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This podcast is all about strength training with joint hypermobility. Hosted by Annie Short, powerlifter, bodybuilder & coach with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome/joint hypermobility.
22 Episodes
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Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Bendy & Strong podcast I sit down with Gia from The Hypermobile Lifting Club to answer your questions and chat about hypermobile training. Topics we covered: What's going on in our trainingHow long do you have to do "foundational" work before you get into more traditional strength training?How to fix sore wrists from training?How to adjust bracing for heavy lifts if it causes an MCAS/head pressure symptom flare?How to find a coach who understa...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Bendy & Strong Podcast, I have guest Shant Rahman on to discuss posture. Some topics we cover: - Destigmatising posture - Is there such thing as "good" or "bad" posture? - When is "anterior pelvic tilt" an UNhelpful diagnosis? - When can postural deviations (e.g. exaggerated lordosis) actually enhance sporting performance? - Are the people who say "there's no such thing as bad posture" taking things too far? - What we want to see instead of the "an...
Send us Fan Mail Research literacy is SO important - both for navigating the world with hypermobility, and when navigating the current online/social media space. Research literacy is the ability to find research, read it, understand it, critically evaluate it, and put it into practice. This is not a skill you are born with - it is one you need to learn and develop. So I sat down with researchers Jade Barclay & Rouha Granfar (both with lived EDS experience) to have a discussion on ...
Send us Fan Mail In this podcast, I sit down with Jade Barclay and Rouha Granfar to discuss their recent publication: Fascia as a Regulatory System in Health and Disease. This paper serves as a one-stop-shop for familiarising yourself with fascia. So if someone asks you, "Is there one paper I can read that will give me the foundations on fascia?" - then THIS is the paper to give them. And in a way that's aligned with their views around decolonisation and decolonising research, the paper...
Send us Fan Mail Have you been told "the best thing for EDS/hypermobility is to get strong" - but then nobody told you how actually start? Or maybe you've started up already but you keep getting hurt/flared up each time you try. To be clear, I'm not saying that everyone with EDS will experience difficulty when starting out with strength training, but if you DO then this podcast is for you! This is the approach I have used with clients before with great success! Let's get you strong WITHOUT fl...
Send us Fan Mail I recently had my SIJ sublux a few days after a heavy training session. I spoke about it with my EDS/hypermobility specialist 'rehab guy' - Shant - and he told me he'd recently had the same thing happen to one of his hEDS clients. We discussed the solution we had each come up with, which was so far working for each person respectively - and it turns out great minds do think alike, as we had independently arrived at the same approach. Our approach is what we discuss in this vi...
Send us Fan Mail Do you find you flare up every time you try to progress in your training? This is a very common complaint - but on the other hand, if we NEVER progress our strength and rehab can become stagnant and this can cause its own set of issues. This "Goldilocks zone" where we're progressing in the right way AND amount is our "window of tolerance". And this is where the magic happens - pain free training, increased capacity, and reaching whatever training goals we want to ...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Bendy & Strong I am running through the list of things I've been doing over the past few months/years to pull myself out of feeling the worst I've ever felt. When my dad died 2 years ago, my health plummeted and I was so scared that I would never get better. I wished I'd had a pathway out. So in this video I'm discussing the pathway I took out. DISCLAIMER: this is not medical advice or a substitute for medical advice! Find a good do...
Send us Fan Mail This is a very common complaint I hear from EDS & hypermobile folk. Here are 4 solutions I use when dealing with this. ********** The next round of my strength course for EDS starts soon! Sign up here (or if you missed out, put your name on the waitlist): www.bendyandstrong.com ********** **Disclaimer: the information in this podcast is not medical advice and is for entertainment purposes only. Consult a good doctor before engaging in any new exercise.** Your Hos...
Send us Fan Mail What does it take to become a coach when you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome? In this episode, I chat with a fellow strength coach (and Pilates instructor) Sheena Cuccia who also has EDS. We cover: How we navigate the fitness industry with EDSThe hurdles we encounter & how we try to overcome themTips for anyone with EDS who wants to become a coach Advice for our younger selves & new coaches How we are building a stronger & more inclusive community for ...
Send us Fan Mail Do you want to know the secret to being consistent with exercise if you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or hypermobility? It's the ability to adjust as you go. The fitness industry tells us that consistency means following the plan as closely as possible. But with EDS, that's never possible. Have an idea of the direction you want to go in, but be flexible in how you get there. Sometimes we take a step forwards, sometimes we have to take a step back, sometimes it's a step t...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss some of the basic training knowledge and principles that will make an enormous difference to anyone strength training with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or hypermobility. These include: Progressive overload Program structure Strengthen don't stretch Proper warmups Conserving energy Regress in order to progress Basic strength training muscle & joint anatomy Understand the purpose of each thing you're doing Nutrition Rehab isn't linear These topics and...
Send us Fan Mail In this podcast episode we talk about some seemingly "safe" or "benign" exercises that can REALLY trigger our Ehlers-Danlos & hypermobility symptoms. Once we understand that these exercises CAN be risky, it makes us feel a lot less pressure to do them when they don't feel safe, but it also makes us feel less bleak if we acknowledge and understand why these are ok for some people... just maybe not us. And of course, we are going to give: 1) Explanations on why these mi...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss why we need to look beyond stretching and find better options for managing Ehlers-Danlos and hypermobile pain, especially the feeling of extreme muscle tightness that many hypermobile people experience. (NOTE: Reuploaded because I realised how terrible the last audio was) Featuring Guest Host: Shant Rahman WHERE TO FIND SHANT: INSTAGRAM - @strength.revolution Book in for an online consult with him HERE (or in person if you're in Melbourne) *****...
Send us Fan Mail The Olympia is the biggest bodybuilding stage in the world. As a bodybuilder, you can't climb any higher than this. Imagine how gruelling the prep is, now imagine doing it with the added challenges of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Marie Pontini is a former chemical engineer, director, finance & insurance, and business owner. She was officially diagnosed with an aggressive form of MS in 2016, then received her hEDS diagnosis in 20...
Send us Fan Mail Today's guest is Abbey Phillipson. Abbey has Classical EDS and is a Fitness Coach, she's competed in bodybuilding, is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified Nutritionist & Personal Trainer, and received her Bachelor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Michigan (specialising in behavioural neuroscience amongst disabled populations). When Abbey was 16, her spine and tailbone disconnected, resulting in an L4, L5, S1 stage four slip. This required surgery to...
Send us Fan Mail The sacroiliac joint is one of the most common problem areas for people with Ehlers-Danlos or even anyone with hypermobility but it’s also one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed areas. I have been working with Shant from Strength Revolution (@strength.revolution on instagram) for the past 3 years to manage the SIJ pain caused by my Ehlers-Danlos/hypermobility. Shant’s protocols have helped me come out on top of bodybuilding competition prep, powerlifting competition...
Send us Fan Mail So you've got Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or Joint Hypermobility and you want to do strength training, but you've got no idea if you should do high reps or low reps. Or maybe you're coaching someone with EDS/hypermobility and you need some pointers on how to approach it. Which rep ranges should you do? And are there any you should avoid?? In this podcast, your host Annie Short discusses the most up-to-date approaches to rep ranges for strength or muscle gain, and ho...
Send us Fan Mail This episode explores how to approach your return to strength training after an Ehlers-Danlos flare-up, or after an extended time off because of injury (or life just getting in the way). Support the show
Send us Fan Mail "I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and I get a lot of joint pain. I strength train [or want to]. Do you have any advice?" This question is one of the most common things I'm asked. In my opinion, strength training is an incredible way to manage EDS and hypermobility. I've used it to reduce my pain, increase my quality of life, change my body shape, improve my health, and represent my country in a sport. So firstly, well done on picking one of the best forms of exercise for...
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