More Train, Less Pain; Engineering the Adaptable Athlete

Michelle and Tim are hard at work recording episodes for Season 4, which they’re incredibly excited to bring you. However, in the interim, they hope you enjoy what’ll likely be their final “in-between-a-sode”. Throughout Season 3 proper, Tim’s spoken at length about his own journey through persistent pain, and back on Season 3 Episode 4 (Sam Leffer’s first guest appearance) the concept of being in pain versus suffering was introduced. Recording that back in early 2023, Tim didn’t think he fully grasped the significance of that distinction. Sitting as he records this in April of 2024, he couldn’t think of a more important distinction in his own life. Sharpening the mental tools that allow us to transcend the realm of suffering and associated mental landscapes- impatience, despair, and hostility- is vital to anyone looking to begin to thrive again within the context of their persistent pain. The tool that’s helped Tim the most in this regard is, hands down, meditation. So, Michelle and Tim brought Sam back so he and Tim could wax poetic about specific tactics and strategies, general frameworks, and consistent hang-ups folks have when starting a meditation practice. If you’d like to hear more about the specific application of these things to persistent pain, we’d very much recommend going back and listening to S3E4. Stay moving, stay mindful, and enjoy the episode. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of various internet health personalities- Attia, Huberman, and Rhonda Patrick all come to mind. In a lot of ways, we’re fans. Especially with the ever-declining standard of care for conventional insurance-based medicine in this country, it’s heartening to see so many folks attempting to take matters into their own hands. Never before has the national discourse actually centered around topics like protein consumption, light exposure, or strength training for longevity. However, these thought leaders have had to learn to play in the medium of the day- namely podcasts, IG content, and YouTube clips that reward sensationalism, quick fixes, and “hacks” over tried and true practices. Save the carnivore diet, nothing has gotten more play amongst the fitness intelligentsia of late than deliberate extreme temperature exposure, a la cold plunges and saunas. What’s the deal with these modalities? Are they a flash-in-the-pan fad or facets of an intelligently designed physical practice that will endure the test of time? For answers to these questions, and more, listen to Tim’s sit down with Sam Leffers, friend of the pod and mental health practitioner extraordinaire, as they dive deep on the research and practical utilization of this type of work. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

While you are waiting for MTLP Season 4, Michelle sits down with her microphone and gives some insights into how she reflects on 2023 and plans for 2024. In this episode, Michelle lays out her struggles and successes in 2023, what will be new in 2024, the story behind Reframe Performance, MTLP Season 4 planning, running 100km in the Swiss Alps, and her annual planning strategies. I think you will find something useful, learn some things to avoid, and realize that we probably share the same struggles. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle countdown their Top 3 Takeaways from Season 3. In this episode we discuss strategies to build rapport, developing intuition within the body, compassionate presence, low tension as a default resting state, negative transfer of training, gen pop vs. performance training, Kintsugi, momentum vs. progression, practical vs. optimal, and reframing performance. Thank you for listening to Season 3! We will be back for Season 4 in a few weeks! Tim and Michelle hope you have enjoyed Season 3, as much as they have enjoyed recording it, and while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let them continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Reframe Performance EBOOK: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ebook-keep-training-in-pain Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with Dr. Lisa Lewis, EdD, CADA-II, Licensed Psychologist who is known as the ‘psych coach for fitness pros’. Dr. Lewis works with a wide variety of clientele but her passion for wellness and fitness has fueled working with trainers and therapists, just like yourself. In this episode we discuss her personal experience with training and pain, what coaching skills trainers are lacking to help motivate their clients and facilitate change, client relationships, the capacity to tolerate client’s discomfort, compassionate presence, and working with “tough clients”. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle answer all of your questions about pain and training in this week’s episode. We tackled your questions with all of our might to provide you answers about Tim’s hip pain status, Tim’s pain management strategies, what books we recommend related to Season 3’s theme, how to evolve your model, our thoughts about common three letter acronym systems, and our own struggling working with persistent pain clients. Michelle and Tim hope you enjoy the show as much as they enjoyed recording it, and, while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let Michelle and Tim continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Embarrassingly, Tim didn't create an Instagram account until early 2018. For the first 6 months of having that account, there were precisely two entities he followed - Zac Cupples and Resilient Rehab and Performance. If you listen to this podcast, there's a good chance you know of Zac. However, the Resilient boys (Trevor, Greg, and today's guest, Doug) have flown a little more under the radar; nevertheless, since 2015, they've quietly built a private PT empire spanning Manhattan, New Jersey, and Connecticut. If you scroll WAY back on Resilient's account, you can still see Doug sprinting in a field or Trevor goblet squatting a kettlebell so large it looks more 15th century cannonball and less weight training implement. Anyhow, these guys have some shared mentors with Michelle and Tim, and they very much respect Resilient’s base of knowledge when it comes to all things biomechanics and persistent pain management. Doug, specifically, has been through his own personal ringer with back issues so severe that, at one point, he could hardly walk more than a block at a time. Additionally, he's a badass backcountry skier, and his life before PT school was jumping out of airplanes to administer emergency medical care to military personnel in war-torn lands. Tim... managed the carts on a golf course. Tim wanted to talk with Doug about how personal experience has impacted Doug’s treatment style, popular misconceptions regarding persistent pain, and skewing strength and conditioning exercises towards higher reward and lower risk. They covered those and then some, also working in a discussion of "Goggins versus coddling", the necessity of treatment models to be both explanatory and predictive, and normalizing pain amongst practitioners. Michelle and Tim hope you enjoy the show as much as they enjoyed recording it, and, while you're thinking of it, go ahead and leave a 5-star review on the pod player of your choice. Doing so will let Michelle and Tim continue to devote time to this show for many more seasons to come. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with Lucy Hendricks, owner of Enhancing Life Gym in Lexington, KY. A biomechanics nerd turned client relationship wizard, Lucy is a well-spoken teacher and guide for trainers working with persistent pain clients. Her ability to skillfully coach exercises and conquer the art of communication makes Lucy the perfect person to discuss bringing awareness to the human body, why it is so scary for trainers to work with people in pain, the art of communication, fighting beliefs around pain, the skill of reading people, first interactions, training model adjustments for people in persistent pain, and normalizing feedback. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Michelle sits down with the walking king himself, Dean Guedo. Dean is a former athlete and powerlifter turned nutrition coach and rucking enthusiast with a simple message: walk more, WAY more. In this episode we discuss, Dean’s personal fitness and pain journey, the searching process of fitness through life changes, high flux, why we need to move more, why going to the gym may not be enough, structured lifts vs. building capacity with moving, and why your step count may not be a bad obsession. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

There are a few voices in this industry that simply have a knack for being incredibly reasonable with their training approach and evolving their model gradually over time. Eric Cressey, Dan John, and Tony are all names that come to mind. So, when it comes to having thoughts about the day to day realities of training people experiencing persistent pain, it was assured Tony would have some fascinating things to say, in addition to a few off-the-cuff 90s movies references- he did NOT disappoint in either regard. In this episode, Tony and Tim get into the concepts of “training through” injury, delineating fitness versus rehab, Tony’s “trainable menu”, lowering pain sensitivity thresholds via lifestyle interventions, the red light/green light system, and a whole host of other topics. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Want to add a new tool to your toolbox? Join Michelle as she sits down with Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFRT) experts to talk physiology and implementation. Dr. Susie Lachowski, PhD, CSCS is the Founding Director and Assistant Professor of the Division of Exercise Science at American International College in Springfield, MA and Owner of Glass Training and Education. Susie is a leader within the industry on BFRT and certifies Exercise and Sports Medicine professionals in the BFRT modality across the country. Dr. Connor Sheridan is a physical therapist at Divergence PT and Wellness in Wellesley, MA and puts BFRT into action. In this episode, we discuss the physiology and implementation of BFRT, case studies and examples for its use, strategies for working with both performance and persistent pain clients, BFRT as a modality to train at low intensities with muscle growth, cardiovascular, and recovery benefits, how to prepare persistent clients for BFRT, specific training protocols, and much more. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle countdown their TOP 3 exercise concepts to maximize adaptive upside in the context of persistent pain clients. How best can we create system changes and manage trade-offs in our training programs? Find out in this episode. In this episode, we discuss movement quality as an adaptation, what the upside is to alternating reps, progressing volume with timed sets, why medicine ball throws are awesome, why sleds are the most useful thing in the gym, and how walking is not conditioning. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends… Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Bill is a Physical Therapist and, together with Mike Robertson, founded Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training, known as IFAST, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over the past decade, IFAST has quietly become one of the predominant hubs of education in the industries of PT and S&C. Former Bill mentees include Zac Cupples, Mike Camporini, and what feels like 25% of medical and physical prep staff in the NBA and MLB. This past January, Tim had the pleasure of going out to Indy for 3 weeks to learn from Bill. This upcoming January, Tim will be heading back out for 3 months to continue his study as he and Bill attempt to improve Tim’s movement profile enough that he may be able to avoid hip surgery. Bill’s a fiercely independent thinker, and one of the most intellectually honest individuals on the planet. As such, his style of communication may not be FOR everyone. But, as you’ll hear from him, that’s kind of the point. In this episode Tim and Bill touch on Bill’s ability to continue training in the weight room despite middle age, numerous surgeries, and nagging pain, how he approaches restoring comfortable movement with his clients, and some uncommon considerations regarding total hip replacements. Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends! Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ or @dr.michelleboland Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/ or @tim_richardt_dpt

Tim and Michelle reunite for a mid-point check-in for season 3. In this episode we talk about, our current training status, monitoring movement KPIs, connecting with the body on a more frequent basis, reframing pain as information, pushing into and pulling away from exercise during times of psychological stress, the value of just listening, engaging physically with life, and much, much more. Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends! Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Both Tim and Michelle would never miss an opportunity to spend time with Dr. Seth Oberst. Seth is a hidden gem who doesn’t do much posting on social media but has an incredible reputation both personally and professionally as a physical therapist. In this episode, we discuss regulating tactics, the illusion of infinite progression, developing a sustainable movement practice, being a guide to your client’s process, projecting uncertainty, tactical urgency, phases of the learning process, and when to bail if an approach isn’t working.  Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends! Strategy Course Group Classroom & to Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Michelle sits down with Mike Boyle, co-founder of Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning…like you didn’t know that already. In this episode, we talk about why assault bikes are awesome (duh), training adults while managing pain, exercise selection with an adaptive upside, the “orthopedic cost” of some exercises, how to keep people training while dealing with an injury, creating hospitality in your business, and much, much more.  Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends! Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Today’s guest is friend of the podcast David Grey. David last visited Michelle and Tim back in February of 2022, where they discussed feet “out” during running, the merits of sensorimotor training, and the hilariousness of dachshunds or, as David calls them, sausage dogs. Hopefully you started following David thereafter, because he has simply blown up since then. Numerous product launches, delivering seminars, and growing his Instagram following to a staggering 135,000 as of this recording. If you’ve consumed any of his content, you hopefully understand why. In Michelle and Tim’s estimation, there is no one currently in the industry doing a better job of breaking down posture, gait, respiration, and movement in a way that’s possible to understand without becoming derivative or algorithmic. David is a thought leader in our field, which is why they were stoked to get him on to discuss various topics, such as, the utility (or lack thereof) of movement KPIs, negative transfer of barbell training, leading versus lagging measures of pain and performance, his work with an Olympic endurance athlete, biomechanical determinism versus nihilism, and much, much more. Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends! Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Michelle sits down with Dan Sanzo in a context-driven conversation to discuss working together and the consequences that come with high performance. Michelle sought out Dan’s help with her ultra running ‘performance induced discomfort consequences’ (that is copyrighted my friends) and you can hear all about their teamwork and training strategies! Dan Sanzo lays out his biomechanical lens as he dives into his assessment and interventions during each session with Michelle. They discuss the management of movement restrictions and reducing performance barriers to allow Michelle to run marathons, 50 milers, and upcoming 100 mile races. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends... Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Tim sits down with Sam Leffers, a licensed mental health counseling associate based in Indianapolis, IN who helps clients with a broad variety of psychological ailments, including those suffering from anxiety or depression related to chronic pain. Additionally, he’s a runner who “walks the walk” in managing training, life, and his movement practice in the setting of fairly persistent left Achilles issues. Although not a household name in our industry, Sam is a wealth of knowledge- acquired both personally and professionally- and together Tim and Sam dive into topics such as, why “tension” is the root of suffering, physical pain versus suffering, “fixing” someone versus establishing a therapeutic alliance, acceptance strategies, meditation and stimulus/response unpairing, and learning to appreciate and, dare I say “love”, your idiosyncratic movement and psychological compensations. Listen, subscribe, and tell your friends... Contact Sam: https://www.samleffers.com  Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/

Michelle sits down with Justin Rabinowitz to discuss learning from failures, setting expectations with clients and patients, and the importance of messaging. Rehab Chiropractor, published author, and entrepreneur, Justin Rabinowitz, is an encyclopedia for fitness and rehab professionals, teaching us all how to build world-class clinical excellence and business skills. Listen, download, subscribe, and tell your friends... Contact Michelle: https://www.michelleboland-training.com/ Contact Tim: https://www.timrichardt.com/