Sleep Is a Practice

We've talked about sleep before — our PM routines, keeping it dark and cool and quiet, putting down the phone, all the adulting 101 tips that every Instagram account and bestselling book has been yelling at you for years. You know all of it.

So we polled 119 members of our coaching community about their sleep. A third of them are struggling, and the comments made one thing very clear: nobody has a knowledge problem. They have a life problem. Toddlers, menopause, business anxiety, shift-working spouses, bodies that wake up at 3am to replay every unfinished task from the last decade.

This episode is about what to do when you already know the basics and your life won't cooperate.

Resources:

• 5 Quality Sleep Strategies to Feel Well-Rested and More Productive - Our article on the fundamentals of better sleep
• Evening Stretching Routine - Ryan's pre-bed routine to help you relax and sleep better
• Your PM Routine - Our earlier episode on building an evening routine that sets you up for the next day
• How to Practice Recovery - Our episode on autoregulation and learning to read your body's recovery needs
• Respiration - Our breathing program for managing stress, calming your nervous system, and improving recovery
• Recovery - Structured active recovery sessions with light movement, self-massage, and full-body awareness work
• Alpha Posse - Our coaching community where this sleep conversation started

Pick one thing from this episode. One. Practice it for two weeks. If it's breathing before bed, do it every night. If it's moving your phone out of the bedroom, do it every night. If it's the evening stretch routine, commit. 

See what actually changes for you, then decide if it stays.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Most people think training is about constant progress.

Getting stronger. More flexible. Better conditioned. Always moving forward.

And when that’s not happening, it feels like something’s gone wrong.

But that idea falls apart pretty quickly when you look at how anything actually develops over time.

Athletes don’t train at peak intensity all year. They periodize their with pre-season, in-season, and off-season. Your work has busy periods and slower stretches. Even your energy across a week shifts depending on sleep, stress, and everything else going on in your life.

Training works the same way.

There are seasons to it. Not just one.

In this episode, we break down four of them:

• Building — when you’re putting focused effort into improving a specific skill or quality
• Maintenance Mode — doing just enough to keep what you’ve built while your attention goes elsewhere
• Damage Control — adjusting when something’s off, whether that’s an injury, fatigue, or just life hitting hard
• Exploring / Performing — using what you’ve built in less structured, more variable, real-world ways

The mistake most people make is treating “building” as the only phase that counts.

But trying to build everything, all the time, usually leads to stalled progress, frustration, or getting hurt.

A better approach is understanding which season each part of your training is in, and adjusting accordingly.

You might be building mobility, maintaining strength, managing a cranky shoulder, and exploring new movement patterns all in the same week.

That’s how sustainable progress actually works.

We’ll walk through how each of these phases works, why they’re all necessary, and how to train in each one so that even maintenance or damage control still move you forward.

Because the goal isn’t to always be pushing harder.

It’s to keep making progress over time without burning yourself out in the process.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Most people know when to back off their training, but only once something already hurts. That’s the problem.

In this episode, we break down why pain and fatigue are lagging indicators, and how to start using earlier signals to guide your training instead. You’ll learn how to recognize when you’re actually ready to push harder, not just when you need to stop, and how to adjust your sessions based on what’s really going on in your body and your life.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between going too hard and doing nothing at all, this gives you a better way to make the call.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Many people think progress only happens on the days when they push themselves to the limit. Everything else feels like falling behind.

In reality, most productive training happens in the middle. The grey zone between maximum effort and total rest is where you can practice skills, build muscle, develop endurance, and accumulate consistent work without constantly needing long recovery periods.

Autoregulation helps you learn how to operate in that middle range. Instead of reacting to fatigue or chasing max effort every session, you develop the ability to adjust intensity and keep moving forward.

The result is fewer setbacks, more training days, and better long-term progress.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

This episode is a rambling and unfocused mess. OK, so it's a little better than that, but the truth is that "how do I integrate more training into my life" is a really broad question, and any focused, succinct answer would be incomplete.

What you'll actually get is Ryan and Andy working through the tension between movement snacks and real training sessions, why 15 focused minutes beats 90 minutes of scattered effort, and the five words that have repeatedly saved Andy from his own to-do list. And Ryan's three-word rebuttal. 

If you've ever caught yourself researching infrared saunas for three hours instead of doing some damn pushups, this one's for you. And yes, we talk about toilet squats.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Andy and Ryan discuss the use of timed sets vs rep counting in the Praxis Protocol, emphasizing the importance of quality movement over quantity. The conversation covers the significance of adjusting intensity, the idea of mechanical drop sets, and the distinction between time under tension and time under attention. They also address how to measure progress without relying on numerical goals, encouraging listeners to focus on their improvement in movement quality.

Takeaways

• GMB emphasizes quality of movement over quantity in training.
• The five P's framework helps organize practice effectively.
• Timed sets allow for a focus on quality rather than counting reps.
• Adjusting intensity and scaling movements is crucial for progress.
• Mechanical drop sets can be applied to bodyweight exercises.
• Time under tension is important, but time under attention is key for practice.
• Measuring progress can be based on how well you perform movements, not just numbers.
• Quality movement leads to better performance in sports and daily activities.
• The goal of training should be to improve functional movement skills.
• Practicing with a focus on quality can prevent injuries and enhance performance.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and GMB's Unique Approach
02:22 Understanding the Five P's Framework
05:21 Quality Over Quantity in Movement Practice
08:34 The Importance of Timed Sets in Training
11:27 Challenges with Traditional Rep Counting
14:12 Transitioning to Quality-Focused Training
17:23 Conclusion and Future Directions
18:56 Scaling Movements and Adjustments
21:59 Understanding Mechanical Drop Sets
23:53 Bodyweight Variations and Drop Sets
27:22 Quality Over Quantity in Training
29:26 Time Under Tension vs. Time Under Attention
35:31 Focusing on Progress Beyond Numbers

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you’ve been training for years but still feel like you're not sure how to keep progress going, have random aches hanging around, and every new “must-do” tip online is somehow making it worse. Then this episode is for you!

Jarlo sits down with Dr. Jason Silvernail (DPT, DSc, U.S. Army Colonel, strength coach) to talk about the problem most people don’t realize they have: it’s not a lack of information… it’s a lack of a way to sort it. They unpack why modern fitness advice swings between two extremes, either a vague “wellness philosophy” or an aggressive “one weird trick” fear based, and what to use instead: a practical framework for making smart training decisions that actually match your real-life goals.

You’ll hear how Jason shifted his own training in his 40s (without giving up being strong), why “masters athlete” training is not resigning yourself to being less. It's a  mindset upgrade, and how the best results come from combining the right inputs (movement, recovery, stress, sleep, context) rather than chasing the next magic bullet.

Come for the training insights and leave with a clearer filter for everything you hear about health, fitness, and longevity.

*Opinions expressed by Dr. Jason Silvernail are his own and do not represent the official policy or position of the United States Army, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government*

Learn more from Dr. Silvernail here http://Linktr.ee/jasonsilvernail

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Osteoarthritis is often blamed on “wear and tear,” but the truth is far more empowering. In this episode, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Howard Luks joins us to break down what’s really happening inside your joints — and why movement, not rest, is the key to healing and longevity.

We talk about:
•Why osteoarthritis isn’t caused by using your joints too much
•The link between metabolic health, inflammation, and joint pain
•When surgery or treatments actually make sense
•How strength, mobility, and motor control protect your joints for life

Dr. Luks’ insights bridge the gap between medical science and practical movement training. Whether you’re dealing with arthritis yourself or helping others move better, this conversation will change the way you think about pain, aging, and physical autonomy.

🔗 Learn more about Dr. Luks:
•Website: https://www.howardluksmd.com
•Substack: https://howardluksmd.substack.com
•Book — Longevity Simplified: Living a Longer, Healthier Life Shouldn’t Be Complicated: https://www.amazon.com/Longevity-Simplified-Healthier-Shouldnt-Complicated-ebook/dp/B0B195C17T

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Resources:

• Body Maintenance Guide – Our head to toe solutions for aches and pains
• Your Guide To Moving Better With Less Pain – Our article and episode about active recovery
• Easy Self-Assessments to End the Guesswork – Our article on using a scale for ease and quality to make measurable progress
• Dealing With Injuries – Our episode on the not-so-secret key to recovery that everyone tries to ignore
• Overcoming Chronic Pain with Exercise – Our article on the science of pain and how to break the pain cycle
• How To Make Progress, Even With Limitations – Our article on strategies for working with pain and injury
• It’s All in Your Head – our episode on owning your subjective experience of exercise
• Bronnie Lennox Thompson on Fibromyalgia and Living Well With Chronic Pain – a great episode on Todd Hargrove’s The Better Movement Podcast
• Bronnie Lennox Thompson’s website – resource for on chronic pain self management

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

"It's time to make the Donuts."

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

Resources:

• How We Keep the Basics Interesting – Our episode on the two things that’ll help you give the basics the love they deserve
• Fighting Boredom in Your Workouts – Our other episode on working through the grind
• How to Build a Training Routine – Our article on how to make an exercise plan you actually look forward to
• A Not-Boring Article on Walking – Our article on how “boring walking” can lend itself to integrating movement, awareness, and breathing
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of why skills-based fitness is more efficient and interesting
• Want to Stick to Your Training? – Our article on how to tap into your long-term internal motivators
• Avoid Exercise Burnout – Our article on how to autoregulate your training so you can stay on course

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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
• Overcoming Chronic Pain with Exercise – Our article on the science of pain and how to break the pain cycle
• How To Make Progress, Even With Limitations – Our article on strategies for working with pain and injury
• How to Get Started with Training – Our article on how to make an exercise plan for beginners (or anyone wanting to get active again)
• DOMS – they suck!– Our episode on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of the AAA Framework to help you assess what you need to work on
• Your Guide To Moving Better With Less Pain – Our article and episode about active recovery
• 8 Exercises to Fix Hand & Wrist Pain – Our article on wrist health and wrist routine video

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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
• The Fundamentals for Success – learn the foundational attributes necessary to be successful at any sport
• How to Develop the Athleticism You Need – be prepared and train for any level of activity or sport
• What We Teach – what, why and how we teach, and how these principles can help inform any training you do
• How to Make the Most of Your Time – make choices not compromises in training and everything else in your life
• Tap Into Your Long-Term Motivation – make sure your training is driven by motivations that are meaningful to you

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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
• Balancing Goal Oriented Training with Movement Exploration – Our article with strategies to work exploration and play into your routine
• Why All Adults Should Play – Our article on why Play should be part of an exercise routine
• Playing with Movement – Our video on adding movement exploration to your practice
• Transcript of this Episode
• Turning Unconventional Play into Lifetime of Fitness – Our episode with Mark Smith of Asylum Fitness about Play as fitness
• Play Your Way to Any Skill – Our episode with Josh Vogel about mastery through Play
• Learning to Incorporate Play – Our episode on why anyone can play and how

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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 maximizing the 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

Resources:

• The Mindful Mover – Philip and Martina’s website
• @the_mindful_mover – Philip on Instagram
• Mindful Mover – Philip on YouTube
• Body by Science – a book by John Little and Doug McGuff on complete fitness in 12 minutes a week
• Breathing Exercises – Learn how to make your workouts better and help you recover faster
• 3 Steps to Autoregulation Training – How to not burn out
• How Many Reps, Sets, Exercises, and Workouts You Should Be Doing – Our episode on how much is enough
• Our Articles on Injury Prevention – Our best posts on recovery, prevention, and building resilience

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Resources:

• 3 Steps to Autoregulation Training – How to not burn out
• The GMB Method – A breakdown of how to Assess, Address, Apply to make progress on anything you’re working on
• DOMS – They Suck! – Our episode on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
• Breathing Exercises – Learn how to make your workouts better and help you recover faster
• Transcript of this Episode
• How Many Reps, Sets, Exercises, and Workouts You Should Be Doing – Our episode on how much is enough
• Our Articles on Injury Prevention – Our best posts on recovery, prevention, and building resilience

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Resources:

• The Ready State, formerly MobilityWOD
• San Francisco CrosSFit, Juliet and Kelly’s Gym
• Juliet on Instagram
• Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Juliet and Kelly
• Standup Kids, their non-profit
• Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Sexuality Guide by Heather Corinna
• Raising Strong Girls, Part 1 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Resources:

• The Ready State, formerly MobilityWOD
• San Francisco CrosSFit, Juliet and Kelly’s Gym
• Juliet on Instagram
• Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World by Juliet and Kelly
• Standup Kids, their non-profit
• Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
• S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Sexuality Guide by Heather Corinna

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Why buy a program when there are 50 billion free workouts on YouTube? Precisely because there are 50 billion free workouts to parse through.

In this episode, we talk about the good, bad, and ugly of the free content on YouTube.

We cover:

• what YouTube is useful for and its limitations
• the appeal of fitness videos
• how we learn by mirroring what we see 
• how that differs from training and true autonomy
• some of our favorite YouTube channels

Learn how to use YouTube to help you make the best decisions for you and your own practice.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

"Just squat!" "Just do intermittent fasting!" 

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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

"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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

"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.

Resources:

• Loaded Carries for Practical, Everyday Strength

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• School of Calisthenics Website / YouTube / Instagram
• Strength, Play and Conditioning Programmes
• Learn the Whole Handstand Process Video

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• Program: Regulator -- Recovery, Resistance, Resilience
• Article: How to Speed Up Recovery Time 
• Podcast: How to Maximize Recovery

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• Elements / Integral Strength / Mobility
• Creating Your Minimal Viable Routine
• 20-Minute Locomotion Circuit for Conditioning (Follow Along Workout)

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• Rippedbody.com
• Rippedbody Podcast
• Andy Morgan's Email System on GrowthLab

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

DOMS. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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:

1. non-linear, off-center, and multi-planar movements
2. 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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• Jenn's New Book --> Body Mind Movement
• Jenn's Blog
• How Fitness Training Can Affect Mental Health 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources:

• Elements
• Fitness Roadmap: How to Choose the Best Training Program

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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."

Resources Mentioned:

• GMB Method

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

'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.

Resources Mentioned:

• Jenn's New Book --> Body Mind Movement: An evidence-based approach to mindful movement
• Jenn's Blog 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources Mentioned:

• Steven Low's Site 
• Steven's Article on Overcoming Tendonitis
• The Book: Overcoming Tendonitis
• Our Review of Steven's Book Overcoming Gravity
• Overcoming Poor Posture, co-written with Jarlo
  
  

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources

• Strategies for Training At Home
• Can't Go to the Gym?
• Podcast: Lockdown Edition

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources Mentioned:

• Study - Stretching Decreasing Strength
• Study - Stretching and Dynamic Work
• Guide for Flexibility
• GMB Mobility Program
• GMB Elements Program
• Hip Mobility Routine
• Shoulder Mobility Routine
• Wrist Routine

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Which is better for pull-ups - rings or bar?

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. 

Enjoy.

Resources:

• How To Learn Pull-Ups Video
• Pull-Up Tutorial

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Resources Mentioned: 

• Pistol Squat Tutorial
• Pistol Squat Tutorial Video
• Pistol Squat Troubeshooting Video
• Bodyweight Squat Tutorial 
• 9 Advanced Bodyweight Leg Exercises
• Using Front & Back Scales
  
  

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Episode Transcript and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Episode Transcript and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Episode Transcript and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

The spine is needed in every movement we do, which is why we get more questions about back pain and back issues than almost anything else.

In this two part series, Jarlo and Rose look at the spine and answer some of the most-asked questions.

In this episode, we cover:

• basic anatomy and actions of the spine
• why so many people have back pain and spine issues
• protective mechanisms, how our brains can "overeact"
• nocebos, how anxiety and fear perpetuates the pain cycle
• how new sensory inputs can dampen pain and help us keep moving

Transcript and Other Episode Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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

Transcript and Episode Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Stick in in your earhole and hit the road.

Transcript and episode notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Transcript of this Episode and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

No pull-up bar? No panic.

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.

Transcript of this Episode and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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)

Transcript of this Episode and other notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Transcript of this Episode and other notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Pop quiz: how many wrists do you have?

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."

Transcript of this Episode and other notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Stick it in your earhole.

Transcript of this Episode and other notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

You probably have at least one shoulder.

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.

Episode Transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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
• Differences between men and women
• Muscle vs Joint issues

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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.

Get notes, links, and transcripts here

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you've got hip pain that keeps you from doing stuff you want to do, one of the diagnoses you might get is femoroacetabular impingement, or FAI. Which basically means the bones that make up your hip joint aren't the "right" shape. So they cause you problems when you move in certain ways.

If you ask an orthopedic surgeon what to do about it, there's a good chance they'll recommend surgery. Literally shaving down your bones to make them fit together better.

Which leaves a lot of people wondering if there's a less invasive option.

In this episode Jarlo talks with Shane Dowd and Matt Hsu of the FAI Fix guys. They discuss Shane's journey of getting diagnosed with FAI and searching for non-surgical ways to get moving again. Together he and Matt created a system of assessment and treatment that helps you get back to the activities you love without surgery.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

There's nothing less sexy than listening to two guys talk about safety for 45 minutes, but do you enjoy being injured? 

Yeah, we thought so...

In this episode, Jarlo pulls from his decades as a physical therapy clinician to help you understand the physical conditions that lead to injury and the mental tools you need to stay safe, even while pushing your capabilities to get stronger. 

A few topics covered:

• DOMS, or muscle soreness - what it means and how to manage it
• Trauma - what causes it and how to avoid it
• Repetitive stress - the mindset shift you need to prevent it from causing problems

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

This episode was inspired by our community, best represented by this question:

"I know that I get in the way of my training more than any injury or external obstacle.  Even tho it sounds silly to say it, sometimes it feels like the conditions have to be perfect to make any progress.  For example, “Shit, I ate a donut for breakfast, so today is shot.  Forget tomorrow because you can’t start a new habit on a Tuesday.  I’ll do better starting next Monday.”   Or “I didn’t do well in my workout today, so I should find a new program”.  I know it isn’t rational, but it happens.  The mental side of training is more difficult that the physical side.  Do you have any mental Elements to share for those of us that don’t see the steps between perfection and complete failure?" ~ Trevor

We can answer this in just four steps:

1. Go deep and figure out why you're working out in the first place.
2. Assess what you need so you can be 100% confident that you're doing the right thing.
3. Identify the necessary actions and make them habitual.
4. Put those actions on your calendar so that time is protected.

Of course, those steps ain't simple. Listen to the show and learn how to make them work for you.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

A few episodes back, we talked about building a morning routine that would set you up for a great day AND move you forward on what's most important in your life. But setting up for a great morning starts the night before, so this time, Ryan and Andy will cover the ingredients of a great evening routine.

A few key points:

• Capping off the day so you can shut down and go to sleep
• Our tips for getting a great night's sleep, every night
• Some different routines we've tried, and why we don't do those anymore
• Why the internet is terribl

We also mentioned this short stretch routine for stress relief and relaxation.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

One of the most frustrating things about diets is this: most of them work.

They work for some people, sometimes, under some conditions, for some goals. So you can't dismiss the results of Diet A as a criterion for choosing to follow Diet B. If both of them work, which one is right?

Which do you choose?

In this episode, Andy talks with Josh Hillis about what principles underlie most diets that make them effective and how to figure out how to do the things that will actually work for you in your own life.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that a big part of the solution is self-awareness, and in fact many diets work by simply giving you rules that force you to be more aware of what you eat. Having coached thousands of people to eat better for their own goals, Josh breaks down some simple and flexible tips for developing that awareness for yourself.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Fancy bodyweight skills are completely unnecessary for normal life. You never hear, “We have a bit of a situation, is there anyone on board who can do a handstand push-up?”

But that doesn’t mean they’re not useful. Because if you’re the sort of person who’s drawn to challenging skills, they can be super motivating. And working up to them will help make your body more capable in all sorts of very practical ways.

Still, though, actually getting big skills can feel impossible even if you train consistently.

In this episode GMB Head Coach Ryan Hurst and Lead Trainer Rose Calucchia tell you how to overcome the most common challenges in pursuit of big skills—including the fear of focusing too much on one thing, and how to shift your mindset so that small gains add up to big wins.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We've all got our own interests and priorities in life, so one of the really important questions our clients tend to ask us is how to adapt their training for their specific needs. 

Of course, with infinite variations, there's some black magic involved - it's more art than science at times - but there's a few general principles, and over time we've found that most of our clients fall into a handful of broad classes with regard to the kinds of goals they have in their training.

Four archetypes of training goals:

• Overall health and wanting to feel better
• Exploring different activities and needing some exercise to complement those
• Working on mastering specific skills or abilities
• Exercise to supplement and support performance in a single sport or activity 

Ryan has example programming for each of those, and we'll tell you how to organize a routine around what really matters to you.

Best quote of this episode of the GMB Show: "Don't build a lifestyle around how you look in lycra."

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

The whole point of training is to get better at the stuff that really matters to you. But how do you actually structure your training to do that?

The truth is that most people's workouts aren't all that aligned with what they actually care about. Maybe they used to be but as their personal priorities changed, momentum kept their workouts pretty much the same. Or maybe they're following a system some "expert" made that worked really well for the expert but isn't actually optimized for their goals.

In this episode, GMB Head Coach Ryan Hurst is joined by Mercedes Pollmeier, certified GMB Trainer and founder of ModusAthletica, to help you make sure your training is supporting your real life, and not the other way around. They'll show you how aligning your training with your goals, values, and identity leads to better results with less stress.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

The bodyweight fitness world tends to fetishize the idea of advancing toward a small handful of advanced skills like the planche, one-arm chin-up, handstand push-ups, and similar moves. These are all great strength moves, but a lot of people focus too much on these outcomes at the expense of developing the full package.

In this episode, Ryan will teach you how he thinks about progressions for higher-level strength skills, both in general and with specific progression examples covering pushing, pulling, and pressing with both bent and straight arms, as well as leg strength.

Key points are living in a variation until you own it and stepping outside the straight-line progression that can get you to a skill but might also lead to injury if you aren't careful.


Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Getting hurt is part of having a body, especially if you're one of those crazy people who likes to actually use yours! They key is to be smart about it when it happens so you can come back quickly and as strong as ever.

The problem is there's a lot of stupidness in the fitness world when it comes to pain and injury. "No pain, no gain!" might look great on the wall of high school weight room, but it's terrible advice when you've got a busted shoulder.

In this episode, GMB's Chief Pain Whisperer Jarlo Ilano is joined by Lead Trainer Rose Calucchia to help unstupid the fitness world about injury and pain. They'll help you understand what your pain is trying to tell you, when to rest vs. get back at it, and the not-so-secret key to recovery that everyone tries to ignore.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Warning: Jarlo and Andy go on a long, rambling, rant-filled discussion about the attitudes that keep people from being successful in their training. You probably won't like it. Unless you're the sort of person who will ;)

Here's some of what's covered:

• mental traps that prevent us from taking good advice
• learning from principles and concepts rather than relying on mimicry
• yes, stretching totally works, unless...
• you're doing it wrong (here's what to do about it)
• or, you may just need to give it more time

We know that stretching is a boring, uncomfortable, and difficult activity for anybody who actually needs it. But the benefits of easy range of motion make it worth the effort. If that effort hasn't paid off for you so far, you need to listen to this and try again.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

What does it mean to skip the kip? Contrary to popular belief, it's only coincidentally related to muscle-ups.

Part of our ethos at GMB is that, rather than taking shortcuts to try and reach an endpoint, you're usually better off investing in the process of building your capabilities systematically. With a solid foundation, you can learn a wider range of skills with relative ease, even though it may not feel as sexy as saying "hold my beer" and diving into the deep end before you know how to swim.

In this episode, Ryan and Andy talk about looking at the outcomes you're trying to achieve and skills you'd like to learn, then focusing on developing them from the bottom up.

Lots of examples from popular exercises and some 80s hard rock trivia too.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Supplements and fitness gadgets are really easy to sell. "$50 for rock-hard abs and elite endurance? Sign me up!" But this episode aims to save you some money.

Working out stresses the body. It stresses your muscles and joints and nervous system. It uses energy that you have to replenish with food. It takes time for your body to return to neutral after training so you can be in good condition for your next session. Learning to recover effectively means you can be ready to great training more quickly and more reliably.

Ryan and Andy have tried all kinds of routines and practices, and this episode is about the surprisingly simple things that make a hundred times more difference than the gimmicks.

Stick it in your earhole and learn how to feel better and perform better by recovering more fully between sessions.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We talk a LOT about "the basics," but we also get that literally zero people are out there thinking "oh wow, I can't wait to do basic stuff forever!"

Basics aren't sexy.

They're actually a lot like spinach. You know they're good for you, but you'd probably rather have some fried chicken or ice cream instead.

So this show is about how to do two things that'll help you give the basics the love they deserve without wanting to throw yourself in front of a train:
1. how and why you should cultivate a greater tolerance for boredom
2. lots of ways you can make basic exercises more interesting, even after you've been practicing them for years

Ryan will share some of his tips that have helped him continue to enjoy working on skills like handstands, even after almost forty years of practice.

If you want our suggestions for basic skills to work on while you apply these tips, check out this article.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Despite what you hear on the infomercials trying to sell you DVDs with pictures of abs on the front, there’s no such thing as a “complete” workout.

So it makes sense that lots of people eventually come to the realization that they need more than what they’re getting. Like martial artists who want to be more flexible, or runners who also want to build upper body strength.

You’d probably be surprised how often we’re asked if it’s even possible to combine different programs or methods.

Short answer: Yes, it’s possible, and often really, really helpful.

We give you the long answer about how to do it in this episode, including frameworks to help you figure out what to add and what to subtract, and how to combine programs without just doubling your training time.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

When you’re getting ready in the morning do you ask yourself, “Am I doing enough? Should I be working harder in the bathroom before I leave for work?” Probably not.

In fact, you probably know the exact bare minimum you need to do to get yourself out the door looking the way you want to look.

 But when it comes to training, a lot of people have trouble figuring out how much they need to do to get the results they want. Especially since most coaches and fitness companies preach about always pushing harder and never being satisfied.

In this episode we talk about how to build a Minimum Viable Routine that works for your goals. We’ll share our own favorite strategies and help you figure out how to choose the few things you need to focus on to make the progress you want.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

You do this everyday, so you should be pretty good at it by now, right? 

Well, not so fast. A cursory Google search shows no less than a dozen high-dollar courses and certifications you can take on breathing for better health and fitness. Apparently, this is more complex than most of us tend to assume, so let's look at why. 

Ryan's spent a lot of years practicing different styles of breath work, so here's what we'll share on this episode:

• Main features of a few popular styles of breathing for fitness
• Pros and cons of applying different kinds of breath work in your training
• Why this is important, e.g., what do you actually get from practicing better breathing?
• What it really means when you hold your breath during exercise
• Ryan's simple trick for making sure you don't do that
• Our favorite way to begin practicing better breathing techniques

There's a lot of mystical hoo-ha going on about esoteric BS that you probably don't need to waste your time or money on. The majority of the benefits are gonna come from just bringing more awareness to your breathing and making some very simple changes.

We'll give you the low-down on keeping this simple and effective.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you've ever been inspired after seeing someone move with absolutely mastery, this is for you.

A lot of people talk about "flow" in movement, but there's a lot of mysticism and confusion over what it actually is - where does it come from and what does it indicate? Is flow:

• a mental state
• an attribute of movement
• something that happens after you attain perfect enlightenment

We've got you covered here, because it's actually a couple of different things - the good news is we can narrow this down and make it a lot simpler to understand and practice for.

And that's what the second half of the show is about: exactly how to go about developing your own flow. The good news is you can start today. You don't need to be an advanced athlete or even have a ton of training experience. All you need is a handful of movements or positions you're good at. Lucky for you, sitting and lying down count :)

Stick it in your earhole!

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

After a month off to travel with their families, Ryan and Andy are answering questions and sharing their tips for working out on the road. 

As always, there's a bit of a twist here:

• If you want a generic list of "killer ab shredding" exercises to "torch belly flab" in a hotel room, Men's Health probably has you covered, but...
• Why not take a step back and ask yourself what you're really trying to get out of your training in the first place?
• What do you wanna get out of your workouts while you're traveling?
• Will your workouts contribute to or detract from your ability to do what you went on this trip to do?

Once you've answered those, you'll have a way easier time figuring out specifically what to actually do.

We'll share our experiences on recent trips and some of our favorite tricks for making sure we make it back home feeling better than when we left, without sacrificing our fitness and happiness.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

There are a lot of movement gurus out there who talk about movement “flow” the same way some people talk about enlightenment. Like it’s a higher state of being you can only reach by subscribing to their YouTube.

And they look really cool on Instagram so they most know what they’re talking about, right?

But if you break any flow down, it’s just a person who can smoothly transition through a series of movements. And that’s a skill you can learn.

In this episode we talk about the piece most people are missing that makes flow feel so elusive: transitional movements. These are the moves between the moves the people seem to think should just come naturally. But we’ll share why they’re actually an important skill, and some of our favorite strategies for getting better at them.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

A few years ago, we did a podcast episode called "cardio is stupid, and you don't have to do it." Maybe not the most nuanced explanation, but there's an important point here: appropriateness.

Since that early discussion, we wrote an article that lays out more specific recommendations on what appropriate looks like and how to figure out what that is for you.

This discussion brings us up to date with some recent research and Jarlo's personal experience over the past couple years working on improving his own cardio conditioning. We'll talk about different kinds of exercise, different needs for cardio training, and figuring out what's best for you.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

What's the difference between doing an exercise and owning it? To us, that's one of the most important questions in fitness.

In sport and fitness, we loooooove numbers. We keep score. We keep stats. We count weights, times, and reps. And that's a good and useful thing, but it's not everything. One thing we haven't traditionally had good ways to track is our subjective experience of our sessions and of each movement.

And that used to make us sad, so we changed it.

This episode is about how we've set quality and awareness as core components of each rep of every practice. We'll share how we measure the subjective experience, track it, and learn from it so you can truly own your abilities.

Transcript of this Episode and Other Notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Ryan and Andy do some good-ol'-days-ing about their early years in Japan... BUT it's actually relevant. We promise!

Here's why:

• Moving to Japan to practice martial arts has had a huge impact on how we think about training, quality, and mastery.
• Our experience as teachers is one of the most fundamental components of the GMB Method. Every seen one of our videos and thought "that's a good explanation?" Well, this is why. 
• Part of GMB is de-culturalizing movements that are most commonly seen in certain contexts and making them available to anyone. 

We've got some good stories in this one - a couple of them are pretty embarrassing - and we also wax philosophical on what it all means. 

Without Andy and Ryan both happening to live in Osaka circa 2008, there's be no GMB, but at a much deeper level, without the experiences we talk about in this episode, we simply wouldn't have been capable of coming up with any of this.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

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. 

Stick it in your earhole. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

One of the key differences between training for fitness vs training for sport is the emphasis on developing capabilities vs abilities. This episode defines these similar terms in a new way so you can figure out which exercises you need to be focusing on and why.

Fact: people train for a lot of different reasons.

We know you have your own goals, and one thing we've found a massive proportion of our clients to have in common is that lifting more weight or doing more reps is not the end-all-be-all goal for them. More important is translating that strength or endurance or other attribute to performance in some sort of activity, be it a sport or just the regular daily stuff. That's not to say it's wrong to focus on reps or to add weight to the bar; we just want you to know whether or not that's your real reason for training, because it'll impact choices you make about the best path forward. 

As always, be on the lookout for stupid jokes and an invitation to really spend some time introspecting about why you're even working out in the first place. There's no wrong answers as long as you're asking the questions honestly.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

There's a lot of noise about "what successful people do" to start their days... and a thousand people trying to cash in on selling you the dream of being a better person because you drink the right kind of coffee. 

We have some experience with mornings. Between Ryan and Andy, 32,493 of them so far. We've tried just about every schedule, tool, hack, and routine you can imagine, and what we've found is that getting the most out of each day comes down to two rules:

1. Spend a bit of time early in the day on whatever is most important to you
2. Set yourself up for success in whatever activities you have planned

The specific activities have changed as our needs and priorities have changed through the years. We'll share some of our favorites and a few that didn't seem to help at all. Most importantly, this episode is about figuring out what's essential for you to get done ASAP every day so you can be effective and enjoy your life. Once you know that, you can create a clear and simple routine that gets you kicking ass.

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

OK, first thing first: 40 isn't "old." Neither is 50. And for the sweet love of all the deities, I am so sick of people younger than us commenting on our Facebook posts about they think they're too old to learn new things. 

Getting a sense for the gist of this episode yet?

For our first new episode in over two years, Ryan and Andy asked our clients and followers what topics they wanted us to discuss, and the most common request was for tips on how to stay healthy and keep making fitness progress when you're not straight out of college anymore. Well, our first priority is divesting you of the idea that there's some magical age at which it's impossible to improve yourself. 

From there, we cover:

• The realities of building muscle beyond your physical peak
• Why recovery is so important (even it it's not uniquely important) as you age
• Our personal strategies for feeling good and staying happy with our bodies
• The REAL reasons people feel like they can't make progress anymore (they have nothing to do with actual biology)
• How to deal with old injuries and habits
• How to improve your mindset around training and practice

Episode transcript and additional notes

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Do you find it hard to make good decisions and spend your time wisely? Whether it’s a matter of perfectionism, procrastination or just a general state of indecision, spending too much time trying to decide what to do and when leads to wasted time. If you’re having a hard time being efficient at work or even finding a set time to get your workout in, today’s podcast can help you create a better routine.

Today’s guest is Shane Parrish of Farnam Street. Farnam Street is an online intellectual hub geared toward helping people make better decisions. Shane helps people understand how the world works and how to more effectively make decisions that matter.

Topics we discuss today include: 

• Why making decisions in the morning, before unhealthy food choices are already made, can help you reach your goals. 
• Why to-do lists are ineffective, and what a better alternative is. 
• How taking the time to evaluate and make good decisions can save you time in the long run. 
• How mentally arguing both “sides” of a decision can help you make better choices. 

Quotes by Shane: 

• “One of the ways to see the world as it really is is a concept called mental models.” 
• “Small changes make a huge difference.” 
• “If you eliminate the outcomes you don’t want, you’ll probably get the outcome you do want.” 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Finding your way in fitness can seem difficult. It takes a concerted effort to test, experiment, and discover what works for you in order to accomplish your personal goals and ensure it fits in with your existing lifestyle. On this episode of the GMB Show Ryan welcomes Krista Stryker, personal trainer and founder of 12 Minute Athlete, where she develops and shares fitness routines that combine bodyweight and skills training with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Ryan and Krista discuss her path of experimentation with different systems and how she went from being bogged down by conventional fitness to discovering a combination that works perfectly for accomplishing her goals and fitting in with her desired lifestyle. You’ll hear Krista describe how she took what she liked from each system and what was working for her and adapted it to create the routines she uses now. Routines that combine the best of both bodyweight training and HIIT.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

The world of fast fitness has undeniably invaded our culture. 30-day shredding programs, 90-minute abs, 6-week total body transformations. Yes, you can conceivably transform your body in a dramatic way in as little as 6 weeks. But what happens to it after the next 6 weeks? It’s natural to want to see the end result as fast as possible, but is the rigourous routine you undergo something you see yourself wanting to keep doing day in and day out for years to come? True transformation is sustainable for your lifetime, and let’s be honest - fast fitness results rarely last. 

For this episode of the GMB Show, Jarlo was so excited to interview a friend of his, JC Deen. JC is a fitness coach, writer, and self-proclaimed “former fat kid.” He focuses on physique transformation, and he’s the author of a soon-to-be released book, Stay Leaner, Longer. Listen close as JC dives deep into the true psychology of physical transformation and exposes a lot of biases that many of us aren’t aware that we’re giving into. Biases that lead us to choose fast fitness over sustainable long term habits that can truly mean the difference between temporary change and a transformation that lasts a lifetime. Probably the most compelling lesson comes from JC opening up about his personal struggles with weight growing up and how he finally reprogrammed his mind and body to shed the fat kid bias and become a lean fit health coach. 

What you'll hear: 

• 4:30 - How transformation is a lifestyle change, not a short-term fix. 
• 7:30 - Why it might seem like everyone else is doing great with their transformations while you’re struggling: It might be the survivorship bias. 
• 11:00 - Why taking the first step can be more important than getting the exact result you’re looking for. 
• 14:20 - The importance of support, in whatever form that takes. 
• 17:20 - JC’s story of how he went from being overweight to being fit. 
• 24:20 - How self-sabotage can effect your transformation and motivation. 
• 31:15 - Why tracking habits is a good thing and how it will help you in future weeks or months. 
• 36:00 - How inertia makes people lose ground and backslide, as well as a tip for not getting stuck in that cycle. 
• 42:30 - How what you believe and what you think about will eventually express itself in your actions and habits. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

You know that our mission at GMB is teaching you physical confidence through mindful practice. Time marches on, we can’t change that. The future creeps up on all of us. And it might leave you wondering “can I keep the strength I’ve gained?” “Is it possible to not loose those skills I busted my ass to learn?” On this episode of the GMB Show we’re happy to welcome back our good friend and favorite guest co-host Al Kavadlo. Al joins Ryan to talk about how to develop the mindful practice part of the equation and how to use that mindfulness to truly become future-proof. Priorities, abilities, and desires will change over time, but what can remain constant is the confidence you’ve built through all that deliberate regular practice.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

When was the last time you hit a plateau? Were your pull-ups stuck on a particular number of reps? Did your pushups stall out before hitting the double digits you desired? Plateaus happen in fitness. It’s a natural part of the process. However, the typical method of “pushing through” them might actually aid in keeping you stuck. Trying to progress in a linear fashion makes sense when you first start working out, but at some point, you aren’t going to be able to keep progressing, if you define progress as simply lifting heavier weight or doing more reps. As you advance in your training, you’ll discover that progress is in fact anything but linear. On this episode of the GMB Show, we welcome Adrienne Harvey (otherwise known as Girya Girl). Adrienne’s well versed in bodyweight training and skills work as well as kettlebell training. Adrienne talks very candidly about her experience in not just overcoming plateaus, but how she had to reframe her ideas of “progress” in order to continue to see success in her training. As you’ll hear, stepping back from the idea of liner progress and into a complimentary progression model can ensure that you will never stop making any kind of progress in your training. In other words, when you hit a plateau with one exercise, you continue making progress with another, and that will ensure you’re always moving forward. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

One of the questions that we hear over and over again is, “how much is enough?” How many reps? How many sets? How many days a week? How much time and effort is enough? If you’re finding yourself asking this question, then there’s a very good chance you’re also looking at the accomplishments of others and wondering how your effort stacks up against them. On this episode of the GMB Show Ryan and Andy reveal the truth behind this common question – the fear of not doing enough. You’ll hear them recount their own experiences in learning how to recognize this fear as well as how to reframe it into an opportunity for success.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

As you know, we’re big advocates of getting your play on. So, when someone comes along who’s doing it in an unconventional way, then we have to talk about it. On this episode of the GMB Show Ryan sits down with Mark Smith, the owner and founder of Asylum Fitness, who emphasizes the importance of play as a means of fitness. At Asylum Fitness, Mark combines the best of traditional calisthenics movements with the unconventional techniques of outdoor play in the lush North Carolina forrest. Heading out on trail runs, free-jumping rock formations, and even intense games of “toe tag” are just some of what passes for “normal routines” with Mark and his clients. In this episode Mark opens up about how he found his way out of the rigid mainstream fitness culture and into the freedom of play and self expression and how this approach not only saved his health but created opportunities to help others do the same. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you’re looking to achieve peak performance, then you’ll obviously need to address your regular habits. And that’s where a lot of us really seem to get tripped up. What if the same strategy you apply to your daily fitness practice is also the most effective strategy for building new habits for peak performance and permanent change in other areas of life? On this episode of the GMB Show, we are thrilled to welcome back our good friend and Alpha Posse member, Josh Hillis. Josh, as you know, is an expert in helping his clients change their lifestyles through establishing and keeping good habits both unconsciously and automatically. As you’ll hear, change can be as simple as just showing up and “doing the reps”. Focus mindfully on the daily practice and not the overall desired outcome and Josh reassures that you’ll see and often exceed that change you’re so desperately seeking. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Have you ever considered fitness as a means of self expression? It’s something we certainly encourage here at GMB. 

There’s great freedom in allowing yourself to move in accordance with how you decide to move - creating your own flow and routine. On this episode of the GMB Show, Jarlo dives deep with Dr. Mark Cheng, acupuncturist, FMS/SFMA practitioner, and StrongFirst instructor. 

Mark and Jarlo look at what it takes to find this path of true self expression and how you can experience this freedom for yourself. Mark has a multi-faceted background in martial arts and fitness studies. And as you’ll hear, he credits those different explorations with leading him into honest self expression. 

You’ll hear: 

• 2:30: How and why Mark strives to be real on social media. 
• 10:35: How he got into martial arts and studied with some of today's living legends. 
• 21:20: Some of the lessons that newcomers to martial arts should understand. 
• 31:00: How the human body is meant to move around and adapt to changes. 
• 38:45: When and why a feeling or perception can be just as important as measurable results. 
• 48:15: How misconceptions about movement can lead to pain. 

When you do find something that resonates with you, I cannot put it to words how rich that experience is going to be for you.- Mark Cheng

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Improving movement is a topic that’s been gaining in popularity lately. It makes sense as people are finally figuring out that there is a direct correlation between better movement and better health. 

On this episode of the GMB Show, Jarlo welcomes Todd Hargrove, blogger, Feldenkrais practitioner, rolfer, and author of A Guide to Better Movement. Todd specializes in improving people’s health through improving their movement and he draws on his expertise to share some great insights on how we all can do the same for ourselves. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Cultivating strength is a huge emphasis here at GMB. More specifically, we advocate the cultivation of functional strength. In other words, don’t just get stronger for the sake of getting stronger. Get stronger for the purpose of applying it to the aspects and activities of life that matter the most to you. 

On this episode of the GMB Show we’re happy to be able to talk again with Ryan Ford, from Apex Movement, a parkour and athletic training center in Denver, Colorado. Ryan dives into the concepts of cultivating functional strength both physically and mentally, especially from his experiences in Parkour training. He also opens up on how to apply that cultivated strength in all aspects of your life. Ryan’s a big advocate for cultivating strength of the mind as a large part of physical strength, and that parkour can help people experience the discomfort and challenge that is necessary for growth. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

How many jobs do you truly have? You most likely have a job that you get paid for, and you also might have a job within your family or home. Not to mention all the outside responsibilities, roles, and activities that require your attention each day. But which ones are your real jobs? Not having clarity on this can cause a lot of harm, especially in terms of personal fitness. On this episode of the GMB Show, Ryan and Andy discuss doing your job and doing it well. And more specifically, they look at how to discern what is and is not your real job. Many people fall into the trap of switching from program to program or making changes to a fitness regimen laid out by a professional trainer, simply because of something they read online or saw in a video. When it comes to fitness, your job is not to be your own fitness coach. Ryan goes so far as to say that if “you’re coaching yourself, your coach is an idiot.” In fact, your exercise programming isn’t your responsibility either. Your responsibility is to find a coach and program that you trust and let them do their job. Today’s topic is about identifying what your job is, doing it well, and, most importantly, letting others do their jobs well, too. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

What are your current default fitness mental models? It’s easy to get stuck in habitual ruts. You’ve probably had it happen in day to day life, personal relationships, and of course, fitness training. These ruts are clues that it’s time to change mental models. Doing so will free you from habitual repetition and move you forward towards successful accomplishment and achievement. In this episode of the GMB Show, Jarlo talks to longtime friend and GMB client, Duff McDuffee. Duff’s a specialist in reprograming mental models to create successful change. Duff has helped hundreds of people to learn how to change their default mental programming and in this conversation he graciously shares processes for you to adopt new mental models that you can immediately start using in life and training. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Every one of us is faced with numerous decisions each day. Some of them are not optional; everyone has to do laundry, for example. Many of the choices we make could just as easily be made another way, though. What do you want to wear today? Should you brush your teeth or shower first? Should you plan on going out for drinks after work? Making all of these decisions on a day-to-day basis can be stressful, even though the decisions themselves small. In today’s podcast, Andy and Ryan are discussing how you can make a mental model, or a new way of framing thoughts, that will allow you to make decisions automatically. We call it the “hell yeah!” method, and as Andy says, it’s “one of the most freeing and liberating concepts I’ve ever run across in my life.” The basic premise is to choose to do only what makes you excited and happy, rather than basing decision on what others think you should be doing. In this episode, you’ll learn: How using the “hell yeah” method can help you say no without feeling guilty. How you can use this decision-making model to achieve your goals. How the method relates to working out. Times when the “hell yeah” method is not the best model of decision-making. How to get out of the interminably indeterminate state of “maybe.” The importance of putting in the work required to make the system work for you. Resources and Links: Farnam Street Blog by Shane Parrish Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing by Barry Schwartz (book) Be sure to catch the next episode by subscribing to the GMB Show: Subscribe to the iTunes podcast Subscribe to our YouTube videos Listen On the Go If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, download our GMB Show App in the app store and listen wherever you are.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Encouraging healthy active kids is something all parents want to do for their children. This is especially true when you’re a parent who’s undertaken a fitness routine of your own. 

But, how can you help them build that healthy active lifestyle in a way that sticks with them? 

In this episode of the GMB Show, Andy, Ryan, and Jarlo speak candidly about their experiences as fathers raising healthy active children. Besides the usual Dad duties, you’ll also hear them draw on their many years of experience in teaching fitness to children. 

During the conversation, you’ll learn about some common misconceptions parents can have about kids and fitness as well as see just how easy it really is to teach kids to be active and healthy and have them stick with it. 

You’ll learn: 
• How to determine what programs are appropriate for your kids. 
• The number one way parents ruin fitness for kids, without ever realizing it. 
• The simplest yet often overlooked approach to fitness that easily encourages kids to stick with it. 
• How to lead by example, and have a great time doing it. 
• To recognize the specialization trap and how to keep your kids from falling into it. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Learning how to make fitness fit in with your current lifestyle can seem a bit backwards to most of us. A common misconception in the fitness world is believing you need to radically alter your current lifestyle to accommodate your new fitness routine. Otherwise, how will you ever achieve the successes and radical transformations promised by all those mainstream fitness programs? Here at GMB, we know for a fact that achieving your fitness goals doesn’t mean adopting the lifestyle of something you have no desire to become - the hardcore athlete, the gym rat, the 5am cardio slave. That’s why we created the GMB Method. And within that method is the guiding principle of learning to make fitness fit into your current lifestyle, rather than the other way around. In this episode of the GMB Show, Ryan and Jarlo give you a candid look at what they’re both working on currently in terms of fitness routines and how they adapt their fitness to fit their busy lifestyles. You’ll learn how Jarlo is approaching his training for an upcoming race, while maintaining his martial arts practice, family, and career. Listen as Ryan explains how he’s pulled his current routine back to only twice a week to accommodate his Jiu-Jitsu training, while still making measurable progress in all of the areas he needs. Learning to make fitness fit into your current lifestyle means never becoming a slave to your fitness routines again. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Did you know that injury of yours is actually a sign of improvement? Injury recovery right in the middle of training isn’t something any of us want to experience. However, the reality of bodyweight fitness is that injuries can and will occur—and believe it or not, that’s a good thing. In this episode of the GMB Show, Ryan Hurst and Mike Fitch relive their personal experiences with debilitating injuries and reveal a simple, yet seemingly contradictory approach to injury recovery that actually enabled both of them to come out the other side with increased strength and ability. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

When most people think about mastery, they envision long hours of grueling practice, sweat, blood, even tears. But, what if there’s a better way? In this episode of the GMB Show, Ryan is joined by Josh Vogel, a black belt and instructor in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Balance Studios in Philadelphia, a Level 2 Movnat trainer, FRCms, and a Kettlebell athletics level 1 trainer. During the conversation, you’ll learn how Josh’s playful approach to mastery involves leveraging different arts and activities to create unique opportunities for growth in situations that most people perceive as limitations.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Often we train hard and our sole focus is the end result. What happens if we slow down while training? What happens if we practice mindfulness through out training and life? Ryan and his guest Vincent Thibault discuss the positivity associated with focusing on the process. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Training can be different for men and women. Al and Grace have trained many different clients, and talk with Ryan about the common strengths, weaknesses, and the attitude someone might share toward training. It doesn't matter if you are a man or women. At the end of the day we all should be strong! 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Feeling down about a disappointing workout or slow progress is something we ALL deal with at some point. Ryan and Mike have dealt with their fair share, and talk about how they combat that negativity and keep training. We're all going to encounter negativity. The key is knowing how to face that and move on.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Training goals for a beginner should obviously be quite different from those of a more advanced trainee. In this episode, Al Kavadlo co-hosts and he and Ryan talk about how to adjust training goals depending on what level you're at, and why people coming from different backgrounds shouldn't necessarily be doing the same things. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Steve Kamb is the rebel leader at Nerd Fitness. He's committed to helping desk jockeys, nerds, and average Joes level up their lives every day, by taking charge of their health alongside a massive community of likeminded individuals. Steve just released a brand new book called "Level Up Your Life" and he's here to talk about his epic adventures and what he's achieving with Nerd Fitness. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Mercedes Pollmeier is the author of "Simple Strength: The Outdoor Athlete's Guide to Better Movement." She's a competitive climber with a whole lot of wisdom about how movement plays into climbing and other competitive sports. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

How do you get strong and stay strong for life? Are you getting stronger in relation to where you are right now? How can you tell? We’re glad to have Danny Kavadlo back on the GMB Show as he and Ryan talk candidly about what it really takes to build both a strong body and a strong self. You’ll get Danny’s take on what he believes to be universal standards of strength and learn a concept he calls “adaptive strength” – building both internal and external strength that enables you to fully engage in what life has for you in the moment. In order to truly measure how you’re progressing in building strength, Danny recommends that you stop comparing your level of strength with that of others and where they’re at in their process. Focus on your own process and you’ll have all the feedback necessary for consistently getting stronger. In life you are confronted with the unexpected and what can’t be controlled. Are you strong enough to take whatever obstacle is in front of you, embrace it, take it in, rise over it, learn from it, and adapt to it? True strength is sustained by working on ourselves and our own evolution.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Learning any new skill is built upon your capabilities and abilities. In this episode, Andy and Ryan talk about how to explore your capabilities and abilities so you can learn any skill you want.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Amy Clover is the owner of Strong Inside Out through which she helps people overcome depression and anxiety by empowering themselves with fitness. She speaks about her own experiences with this, and her story is quite inspiring.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We use a lot of "animal movements" at GMB, and they've become very popular in the fitness world. In this episode, Ryan and Andy talk about why we like these movements, how we use them, and how they can be used in other contexts.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Dr. Andreo Spina is an expert on the human body and function. In this interview, Ryan picks Dr. Spina's brain about how we can learn to use our bodies better even in our Western culture.

👀 Video and transcript

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Sometimes the best thing you can do for making progress with a certain skill is to put it into maintenance mode. Here's what that means and how to put it into practice.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Al Kavadlo's back on the GMB show to talk about his new book, "Zen Mind, Strong Body." He and Ryan discuss the concept of zen, and how it applies to training, nutrition, and life.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

People like to share their opinions all the time about how you should train, the "right" way to practice a particular skill, and all sorts of other nonsense. If you've found something that works for you, do it! Don't worry what other people say.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Mark was Ryan's gymnastics coach, and he's taught thousands of athletes, written books, and even been voted coach of the year in US. Hear what he has to say about building skill.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Pull-ups are great for building upper body strength, but how many should you do? And what position is best?

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

What are "the basics", and why are they so damn important? 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Sitting all day doesn't have to be a death sentence. There are things you can do to mitigate the damage (and no, quitting your job is not one of those things).

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

What does `getting stuck` really mean? And what should you do when it happens? This episode will clear up the confusion, and set you straight about the search for the "perfect exercise program".

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Squats are king, right? Well, usually, yes. But depending on your goals, you need to choose the right squat variation for your application. This episode covers bodyweight exercises for leg strength and functional applications. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Here's how to develop efficient breathing for your workouts without a lot of craziness.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

First things first, even if you are young, NOW is the time to learn how to prevent age-related physical decline. And if you're already dealing with it, here's how to keep moving and keep fit as long as possible.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Injuries suck, and can be an unfortunate yet expected part of building a fitness habit.We’ve talked before about injuries and how you can deal with them if they arrive as well as how to know if you are indeed injured.What we haven’t really covered before, though, is how to successfully resume training after you’ve recovered from an injury.How do you start back up with training once you’re healed up and cleared by your doctor?Is there a way to ease back into training that ensures you quickly and safely return to where you were before?In this episode of the GMB Show, Andy and Ryan reveal their smart strategies for safely and effectively resuming training after recovering from an injury.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We talk a lot about exploring and playing with movements, but if you come from a traditional training background, that might not mean a lot to you. Rest assured, you can learn how to enjoy playing - and it doesn't have to wait until you reach an advanced level either. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

It's natural to see an interesting physical movement and want to know where it came from and who thought it up, but usually, the true origins are thousands of years ago. GMB was founded by three dudes with diverse backgrounds, so it's natural that we draw inspiration from a lot of sources. In this episode, Ryan, Jarlo, and Andy discuss the real influences that make GMB what it is.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

So many systems out there claim to have discovered the one, true path to physical mastery, but it simply isn't true. We all have different bodies, different goals, and different backgrounds. No one rule will apply to all of those situations, but you can use some simple critical thinking to find out what's best for you. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

You only get 24 hours. We all do. When you start training, you learn quickly how much stuff you need to do, but what if you simply can't fit it all in? We'll tell you how to maximize the benefits of your training time.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

When fitness products talk about wanting to "look great naked," it's just an excuse to pander to your insecurities. Let's talk honestly about fitness, sex, and body fat for a change.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

With so many different skills and abilities to practice in the world of bodyweight exercise, how does it all fit together? Well, figuring that out has more to do with how you practice individual movements than anything else. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Congratulations feel nice, but what's really important is what you get out of your training. A lot of people go after big skills just for the praise they'll get at the end, when they should be training for things that really make a difference.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you keep pushing your body hard enough for long enough, eventually you will get injured. If you're lucky, it will be minor. But in any event, you're going to want to know how to take care of yourself when it happens. Listen up, and we'll fill you in.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Naming a brand of movement is a great way for trainers to stake a claim and mark their territory, but do we really need another pissing contest in our lives? Here's some real talk about different disciplines of movement and why you don't have to choose if you don't want to.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Imbalances can be problematic. That's true. But they're also a fact of nature. You have to live with and negotiate imbalances daily. Likewise, your training program does not necessarily have to be perfectly balanced at any given point, so long as it balances out in the mid-to-long term. And if it doesn't, we're betting it still won't kill you.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We don't care which system you think is best or which particular guru you follow. In fact, if you feel the need to make such a decision, we'll probably just think less of you. This podcast is about thinking for yourself instead of blindly following what any expert (including us) tells you to believe. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Spoiler alert: the way most people approach cardio is stupid. Want to know why? Then listen up.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

How can you be sure to always make progress? Dive deeply into it. Hang out with others who are achieving it. Make it a (BIG) part of your life. Ryan and Andy talk about immersing yourself in the experience of getting better.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

We get FAR TOO MANY questions about injuries that should really be directed to a medical professional. But we do have a little advice for minor injuries you may experience. Also: active recovery and supplements.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

If you ask stupid questions, you'll get stupid answers. Want to know the secret to getting actionable advice form knowledgeable people? Listen up! Also enjoy Ryan's rant on safe driving. 

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Part of developing confidence is knowing exactly what you can - and can't - do. This episode is about building that knowledge through mindful practice.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout

Fact: We've all got things we'd like to change, but our stupid, stupid habits make it difficult. To learn more about how to change those habits to better ones, we're chatting up James Clear - and you need to listen up, because this stuff can change your life.

Support the show

👉 Try a free strength and agility workout