Have you ever found yourself caught in the grip of a high-pressure work environment, dreaming of a path that aligns more closely with your core values? Sam Kwieraga, a Doctor of Physical Therapy turned entrepreneur, certainly has. Sam joins us to recount her remarkable transition from the hustle of outpatient orthopedic clinics to the birth of her business, Unleashed Athletics, a haven for former female athletes seeking a more holistic approach to wellness. Through our conversation, we uncover the difficulties Sam encountered in traditional healthcare settings and how the pandemic's sting of job loss became the catalyst for her innovative online physical therapy and coaching venture.
Navigating the terrain of online physical therapy may seem daunting, yet Sam paints a picture of the rich tapestry of benefits it offers over its traditional counterpart—daily communication with clients and a broader focus on overall wellbeing. As we delve into the nuances of form analysis and the empowerment of self-review in movement correction, you'll see how Sam's clients are reaping the rewards of this modern approach. Shifting gears, we also tackle the emotional hurdles athletes face when hanging up their competitive jerseys, discussing how Sam's unique four-phase training program aids their journey toward a new identity and rekindled passion for an active lifestyle.
In the final stretch, we zoom out to appreciate the overarching theme of athleticism in life as portrayed by Sam's philosophy. It's not just about setting records or competing; it's about preparing for life's hurdles with confidence and resilience. Wrapping up our illuminating discussion, Sam leaves us with an open invitation to join her on Instagram at DocSamFit for a treasure trove of fitness insights and an offer to engage with her directly, encouraging anyone on the path to a pain-free, empowered existence to reach out. Join us as we celebrate the confluence of physical therapy, entrepreneurship, and the unyielding spirit of athletes in every walk of life.
Instagram: @docsamfit
Wedsite: https://unleashedathletics.co/
Find us on the Following!
Instagram: @gfy.podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2B84NqR6XqtXWKFB0M21lA?si=00506e8ff1b34b95
Website: https://thegfypodcast.buzzsprout.com
Available on all podcast streaming sights!
Have you ever found yourself caught in the grip of a high-pressure work environment, dreaming of a path that aligns more closely with your core values? Sam Kwieraga, a Doctor of Physical Therapy turned entrepreneur, certainly has. Sam joins us to recount her remarkable transition from the hustle of outpatient orthopedic clinics to the birth of her business, Unleashed Athletics, a haven for former female athletes seeking a more holistic approach to wellness. Through our conversation, we uncover the difficulties Sam encountered in traditional healthcare settings and how the pandemic's sting of job loss became the catalyst for her innovative online physical therapy and coaching venture.
Navigating the terrain of online physical therapy may seem daunting, yet Sam paints a picture of the rich tapestry of benefits it offers over its traditional counterpart—daily communication with clients and a broader focus on overall wellbeing. As we delve into the nuances of form analysis and the empowerment of self-review in movement correction, you'll see how Sam's clients are reaping the rewards of this modern approach. Shifting gears, we also tackle the emotional hurdles athletes face when hanging up their competitive jerseys, discussing how Sam's unique four-phase training program aids their journey toward a new identity and rekindled passion for an active lifestyle.
In the final stretch, we zoom out to appreciate the overarching theme of athleticism in life as portrayed by Sam's philosophy. It's not just about setting records or competing; it's about preparing for life's hurdles with confidence and resilience. Wrapping up our illuminating discussion, Sam leaves us with an open invitation to join her on Instagram at DocSamFit for a treasure trove of fitness insights and an offer to engage with her directly, encouraging anyone on the path to a pain-free, empowered existence to reach out. Join us as we celebrate the confluence of physical therapy, entrepreneurship, and the unyielding spirit of athletes in every walk of life.
Instagram: @docsamfit
Wedsite: https://unleashedathletics.co/
Find us on the Following!
Instagram: @gfy.podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2B84NqR6XqtXWKFB0M21lA?si=00506e8ff1b34b95
Website: https://thegfypodcast.buzzsprout.com
Available on all podcast streaming sights!
Welcome to the GFY podcast, a podcast by healthcare professionals providing insight on how to navigate your health so that you can go fix yourself. The GFY podcast is hosted by Mike Bruno, a chiropractor and athletic trainer, and yours truly, michael Stant, an athletic trainer and certified strength conditioning specialist. Although we are healthcare providers, we are not your healthcare provider. We will discuss general health interventions in this podcast, but you should not take that as health advice that works in every situation. Before doing anything on your own or making any lifestyle changes, please consult with your own physician. This podcast and views from this podcast are separate from our full-time jobs and our own opinions. Today, we'll be discussing athletes transitioning to what some would maybe call the NARP life, and we can discuss what that actually means. Acronym wise, but we'll be discussing that with Sam Coraga Probably screwed that last name up.
Speaker 1:Still, sam is a graduate of Springfield College, with her doctorate in physical therapy. During that time, she obtained her strength conditioning certification. In August of 2022, she opened up her own business called Unleashed Athletics. Unleashed Athletics specializes in helping former female athletes who have been plagued by injury and re-injury to get back to high-level activities pain-free, while building the physique of their dreams. So that was my quick LinkedIn stalking of you. So you know, sam, if you want to kind of elaborate more so of how you got to where you're at today and kind of you know, because I think when you think physical, therapy, you think the?
Speaker 1:traditional outpatient orthopedic, working with I don't know, three to four people at once and things like that. So you kind of want to you know, because I think when you start your own business there's usually I don't want to say jaded, but there's usually a reason, a reason why, where you go, you know what that, that thing that I was trying to do before just wasn't for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. My company honestly started under a different premise. Um I, when COVID hit, I had three jobs, lost them all. They were all like working in some kind of healthcare environment where the patients were compromised, so I couldn't. They didn't want outsiders. Um, so lost all my jobs and I was like, oh, what do I do now? I have to pay for school. I was in the middle of my doctorate program, um, and I was like okay, so I guess we're going to try to find a way to make money on my own.
Speaker 2:I was already passionate about health and fitness. I had an eating disorder in high school and what really saved me was learning about nutrition and strength training. So COVID hit. I had already been lifting since 2015. So I'd been lifting for five years. I was really passionate about it and a friend had reached out to me and said hey, like what are you doing? And I was like literally nothing, trying to figure out how to make money. And he was like why don't you come do a CSCS internship with me? Like nobody's in the clinic, we're just going to run it, just me and you. And I was like dope, why not? So did a CSCS internship with him, got my CSCS. He was also a doctor of physical therapy and had his CSCS.
Speaker 2:And then from there, I just started building out online because it was COVID, so you couldn't really be in person. I started training my friends for like 20 bucks a month like dirt cheap, just trying to get started, and from there it just kind of started to grow. I started posting stuff on Instagram. People were following me, they were liking my post, and so it started as a strength training, gain muscle, like physique development company. Then, when I graduated school and I had more physical therapy knowledge under my belt in 2022, I was like okay, how do I now incorporate this into my business? Because physical therapy is my biggest passion as well, and I started working in a clinic, like you said, seeing four to five patients in an hour, absolute rat race.
Speaker 2:I couldn't keep my head on straight, like felt like I couldn't give my patients the quality of care that I wanted to give. I didn't get to know them as people. It was like, oh, I have my Achilles coming in, I have my ACL coming in, and it's like I don't want to be knowing people by their injuries, I want to know them for themselves and I couldn't touch on. You know, some of my patients would come in and I'm like, how much sleep did you get last night? Five hours of sleep. I'm like, all right, that's not helping us here. Like you need to sleep, you need to eat. There's like your stress is through the roof. No wonder why you still have pain, no wonder why it's injury after injury.
Speaker 2:And I simply did not have time to give that education because it was back-to-back patients between patients, notes, calling doctors, calling insurances. There was just no time to give the quality of care that I wanted to give. So I only worked in outpatient physical therapy for a year and a half after school until I was like I can't do this anymore. My online business was continuing to grow, I had got some more continuing education, I got my pain-free performance specialist certification, and I'm currently in a program called Active Life Professional, where I am still learning to bridge that gap as well. So that's kind of where my business started and where it is now.
Speaker 2:And now I'm really passionate about helping former female athletes I actually do work with a couple of males, mostly females, though rediscover their confidence and strength and love for an active life, because they feel like, you know, pt didn't do what they needed for them.
Speaker 2:They didn't get the care that they needed. It was like, if they have Achilles issues, okay, stretch your calves, do calf raises. And it's like, okay, what about the hamstrings? What about, like, the positioning of the subtalar joint? Like, do we know what that looks like? And again, it's just, I don't think it's a like ignorance of the physical therapist, I think it's a simply a lack of time, and that is just how the industry is built right now. So my real, like bigger overarching goal in this life is to help shift healthcare to be more of that personable. You know kind of force insurance companies to adapt, or else they're going to crumble Because we're finding that a lot more of the really great healthcare professionals are cash-based, because in order to provide that quality care, we have to go cash-based to have more time with our patients.
Speaker 3:So that's in a nutshell Can you hear my snaps? That was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was awesome.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, Bruno.
Speaker 3:I was, you're, so we are so on the same page. Props to Krista for like recognizing and then putting us together. Um, but there's there's so much there that I want to dig into, but first, first and foremost, congratulations, love it. Um uh, second of all um, tell everyone where you're located.
Speaker 2:I'm in New York.
Speaker 3:Nice, and so do you have people who are mostly local, or is it because it's online, you have people spread across the country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually have people spread across the country. I also do have a couple of clients in Canada, Australia. Our reach is pretty far, which is pretty awesome. I actually don't have many clients near me which I wish I had more of, so we're pretty spread out which I wish I had more of.
Speaker 3:So we're pretty spread out Very cool. So, from the dynamic of the online presence versus the physical presence, walk us through a little bit on how you help bridge that gap, like you were saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so at times I do miss the in-person. There's a give and a take with in-person versus online. Again, online I'm just. I talk to my clients almost on a daily basis, so we have that back and forth communication. I know when they're having a good day, I know when they're having a bad day. I know when they just passed their oral exam to get their master's. I know when they are just having a down day and they need more mindset work that day than physical work. And for me, because of that, I can really help change their lives and change their mindset and their perspective on pain, on training and on what health really means.
Speaker 2:In person, Like I said, there's just not enough time and when you do like in-person training, you don't. You're with your patient or your client for an hour. And what about the other 23 hours in a day, like? And if you're with them for, like, if you have one to two sessions with them a week, so you're with them for two hours a week, like, and what is that? I think I think I've done the math before I think it's like 168 hours in a week, like. What else are they doing with those other 166 hours? And that's important and that's what I feel like is missing in the rehab space is we focus so much on foam rolling, soft tissue work, stretching, movement, which is all very important, but without the other stuff it's it's kind of a moot point, like you're going to keep doing the same stuff and you're still not going to feel good because you're not actually addressing the reason you're feeling tight or the reason you're in pain. The reason you're weak is because you're not eating enough, you're not sleeping enough. Um, so that's why I love the online, because I talk to my clients on a daily basis.
Speaker 2:Um, it does get tricky with, you know, analyzing their form, because some clients at first are like I am very scared of filling myself in the gym. So there's another barrier that we have to overcome. But it's also educating them that filming yourself in the gym is not only just for me, it's for yourself, because you can't watch yourself while you're doing a movement. So if something doesn't feel right to you, if you don't know what it looks like, then how are you going to know what to correct or what's going wrong, and you might just give up the exercise altogether, when we could have made a simple tweak to fix it so that you can feel good and continue to do that movement.
Speaker 2:So there is sometimes a barrier to overcome. Sometimes I'm lucky and I get clients who come in already recording themselves, so it's easy. But some clients I have to really get through that barrier with them of like hey, nobody else cares that you're filming yourself in the gym, um, and kind of get over that aspect of it. But I have them send me form videos. Obviously sometimes the angles aren't great so I'm like all right.
Speaker 2:I need a different angle next time. Can't really see anything here. So you know there's some barriers to online when it comes to form analysis. I feel like, outside of that, I just feel like the online allows me to really connect with my clients on a deeper level because I can talk to them every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think too, like it just allows you to, you know, right, when you're in that outpatient setting, or like, right, you're seeing all these people you kind of talked about it, it's like one. Like there's that barrier purposely that's supposed to kind of also protect you as a physical therapist of, yeah, you only see them there, and that's it. And it's like kind of a work-life balance, the same thing. But then, but then, like you realize, oh yeah, I don't sleep, I don't get enough to eat, um, yeah, those are the real issues yeah, exactly, I mean going back in the college setting.
Speaker 1:For me it's uh, when I was there it was same thing. It was, like you know, we were there, we treat in like on the athletic training world. We did have regular communication. But, like you know, we we would have an uptick in acls one year and and he'd be like, well, what happened? I'm like, and it'd be like, okay, well, in October we had three or four of them for whatever reason. And I'm like, okay, well, october's midterms. So like there's a lot of stress going on. They're not sleeping. Oh, guess what happens when they get done midterms? They're going out and boozing. So like how am I supposed to be able to stop any of that? So, any of that. So I think you and Bruno see a lot of the same stuff, because I think both of you end up kind of seeing the people that the traditional side maybe failed or like, hey, I went to someone first, it wasn't working. I'm going to explore something else. Do you feel like that's something you see regularly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think that the other issue is again in person. You're capped with time and resources and insurance is like kind of has a chokehold on you. So if you have a patient coming in for ankle issues, you got to treat the ankle. If you're exercising their shoulder, the insurance is going to be like I'm not covering this. They're here for ankle issues. Why are you doing anything to their shoulder when really the shoulder was the issue? Because compensation up and down the chain right Like right shoulder issue could be actually a left ankle problem or left ankle problem like vice versa.
Speaker 2:So when you're in the physical therapy clinic, you can't be treating the shoulder for an ankle issue because insurance doesn't see that as correct. So they're like why am I paying for this? And then you also can't treat multiple body parts at once. So I see a lot of people who have back pain, knee pain and shoulder pain and you go to PT and they're like well, we can only treat your back first, then we have to treat your knee, then we have to treat your shoulder and that's if you have enough visits.
Speaker 2:Then we have to treat your shoulder, and that's if you have enough visits and then insurance caps you on visits. So for me, I take a full body approach, like when my clients come into the program, whether they're currently dealing with pain, whether it's mobility issues, whether they just want to get strong, they all go through the same assessment process and it's a full body assessment process. So we do full body mobility. So I'm looking at OK, are we lacking mobility anywhere? Are we hyper mobile and need more stability? And then I also do a strength balance exam where I'm looking at left versus right sides in the upper body and in the lower body, taking that information and designing a program for them. And it might look like, you know, like I'm designing them a full workout program.
Speaker 2:So it's not like people are like come in and they're like, oh, we're going to do physical therapy exercises. Why am I barbell back, squatting? And I'm like because that's what you actually need. Like you don't need to do banded like band abductions with your freaking knees. Like you need to squat, you need to. We need to load the tissues, um, so that's where I think I see a lot of clients come in. Is that what they did before wasn't working? Because it wasn't actually targeting what was wrong. So, like I said before, if someone's going in for calf issues, a lot of PTs again because capped on time, like not necessarily because they're ignorant, just capped on time. Oh, calf, okay, we're going to do calf raises, we're going to do foam rolling back issues.
Speaker 2:Okay, core and glute, core and glute. And I fell into that. I'm not going to lie, like when I was in the clinic somebody came in for back problems. I'm like that's easy, just core and glute work, no problem. And now as I'm learning like, and I have more time to analyze my clients and work with them really one-on-one, I'm able to see that everybody with back pain actually doesn't always need core and glute work, sometimes, like, they need ankle work, sometimes they need shoulder work, sometimes they need thoracic spine work. But for me in the clinic, capped on time, I was just like, all right, core and glutes, that'll help you. Like that's easy for me, you know, and I hate that I fell into that. But that's why I left, because I didn't like the therapist that I was becoming, because I was just kind of putting everybody into the same bucket, because I didn't have time to really sit and think critically about the situation yeah, I actually had a very similar conversation with a guy um yesterday.
Speaker 3:He was like he really come in for like long history of knee and back problems and he mentioned his shoulder like a couple it's only like first couple visits and he was like telling me something more and more about his shoulder. I was like that's like limiting you in x, y and z. Like why have you not like brought that up as a priority? He's like, oh, because like I'm here for and Z. Like why have you not like brought that up as a priority? And he's like, oh, because like I'm here for my, my back, I'm here for my knee.
Speaker 3:Like I didn't think you could even help me with my shoulder.
Speaker 3:I was like I was like all right, let's throw that thought in the garbage, because anything that we can do we will do.
Speaker 3:I tell clients all the time like if you're going to commit to this process, like working with me, like I'm equally as committed to you as you are to me.
Speaker 3:So it's a very much teamwork thing, maybe like quarterback running back type situation, but it's not like like I am this like exercise at home and like I didn't get it, or like I thought this was stupid.
Speaker 3:Like when people come in and give me like honest feedback that's so helpful, because if you're not going to actually do it at home and you're just like worried about hurting my feelings or like sounding dumb, like oh, I can't do it at home without your guidance, then we're wasting our time. So we have to get stuff that's like simple, effective and enjoyable all bundled together and then you can like take that and run with it, and then that's where we really start stacking skills. I don't know if you agree with this or not, but my, my whole thing is like it's really like the education and skill component is really where like 80% of the physical is, but like the entire problem, like you've kind of alluded to already is like could even be outside of the physical pain, right, like if you're having like a crappy day at work and your girlfriend dumps you and like all this kind of stuff like that, the weather like all that stuff like adds up in a weird way where in isolation, it seems like does that?
Speaker 3:actually mean anything, but it is really useful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know I have I use this like stub your toe analogy. You know like if you're having a great day like life's good, and you stub your toe, you're like whatever, like rub it off, like it obviously doesn't feel great. But if you're having like a shit day weather sucks, like said girlfriend dumps, you, like work was terrible, and you stub your toe at the end of the world like that could cause a meltdown.
Speaker 2:And like and it's happened to me before, I've noticed it. So stress really plays a role in how you. It really does decrease your pain tolerance, so it really plays a role in how you feel and how you perceive pain. Um. So yeah, I completely agree with that nice cool um go
Speaker 1:ahead. I will go, um, so kind of transitioning into all right, so you deal with the pain and whatnot. I think kind of what we're wanting to dive in a little bit more today. Which kind of that. How, how are you helping athletes kind of transition out of sport? Um, you know, I I mean I I think we've talked about it before on this podcast about you know there's a lot of identity that goes with these athletes from sport. You know their whole identity is I was a college soccer player or I was, you know, the best player on my, on my high school badminton team or something like that. So so you know, I just I kind of want to talk about how you kind of approach that and kind of what you've seen as you know, some things that are common themes around those people or those athletes or those now possibly non-athletic regular people narps that's what nart means by it full circle.
Speaker 1:Anyone who's?
Speaker 3:curious like you just dropped that out of nowhere, non-athletic regular person um, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I see a lot of former athletes who want that competitive edge back and they've gone from playing sport to CrossFit, training for marathons, triathlons, spartan races, you know all of those fun things that give you that competitive edge, or simply just playing in their sport, depending on what their sport is Like. My sport was lacrosse. There's not a lot of adult lacrosse leagues around. I'm trying to start one If anybody's in the Westchester area and wants to start. Was lacrosse. There's not a lot of adult lacrosse leagues around.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to start one If anybody's in the Westchester area and wants to start a lacrosse league with me, please let me know.
Speaker 2:So having them transition out of like sport to that competitive like, still having that competitive edge, and helping them train for the new demands of their new sport Because going from playing lacrosse to CrossFit are different demands on the body and even though if you played high school, college, like whatever it was and some of them do give you like a strength training program even if you had that program like, you never designed it for yourself, you never really learned the meaning behind anything. Your coaches just kind of said hey, come in, do this lift and leave. You know, do this conditioning and leave, play this game and leave, and you didn't really learn the why behind things. So my part of my role in my company is to help our athletes learn how to do this on their own. So we have a four phase process and the last phase is our unleash phase, where I actually have our athletes create their program on their own, send it to us for review and then we talk them through what feels good about their program, what we might change, so that this way they start to learn how to build it themselves and they don't feel like when coaching ends they're just confused and left for their own again, just like they were after sport. So there's a lot of education, like you said, bruno, like there's a lot of education that goes into it, you know, and then it also comes down to the person who maybe didn't have that competitive edge after sport ended and they suddenly develop back and shoulder pain because they transitioned from two a days to a desk job and they're like why am I in so much pain? Oh, it had to have been the fact that I played sports for the last decade and it's like no, because you just went from training six days a week to sitting at a desk for 10 hours a day and not training, and maybe training like twice a week or not training at all. So it's helping them get back into that and find the competitive edge within the gym, within themselves. Like some of my athletes don't do marathons or CrossFit or whatever, they're just training in the gym but they're always looking to hit new PRs because they have that competitive edge and that's what makes us like as athletes, training brings us back home, because that's the thing that makes us feel like ourselves, being able to compete, whether it's with other people or with ourselves. So it's also kind of helping them find their identity again outside of sport, or simply athletes who have been to PT before still dealing with repercussions of injuries.
Speaker 2:Like I literally worked with someone who was like I tore my ACL seven years ago and I've never felt the same since and I'm like, okay, red flag. So we're working together to rebuild up her strength and essentially it's just that she needs more single leg strength. Like in my mind it's not that complicated what she needs, but in her mind she had no idea. So it's teaching her what she needs to feel like herself again, to be able to hike again and not feel like she's going to hold the group back, to be able to, like, say yes to a run with her friend without feeling like she's going to be in pain all the next day. So it's helping with that transition out of like you're forced to show up to lifts, you're forced to show up to conditioning and games and whatnot, and now you're on your own. How do you make that happen on your own and be able to do it confidently and do it pain-free?
Speaker 3:I love the script flipped of like write your own program and let me review it. I might steal that. That's so good.
Speaker 2:Do it. I mean, like that's what people need, because if I'm just writing you a program for a year, most of my clients sign on with me for nine to 12 months, and majority of them is 12 months. So if I'm writing you programs for a year, when we're done, how are you going to know to do it on your own? You know, I want to make sure, like my goal is not to keep you forever, like my goal is to help you do this on your own, and that's the best way in my mind to have them do it. It's like you do it yourself. Send it to me and I'll let you know what I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's like You're like the hinge of healthcare designed to be fired after 12 months, so-.
Speaker 3:I'm surprised. You know what hinge is, Mikey.
Speaker 1:Only because of you All right.
Speaker 3:Fun hinges, mikey, only because of you all, right, uh, fun fact, that is how I met my fiance. But um with, with the athletes like transitioning out I know you mentioned I kind of say the same thing too when you were like are they competing with somebody or like competing with themselves? Do you have um like, do you see that more often, where people are like I just want to get better for me, or like I need to run an Ironman, or like do whatever like the thing is, and they're like competing against others. What do you see more commonly?
Speaker 2:First I see them coming to me for decreased pain, improved strength and overall wanting to feel better for themselves. Then, once they build that confidence, they'll like trickle in little things like, hey, what do you think about me running a marathon next year? And I'm like, is that something you want to do? Hey, what do you think about me doing this spurt and race in a couple months? Okay, let's start training. So it it's. It usually starts with the for themselves, but then happens to. They build the confidence and they're having that competitive edge in the gym with themselves again that they're like what else can I do? And that's my goal is to help them like unleash their inner athlete again and find that love for an active life again that they might have lost after sport.
Speaker 3:Ah, I see the name, I see the branding there. That's good, that's real good With the way that, like it sounds like you're you mentioned you. They have like four phases. Can you talk us through, like you mentioned, a couple of different spots. Can you walk us through the entire process on, like how a typical client starts and ends with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, like I said, we go through a pretty intensive assessment process. So our first week I have them do a seven-day startup. So every day they have an educational video to watch around training and around mindset, and then they have. On day two they have a breath work assessment to send to me. On day three they have a movement assessment and on day five they will have any additional testing I might want. So if their mobility assessment is pretty clear, I'll have them do a strength balance exam. If there's a lot of red flags in their movement assessment, we'll focus there first and then do the strength balance later on down the road.
Speaker 2:So this is our first phase. It's called our uncover phase, so we're uncovering limiting beliefs around your ability to train pain-free. We're uncovering your mobility limitations, your strength limitations and any holes in your foundation. So I also have them do a time audit, a habit audit, where we look at what does your days actually look like? Like you feel like you don't have time. So where can we create the time? Like where? How much time are you spending on social media a day? You know, I have them tell me, walk me through a day in their life and they tell me an entire day in their life, Um, so that this way I have a good understanding of what is going on, what are their demands? You know, I get on a sales call with someone, we're talking, and then they fill out their onboarding form and all of a sudden I find out that she's got two kids and a dog at home and I'm like you didn't tell me that in the first place. So I would have never known if I didn't ask Um. So knowing those things, like someone who has two kids or someone who has no kids that's a different scenario.
Speaker 2:Um, so this is where the first phase is really finding where the gaps are and figuring out how to fill them. We're really the first phase lasts like about a month where we are really building up the foundation. So priorities are sleep, stress management, nutrient quality, building a routine in the gym and working on those mobility deficits. So they still have a program, but the focus is not training intensity yet. The focus is get consistent, focus on your foundation. Our second phase is our unfold phase and that's where we really dive more into training because now they're in, ideally, their foundation is stronger it's not ideal yet right Like we're going to be building on it throughout the whole process. But their foundation is stronger. So now we've hopefully raised their capacity a little bit to be able to handle more in the gym. So now we're able to push harder in the gym, push more range of motion, because they've developed mobility through their program and we're really working on any linchpins that they have. We're doing a lot of single leg, single arm work to work on any imbalances and really working on whatever their deficits are.
Speaker 2:Then we have our unlock phase and this is kind of where the expectation is. We redo our movement assessment, we redo the strength balance exam and there's improvements and we kind of repeat the process. So wherever there is still kinks in the hose, we are going to work out those kinks. In this unlock phase really hone in on training intensity, strength building. This is where they might be like I'm feeling good, I want to go do a marathon, I want to go do an Ironman, I want to do this, and so this is where we get really specific with training for something specific. Or if they don't have anything specific they want to train for, we just continue to push PRs. Maybe we have some physique goals, and then this is where we're really developing an athlete again.
Speaker 2:And then our unleash phase is where we're transitioning out of tracking macros to intuitive eating, from me programming to them programming, so now they can go and do this for the rest of their lives and stay pain-free and not come back and see me, because the number one indicator of future PT is past PT for the same region. So my goal is to stop that right Like that's a red flag. So this is how, why I have the four phase process and why I have my clients stay with me for nine to 12 months, because realistically, that's how long it takes to build these habits that are going to last a lifetime. And in the grand scheme of things, like nine to 12 months in what like a 80 year life is like minuscule, but that's if I can make a change in that time for them to be able to continue and stay younger longer. That's my goal.
Speaker 1:I love that off the bat because I think this is what you run in all the time. People come and see you, they're looking for that quick fix, rich scheme type type of deal, like how can I get fixed quickly? And like, right off the bat, being like this is a longer process than you think. There's no six weeks of pt that are going to address all of your issues. There's, you're right, like the 9 to 12 months, like each of of those phases you know right, it's like a three month each phase. Right, if they're with you for 12 months type of deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, back, and you know back and forth depends. I always tell them it's about a month for Uncover, unfold and Unlock kind of depend Unleash. I like to be the last two months of us working together so they can build at least like two programs for themselves, so they can feel really I don't want them to just build one program, I want them to build two and feel really confident about continuing to do that down the line. So it really varies person to person and I actually have a lot of clients that end up resigning for another year.
Speaker 1:So really most people stay with me for like one to two years yeah, because I they realize how much, how much it takes. And also like even in one year you're not going to learn all the things that happen. Like because you can still train, you could be running your own program. Something happens and they're like I don't know how to adjust my own program because now this started so I'm sure that's something that they run into, because like, no matter how perfectly you do, stuff should happen, so like something's going to happen.
Speaker 2:I was just having this conversation with one of my athletes yesterday Cause we had a benchmark call. I also do one-on-one zooms with all of my athletes once a month and we were on ours and we were talking and she was like, yeah, I tweaked my back yesterday doing deadlifts. And I was like perfect. I was like, aren't you so glad that it happened right now, while you're working with me, so that I can teach you how to handle it, instead of this happening when you weren't working with me? And she was like, oh, yeah, I guess. And she was like I don't even know what happened.
Speaker 2:I was like, honestly, me either. Your deadlift form looked great, your sleep was great that day, your nutrition was great and, like, you've been keeping up with your stress management, your sleep, your nutrition. So, honestly, I don't know what happened either, but all that, all we can do, is move forward from here. So here's what we're going to do the next week to get you back to feeling good. And it really helped calm her down to not like freak out over tweaking her back, but it's like okay, good, I'm glad that it happened when you were with me, because now, when it happens again when you're not working with me. You know what to do Because, like you just said, mike, like tweaks are kind of inevitable, right? If you're training hard, you're playing a sport. Tweaks are kind of inevitable, right? If you're training hard, you're playing a sport, shit's going to happen, and you want to have the tools and the resources to be able to handle that on your own.
Speaker 3:I have two things. There's a. There's like a frame that I heard recently that I really liked, where you're like it sounds like you're very much on the same page here. Where you have a conversation with someone, it's like who cares if you were in shape for six weeks, six months a year, like who I get in the totality. You take that big zoom out like who really cares, right, and when you think about it like that because all these like gyms and everything, it's like six week challenge, body transformation, this, whatever, and that's the easy part Like that like focus, attention, dial in whatever, like a lot of people can get a lot of quick success there.
Speaker 3:It's the afterwards. That's where you hear people like bouncing back and forth and like riding that wave. So your approach sounds much more sustainable where you might not get the quick peaks and valleys. You might not get the quick peaks but you also don't get the detrimental valleys. That like that's why people like leave the gym or leave wherever they're, they get bored or they get hurt. Those are like the two big things that I see is when they stop pursuing some sort of fitness related goal, and the way that your approach encompasses both of those in a very in a very like easy way. It's like when you, we, when we talk about it, it's like, oh duh, but like some people like don't have that. You know what I mean. So definitely a great like mentor, coach, on top of being like very educated on both sides of the spectrum, is super cool to see. I know we keep saying athlete a lot and I actually have this debate with a lot of people, so I want to know your definition of athlete and then we'll go into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I've actually recently been really intentional about calling my clients athletes and not clients. Um, and the reason being, some of my athletes don't eat like didn't play a sport before they are actually not former athletes, but they want to like. They come to me and say I want to feel athletic, I want to feel free to do whatever I want to do, like I said, go on a run, go on a hike, say yes to all of the fun activities. I want to be able to get on the floor with my kids. I want to be able to throw the Frisbee with my kid, throw the Frisbee with my dog, like there's things that people want to do that, in my mind, like they're athletic activities and I think it gives my athletes a sense of confidence when I call them an athlete versus a client because, like in my opinion and I know people have differing opinions on it If you're going to the gym and training hard, like I said, maybe you're not competing with somebody else, but you're competing with yourself.
Speaker 2:And if you're trying to hit PR, you're trying to get better and you're you're training.
Speaker 2:So, in my mind, if you go to the gym, you're an athlete and that's what a lot of my athletes come in, they want to feel athletic.
Speaker 2:So in my mind, calling them athletes helps with that mindset shift, because mindset is a very big part of this. If that's why I have the seven day startup, where we do mindset work, I have them um writing down what their um, writing down what their values are, writing down what their priorities are, writing down their why for transformation and really getting deep with like why are you here? Like why does this even matter to you? And part of that mindset is helping them realize they're not broken. They can be the athlete that they once were. And you know, like their athletic career is not in the past, or just because they didn't play sports as a kid they can't doesn't mean they can't feel athletic now, you know. So I think that that wording shift gives them the confidence to be like fuck, yeah, I am an athlete and show up harder in the gym. So that's why I've been very intentional about my language recently.
Speaker 3:Love that, the, the, the like. The stark comparison that I always make with people is like athleticism is more prepared, prepared for life, and like being able to do anything that you get thrown your way. So I love. I'm a giants fan, so like I use eli manning in his example. Like eli manning is a great quarterback right, I'll argue that to the grave.
Speaker 3:But like you put him in a different athletic scenario. Like he might not be very good at like being like very versatile there. Like he's very good at one specific skill because he's trained his ass off to do that. But you put him in another environment and he might like not even know how to like like chew gum and walk at the same time. Like he like seems like I don't know. Like if, eli manning, if you're listening to this, I'd love to see you get like on the basketball court or something. But the like, that's the whole point. When I see someone, I'm like that guy's athletic is like he might be playing basketball, but I know if I put him on a soccer field, like he'd be able to hold his own or like transition into, like all the like, run, jump, sprint, like, do all these things that like.
Speaker 3:That's how I define athleticism and I think that the way that, like taking an approach to make people prepared and confident to go, do I have the similar conversations all the time where people are like I have this thing, I want to go do my Ironman Great, let's do that. But at the same time, I don't want to step off the curb and feel like I'm going to like break my leg. You know what I mean. So, like there's those sound like two very different people if you heard them in isolation, but it's the same person because, like they're very fearful of doing stuff that's like outside the norm. So being prepared to be, being prepared for all types of thing, and like ready to go, like that is really where athleticism is in my mind and it's like not as like intense as you think. Right, like not all athletes are LeBron James. It could be a grandma, it's it's all.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely yeah. And one funny example I have of this is just last week I had a doctor's appointment in the city so I had to catch a train. And I get to the train with time to spare and I'm like beautiful because I'm always late for the train and I'm sitting there and I'm like having a good time just waiting for my train and I'm like I forgot my wallet in my car and the train is going to be here in two minutes, so I have to hightail my ass from this platform to my car and back in two minutes and I did it. But the only reason why I was able to do it is because of the way that I train. Because I train to be athletic, because sometimes life demands you to be athletic, and think about simply crossing the street Like that's something we talk about in physical therapy.
Speaker 2:As you get older, your gait speed, your walking speed, decreases therapy. As you get older, your gait speed, your walking speed decreases, so you need to be able to walk at a certain pace in order to cross the street and in enough time to like make the walk signal. So if you're not training that way, like you can't cross the street. I have actually talked to people when I worked. I worked in um, a physical therapy place in New York, and there are people who live in the city who are like, yeah, I just like can't go anywhere because I can't cross the street in time and I'm like, okay, so this is impacting your life and that's being athletic, that's training for athleticism, because now we're not just making your knee pain go away. We need to get you more speed, more power, more explosiveness, so that you can cross the street on time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard walking speed is called the sixth vital sign, or seventh, I don't know my vital signs. But it's called the sixth because you got to walk at least like two miles per hour to get somewhere. You didn't see that one coming, bruno, did you? No, I didn't.
Speaker 3:Last thing I'll say on this. And Bruno did you um, no, I didn't. Last thing I'll say on this. Have you guys seen that viral video of the? Woman with the stroller and like she has her baby in the stroller and then she trips and she falls and the stroller starts rolling towards traffic and like she physically can't get up and like get to the stroller in time, so stranger had to come in and like swoop and save the baby, I did see that that was a while ago, though, right yeah, yeah, yeah, it's old oh my god yeah, like in my like that is a lack of athleticism, like you don't think.
Speaker 3:You don't think that, like you wouldn't define that as athleticism. You think sports, but like that right there, being prepared to like do something that is super important, right, like yeah, like it's a freak accident, but you got to be able to do that, you know that's it's crazy absolutely, mikey. What else you got for our friend sam here, as we're running out of time?
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, to wrap it up, you know, we kind of always end with this if you got one thing that you want to give, one of your page, one of your athletes, uh, to go fix themselves. What is it? I mean, I think you already do a great job Like go write your own program. Pretty much is go fix yourself.
Speaker 3:Don't give her answers, dude. Oh, I'm sorry, but it was.
Speaker 1:You already said it.
Speaker 2:You mean like my athletes inside of my program or like anybody?
Speaker 1:Or anyone. Yeah, I mean, like what's the number one, a common theme that you're like yep, most people just miss the mark on this sleep yeah like, honest to god, the amount of people that come in that I talk to in a day.
Speaker 2:They're like, yeah, I sleep like five hours a night and I'm like that's like just not enough. Like if you want to have more energy throughout your day, if you want to lose weight, build muscle, be pain-free, like literally just function better as a human being, have better relationships, like be better in your career because you show up better, you need sleep. Like it's just, it's the number one thing that I feel like people are chasing. You know PRs in the gym, but we need to really focus on our sleep. So I'll tell my athletes in the beginning again when we're building that foundation hey, I know you want to work out four or five days a week.
Speaker 2:We're going to work out twice a week to start, and they're like what, what?
Speaker 2:What I got to be nope, nope, nope. Because you sleep five hours a day a night right now and I'm not going to have you also training on top of that. First, we're going to build up your sleep. We're still going to have you train so that you're still in the gym and getting the benefits, but I need you to sleep first and I'll also tell my athletes if they have been having off sleep and they need to wake up early one morning to get into the gym before work, I'm like, nope, you're skipping your gym session today and you're going to sleep, because that's what your body really needs, because you don't build muscle in the gym, you build muscle when you sleep. And again, that's why, like I have, I have an upper hand with my athletes because we work together for a year. We have the ability to do that and go slower and build the foundation the right way, just like. Did you guys ever this is an analogy I just thought about Did you guys ever see that show where they like built a house in like a day?
Speaker 3:No, but that sounds cool.
Speaker 1:No, sounds like a kind of like the community service work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:Habitat for Humanity stuff that like that's kind of how those houses go up or like in a day sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got to figure out what it's called now, because this is a really awesome analogy that I just thought of. Figure out what it's called now, because this is a really awesome analogy that I just thought of. But there's there's a show where they would build a house for a family in need in like a day or two, and then years, a couple of years later, those houses have horrible problems and the people have to move out of the house and that's why the show got shut down. And it's the same thing with your health and fitness journey, with your pain-free journey. Like, if you rush building the foundation and you don't do it right, you're going to crumble very quickly, whereas if we take the time to build your foundation, it's going to stand for years to come.
Speaker 3:Right, I'm stealing that too.
Speaker 2:No, it's fine, that's great. It's already been submitted for copyright too late I gotta find the show so I can let you know what the show is called yeah, that'd be awesome but yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think the biggest thing outside of training would be improving your sleep, decreasing your stress. Like I'm also going through this right now. I just got blood work back where my testosterone's low. My thyroid levels are low. I've been very stressed out lately. I'm not getting the sleep I need, so I know where my efforts need to be focused right now. Um, as much as I want to be training hard in the gym, my priority is sleep stress management. Um, I'm actually taking a full digital detox this weekend because I'm done with some video.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 2:Got to walk the walk right, yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 3:Well, sam, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you mentioned it at the beginning, I can't remember, but where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm on Instagram at DocSamFit. Threads is the same thing, youtube is the same. I also am actually hosting a Train Without Pain Masterclass today. If, like, obviously, people aren't getting in from this podcast today, I'm going to be. It's going to be available for replay. So if you guys are interested in that, link will be in my bio. If you have questions, you can ask me on instagram. I'm pretty open on instagram, sweet all right.
Speaker 1:That about concludes this fantastic episode yeah of course, appreciate your time all right, mike, you ready to send us home? Yeah, yep, go fix yourselves.