The best part is that almost none of those tactics require much prep, and you won't have to psych yourself up or go snort a bunch of protein powder first either. You can start our session and, if you're feeling good to go, push yourself a little harder, to whatever degree necessary.
Pushing yourself tends to be more of a mental struggle than anything. Once you get moving, it's easy to keep moving. The tactics we explain in this episode are great because they don't require much of a mental shift, so you can get a harder session without the typical feeling of mental resistance you'd feel if you just tried to "go hard."
'Mindfulness' is one of those words that can sound really out there, but improving mind-body awareness can have a profound impact on how you experience the world and your sense of security in your body.
Jenn Pilotti is a GMB Trainer who's been coaching for well over a decade and just has a ton of education and experience under her belt. She's just released a new book, Body Mind Movement: An evidence-based approach to mindful movement, which is aimed at giving professional trainers the tools to develop mindfulness in their clients.
In this episode, Jenn and Ryan cover:
the importance of spatial awareness in daily life
how movement practice extends to other areas of your life
why interoception is crucial to autoregulation
how to work with pain, fear and failure
practical examples for better, mindful movement and increased focus
Though the book is aimed at coaches, you don't have to be a trainer to use these concepts in your own practice and workouts. If you want to move better and feel better while you move, you'll want to stick this in your earhole.
Have you ever felt limited by joint pain? The truth is, very few of us haven't experienced injury, stiffness, or pain in our joints. And unfortunately, many of us are given diagnoses like 'tendonitis' without any hope for recovery.
In this episode, we chat with Steven Low, author of Overcoming Gravity, Overcoming Poor Posture, and now Overcoming Tendonitis, about how to overcome tendonitis and tendinopathy based on the latest research and his own clinical experience.
We answer questions you all brought up, including:
how a pain 'habit' can be the biggest inhibitor to recovery
how to address a longstanding elbow tendonitis
how to adjust or modulate your activity levels
how to know when you can start working out and doing stuff again
the efficacy of diet and supplements
Whatever damage you were told you have, Steven shares how you can recover from tendonitis with patience and a well directed program.
With so many people now trying to exercise at home, we're hearing more and more often how challenging it can be if you're used to having more space and a specialized environment. But there's a lot to be gained from learning to use the space you have.
Not much room
Bad flooring?
Family or roommates?
None of these are deal breakers. This episode is focused on preparing the right timing, spacing, and mindset for a productive training session. While we'd _love_ for each of our clients to have a dedicated room with nice flooring and an altar to GMB in the corner, the fact is we don't even sell signed 8x10s of Ryan, so you're gonna have to make do with what you have.
When you do, you'll find that a small space stimulates your awareness and creativity, which makes up for whatever feeling of constraint you may have to deal with in the process.
You've likely heard a lot of different ideas about stretching: how it doesn't work, how it makes you weak, or how you'll hurt yourself if you do it 'cold.'
In this episode, Jarlo and Rose discuss and dispel myths and seemingly conflicting information about stretching, including tips for who should stretch, when to stretch, and how to stretch.
We also cover:
flexibility vs. mobility
benefits of stretching, and how to maintain flexibility
active, passive, static, and dynamic stretching
If you've ever been unsure of how to increase your flexibility, you'll want to be put this one in your ear hole.
As in most things, there's only one right answer, and it's completely obvious. Just kidding... we're actually gonna give everybody's least favorite answer on this one: it depends.
But why? What does it depend on?
If you're just learning pull-ups (going from zero to your very first pull-up), what's the best way to learn?
And if you can already do some pull-ups and want to figure out the best way to continue using them to get even stronger, how do you know the best methods to do so?
We'll talk about pros and cons of both rings and bar for pull-ups and different variations and assistance techniques we prefer for training at various stages. We also cover details a lot of people tend to gloss over, like wrist health, building comfort on your chosen apparatus, and how to gage progress when just counting reps doesn't feel like it's moving very fast.
We've talked before about ways to build back strength _without_ pull-ups, and this episode is all about making pull-ups actually work for you with whatever equipment you happen to have.
Sure, being tall has its benefits, but when it comes to skill work certain movements can seem always out of reach, even when you tower over everyone else.
Ryan and Jeff talk about why some skills are harder when you are tall and how you can train toward them anyway. They cover common obstacles and injuries you may run into and how you can use the GMB Method and smart programming to avoid them.
Some things are more challenging when you are tall, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up on your goals, you may just need to change how you approach them.
When you think of leg strength, squats and deadlifts (rightly) come to mind. And if you think of bodyweight leg exercises at all, it's probably as a (poor) substitute.
But very athletic movements happen with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Enter single-leg training. It's not just "something to do if you don't have a squat rack." This episode is about using single-leg exercises - some classic, and some lesser known - to strengthen your legs through their full ranges of motion. We'll cover common mistakes people make in their training and technical fixes.
You use your legs for a wide variety of movements every day. Don't trick yourself into thinking a couple of staples will fully prepare you to move at your best.
In Part 1, we gave an overview of how the spine works and talked about the low back. Back bone’s connected to some other bones, so this time, we’ll talk about the thoracic spine and how to keep your back healthy and pain-free.
In this second episode on the Spine, we cover:
why chronic pain happens more frequently in the thoracic and neck
how posture and ergonomics actually affect pain
how to figure out your "directional preference" to be more comfortable and get more done in your day
Until fairly recently, pelvic health was a topic that didn’t get a lot of love. That’s partly because it’s complex, and partly (sadly) because some of the issues are embarrassing for people to talk about.
If you’ve been concerned about your pelvic health (and you should be), this episode is for you. Jarlo talks with GMB Trainers and movement specialists JJ Thomas and Jenn Pilotti about one of the most important yet mysterious areas of the body.
Points covered:
Understanding that the pelvis is the bridge/connection between upper and lower body
Removing the mystery and stigma of the pelvis ("black box")
How locomotion work and similar movements are "body awareness" exercises and can immediately affect how your body feels
This is gonna be the most annoying discussion of core exercises ever. A few things we're not gonna tell you:
how many crunches you should be able to do
how long to hold the hollow body or what the next progression is
how many abs Ryan has
What we will teach you in this episode is a thousand times more useful.
If you wanna learn why almost zero training systems feature tons of direct core work, listen up. We'll cover everything you need to know to really master core strength for practical movement and health.
The biggest issue most folks have with nutrition isn’t finding the right diet, it’s stress eating.
We all know that stress impacts our ability to make good choices, and we know that stress is a fact of life. Since we can't avoid it, you need a system to eat the right foods, _despite_ inevitable stress.
In this podcast, Ryan and Josh present just the thing: two simple guidelines and two skills you can develop to manage snacking when tired or stressed out.
Next, they dig in on how to overcome the obstacles that people encounter when they start working on eliminating stress eating. You’ll learn how to identify, plan for, and change your actions in the face of common obstacles.
Things you'll learn:
How your balancing your meal impacts snacking
A simple guideline for knowing when you should check in with yourself, before having a snack
The three questions to ask yourself to figure out if you're really hungry
One metaphor from cutting edge psychology that could make all of the difference when it comes to managing stress without food
Walking is the least sexy exercise of all time, and it’s also one of our favorites. Which probably says a lot about us...
Now before you give a giant yaaaaaawn and click away, let’s get to some of the topics we’re gonna cover that might just be a bit different form what you expect:
Ok, honestly, the first few minutes probably start exactly like you’re expecting...but then things start to get more interesting
A few ways to sneak some walking into your routine, even if you live in the ‘burbs and there’s literally nothing within walking distance
Using walks to improve posture and body alignment
The best way to start incorporating breath training into your walks
Why we don’t have a blanket recommendation for shoes
How much loaded carries suck, and why they’re a big part of Ryan’s current training (now we’re getting to the good stuff...)
The dead-simple way to add some casual loaded walking without going “full ruck”
In other words, this isn’t just 45 minutes of two guys saying “um, you should walk some, it’s good.” There’s some real meat in this episode. If you’re already walking regularly, you’ll love all the different ways to make it even better for you. If you’re not, we hope to convert you.
Handstands are cool. That's actually the main reason most people want to practice them. Sure, you can also build spatial awareness and improve your shoulder health, but cool and fun are excellent benefits in their own rights.
And unless you're looking to be a performer, we highly suggest sticking with those as your goals. Performers have unique needs, but if you just wanna have fun doing something cool, handstand training is a matter of three main factors:
Safety - learning to bail and control your body
Practice - developing the capabilities and abilities you need to perform the skill
Attitude - keeping things fun and dealing with frustration
This episode walks you through exactly how we suggest training handstands and works together with our (absolutely monstrous) handstand tutorial.
Handstands are a skill that almost everybody can learn.
We like to talk about physical autonomy a lot here at GMB, and a big part of that is learning how to adjust to the circumstances. Whether you are stuck at home without the equipment you use normally, you're injured, or you're on the road, building strength, flexibility and control is still possible. In fact, trying a few different exercises might actually help you find the range of motion and control you need for the skills you're working toward.
In this episode, Ryan and Andy chat about:
5 movements you can do anywhere with minimal or no equipment
how to get your back strong and functional in all different ranges and planes of motion
why to not just mimic what you're used to doing
No equipment doesn't mean no options, so here's some options that will actually help you.
After your first few months learning to walk, the only times most people think about their feet are when they're buying shoes or when they hurt themselves.
The feet and ankles are extremely complex structures - they hav to be, because they're responsible for supporting your entire body weight while moving and adapting to changes of direction and different terrains. But in a complex system, there's a lot of things that can go wrong.
This episode includes:
a layperson's guide to some of the basic physiology of the feet and ankles
common injuries and what you can do to avoid them
tips for staying healthy and regaining healthy function after injury (or just years of neglect)
In case you’ve never thought about this, we have some breaking news: the idea of ‘fitness’ is manufactured. We often get so caught up in how to workout and what to do to stay fit that we forget to ask ourselves WHY we are doing any of this at all. What is a push-up and who decided this was what we should do with our time?
In this episode, Ryan geeks out about these questions with James Fitzgerald, Winner of the 2007 CrossFit Games “The Fittest on Earth,” founder of OPEX, and industry-leading educator. Through OPEX Coaching Education and Gyms, James educates thousands of coaches around the world each year through a dynamic digital platform and live courses.
James and Ryan chat about:
why we move or train at all
programming just outside your comfort zone
the 6 basic movement patterns and how to assess them
maladaptive strategy of surviving vs. learning
how to find true autonomy
Just because something exists doesn’t mean you should do it. But stick this one in your earhole; it might change the way you think about your training.
Most people can answer that one pretty easily, so here's a follow up: when was the last time your wrists felt good?
We all put our wrists under a lot of stress, especially on our dominant hands - texting, typing, pressing buttons on the remote control... And then you chance across these weird "GMB" people on the internet who tell you to start crawling on the floor, and you realize that your wrists have never supported your bodyweight before.
It's ok, we've got your back. Or your wrists. Something like that.
This episode covers basic physiology of the wrist, some of the common injuries and causes of pain, and most importantly, what you can do about them.
Listen up, because you're about to hear your wrists say "thank you."
There’s a thousand right ways to do almost anything. I know that’s not what you wanna hear, but it’s the truth.
For any skill you wanna learn, the right focus is gonna depend on where you’re at, what impediments you have, your natural strengths, your goals, your context, and whatever other training or activities you’re into. All that stuff impacts how your practice works, and that’s a lot of variables to balance in a master equation. So how do you choose the right details to focus on. By now you know you can’t do it all at once...
In this episode, Ryan and Andy yap about:
What kinds of details are important when you’re learning a new skill or working on an exercise
What we optimize for personally and as coaches in GMB programs
Why good form is subjective and why that doesn’t stop good coaches from providing useful cues for performance and practice
In every program we’ve created there’s hundreds of details and decisions we’ve made, and we can’t explain each of those, but this discussion will give you a sense of the value hierarchy behind them and why we focus on certain things more than others. You’ll be able to look at conflicting opinions and viewpoints expressed by different teachers and understand why they differ and which side is most appropriate for you.
And if you do, there's a really good chance that you've experienced shoulder tightness, aches, and pain. Most people do. And most people also do next to nothing about it.
In this episode, Jarlo and Rose go over basic shoulder anatomy and physiology, common issues and injuries, and how to get back to moving and grooving in the best way.
We'll talk both theory and practice on this one so you know what's going on with your shoulders and what to do about it.
Overuse vs. repetitive strain
Common (and uncommon) shoulder issues
The relationship between the neck and shoulder issues (and vice versa)
What's all this clicking and crunching in my shoulder all about?
The "one and only correct way to lift overhead!" Just kidding, it depends.
We favor a cyclic approach to training at GMB, and all our programs are designed to be repeated, but periodization is a topic that can get needlessly complex and confusing.
In this episode, Ryan breaks down:
the key points of how to stack a series of training cycles for various goals
detailed examples of training plans with multiple cycles
how to plan a year's worth of training cycles for specific goals
There's a lot here, but it doesn't have to be complicated. The main thing is to rotate your focus and gives yourself breaks.
Listen up for tips on creating cycles that actually move you toward your goals without burning you out or slowing your progress.
Hip problems are one of the most common causes of injuries and pain in other parts of the body, and most people never even realize that they have an issue.
The truth is almost everybody has some form of hip dysfunction, and in this episode Jarlo and Rose go over basic hip anatomy and physiology, common issues and injuries, and how to get back to moving and grooving in the best way.
You'll learn specific problems you can avoid with the right exercise and routines (which we'll teach you). You'll also come away with a better understanding of how to even know when things are working as they should and what to do when you notice pains and restrictions cropping up.
If you're gonna bother having hips, you should learn how to use them properly. This episode is your instruction manual.
If you were to only do two hip stretches, do these
One of the coolest things that's happened to us over the past ten years is that we've gotten toward with people doing activities and sports we never would have dreamed up. Our clients are into some really cool stuff!
Rock climbing, surfing, martial arts, train running, slackline, pole dance, and every traditional sport too.
And what all those clients have in common is that their main reason for doing fitness training is to get them better at the actives they enjoy or compete in. The biggest mistake we see happening is that the fitness side can begin to overshadow the application in their sport.
What a lot of people don't understand is that there's really three broad categories of training when it comes to fitness for sports:
General Physical Preparedness - your overall health and function
Specific Physical Preparedness - the basic movements and abilities required for your activity
Sport Specific Preparedness - application to the specific context of performing in your sport
At different times in your careers (or season), you'll need a different proportion of those three kinds of training.
You also need to make sure you're not mistaking one kind of training for another or confusing your body by using the wrong exercises for the wrong purposes. This episode gives lots of examples so you can get a better sense of what's important in your development and make sure that your workouts aren't actually hurting your sport performance in the long run.