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I don't want to assume, to know 
how you are feeling. 

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And I come back to this every 
single time. 

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It doesn't matter how long I 
train you. 

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You are the one who will send 
something before I can tell. 

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You know, It's like you're 
moving and it looks perfect to 

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me. 
And then you go, yeah, my knee 

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really hurt doing that. 
And I'm like, yeah, why didn't 

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you stop or tell me? 
And they're like, oh, I just 

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pushed through it. 
I'm like, OK, cool, let's talk 

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about this. 
So it's, you know, it's so I 

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completely agree and understand 
what you're saying. 

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I don't want to put my lens on 
their experience because they 

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may be similar. 
But at the end of the day, as I 

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was saying, we're, we're all 
different and unique and we have

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things that we have in common 
that we share, but we are still 

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our own individual, you know, 
living, breathing bodies. 

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Hey, I'm Hyper Mobile and if 
you're listening to this, I'm 

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00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,520
guessing you might be too. 
Hi, my name is Alex and I'm your

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Hyper Mobile host. 
And today we have on the 

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incredible Karima 80 longevity 
coach and CrossFit coach. 

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00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,640
Karima, I'm so excited to have 
you on today. 

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We've known each other for 10 
years. 

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Yeah, about 10 years. 
I cannot believe how fast time 

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goes by. 
We'll get into that in a second,

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but tell me, tell me just a bit 
about yourself to begin with. 

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What do you help people with? 
I help people move better 

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without pain and discomfort and 
just getting them to believe 

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that they can do things that 
maybe they've been told that 

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they can't anymore because of 
some health condition or the big

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one is their age, but ultimately
empowering people to move pain 

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free. 
Yeah, no, absolutely that that 

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speaks to my experience with you
because I have to say you have 

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been my coach as well and you've
helped me in how I move and kind

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of my fitness journey. 
But if we take the clock back 

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ten years or so, I always knew 
there was something going on 

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with me. 
We were talking before we 

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started recording. 
You told me you knew there was 

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something going on with you. 
We kind of, I didn't see each 

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00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:21,080
other for a few years, came back
together and hypermobility has 

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00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:22,720
been a part of both of our 
stories. 

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00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,120
So tell me a little bit about 
your personal experience with 

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hypermobility, if you don't 
mind. 

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00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,200
So I didn't actually know that 
that's what it was called. 

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I just always knew that I was 
quite flexible and people were 

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00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:43,400
always commenting on that. 
And when I first started working

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out in a CrossFit gym, I could 
get into positions that other 

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00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,200
newbies couldn't. 
And it was always like, Oh my 

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gosh, you are so flexible. 
It's great. 

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00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,800
But then I also had niggles that
other people didn't. 

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00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,560
So it was really interesting 
contradiction of terms, because 

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00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,760
I'm like, yes, I'm really 
flexible, but also sometimes I 

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00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,680
hurt when other people don't. 
Can I ask you which positions 

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00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,320
you got into easily or which 
things kind of like Oh my God. 

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00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:13,320
An overhead squad? 
Never a problem. 

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00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:14,880
Same. 
Never a problem. 

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You know, it was literally butt 
through the floor, great 

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overhead position. 
Yeah. 

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Were you? 
Yeah, go on. 

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00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:25,240
No, go on. 
Were you failing left by getting

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stuck in the bottom? 
Initially. 

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00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,720
Yeah, yeah. 
It's like the the bottom of 

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shame. 
So what I'm talking about here 

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is when you do a squat, 
obviously your hips go down and 

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then go up. 
And one of the things they see 

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classically in people who are 
doing strength training where 

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they're doing some squats and 
we'll talk about barbells and, 

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you know, dumbbells and things 
later, but they will often be 

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the people who will go down and 
just be stuck there. 

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It is not glamorous. 
It does not feel good. 

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And I hate failing lifts that 
way. 

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Yeah. 
Anyway, so we were, you were 

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kind of doing some of the the 
classic hyper mobile person 

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things in in this situation. 
And then what happened from 

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there? 
Well, I thought I'd figured it 

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out because I would. 
Then when I'd get stuck, I'd 

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just bounce out of those places.
But that seemed to cause more of

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an issue. 
So all of a sudden I would have 

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like a painful hip or my 
shoulders would feel really bad,

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or my neck would get really, 
really tight. 

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And I never really quite 
understood why because other 

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people didn't seem to be 
suffering from the same sort of 

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thing. 
And it wasn't really until I 

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started nerding out about 
movement a little bit more 

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00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,360
before I was even coaching, 
where I started to understand 

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00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:41,360
that it was more about the lack 
of stability versus mobility. 

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00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,680
Because clearly I had the 
mobility, I just did not have 

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the stability to be able to 
perform the movements with 

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control. 
And so I would. 

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00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,240
There's a bit of wrestling with 
the ego, really, because I 

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00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,840
wanted to lift heavy, but I 
couldn't stabilize. 

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00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:03,280
So it was this really odd thing 
of having to understand that my 

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00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:05,240
body just functioned a little 
bit differently. 

93
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:13,600
And I think it was you coming 
along with another osteopath who

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was like, wow, yes, you're very 
flexible. 

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00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:16,800
It's because you're hyper 
mobile. 

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00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,520
And that really just lit that 
bulb up for me. 

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00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,760
And I'm like, oh, that's what 
it's called. 

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00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,040
So I could Google something and 
I could look stuff up and it, it

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00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,600
really explained the things that
I was feeling anyway, because 

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I'm quite intuitive. 
Sometimes I'll know something 

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00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:34,960
and I just don't know how to 
describe it. 

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I don't know what it's about. 
Yeah, I think a lot of people 

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who are hyper mobile get that 
feeling of feeling different but

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not knowing what it is, and it's
like it's a really confusing 

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place to be. 
I have to ask you as well, just 

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because I'm curious because 
you've never actually really 

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talked about this before. 
Did you get any weird things 

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like I would have trouble with 
skipping, getting pain in my 

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shoulders or running? 
Was there anything that was 

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really, really strange or didn't
make sense to you at the time 

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00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:02,160
that would bother you? 
Can be any joint. 

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00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,200
I would get just pains in my 
shoulders a lot and sometimes 

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from not even shoulder work. 
So to though that was always a 

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bit strange because I would 
complain about my shoulders and 

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other people just didn't have 
those issues. 

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It's like, well, what did you do
the last couple of days? 

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What workouts did you do the 
last couple of days? 

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I'm like, there's no reason my 
shoulders should be hurting, but

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somehow they just did a lot. 
And then it would go up into my 

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neck and and I would get these 
headaches that I remember saying

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to people, it feels like 
someone's cramping my brain. 

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Like someone's like just like 
digging into my brain because 

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but it was all from the neck. 
And it wasn't really until I 

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think when you started treating 
me actually that you're like, 

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this is from this is not in your
brain. 

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This is your neck. 
And just getting me to 

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00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,520
understand that even though it 
felt like it was in my brain, it

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00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:05,920
wasn't. 
Yeah, I think I'm looking at 

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00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,360
peripheral nerve anatomy is 
really important and I forgot to

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00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:10,920
do this claimer. 
I have a tendency to do that. 

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I should be doing it. 
By the way, this is not medical 

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00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:15,440
advice, OK? 
So please see your qualified 

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00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,600
healthcare provider who knows 
you and your unique medical 

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history for that. 
Also, there could be swearing. 

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I don't know, I feel like 'cause
I've said that, I've now not 

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00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,400
gonna swear, 'cause I just like 
to be opposite and contrary, but

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00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:26,840
who can? 
Who can say? 

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00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:29,760
Back to anatomy. 
So yeah, the dorsal scapular 

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00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,040
nerve, I'm just gonna input up 
for one second, OK? 

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It is a nerve that runs from 
C3456, sorry. 

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00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,480
And so that's in your neck and 
it goes down between your 

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00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,520
shoulder blade and your spine. 
And when you start to think 

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00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,480
about anatomy and what's 
happening there and what 

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00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,600
instability potentially from 
that shoulder blade joint or 

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00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,720
lack of movement in the right 
way at the right time, it's 

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00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,120
really easy to see how sensitive
structures can get stressed. 

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Yeah, and potentially contribute
to pain elsewhere. 

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00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,120
I don't know if you could kind 
of feel those headaches coming 

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00:07:58,120 --> 00:07:59,640
on. 
Often patients will get a bit of

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00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,400
a prodrome. 
Yeah, so we had very similar 

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00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,640
experience in that. 
Yeah, I have to say too as well,

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00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:07,680
going back to what you said 
about how things just like the 

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00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,760
pain kind of didn't make sense. 
I was visiting my brother in 

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00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:12,920
Canada. 
You've never met my brother, but

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00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,280
we are extremely close and quite
similar in many ways. 

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00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,400
But he's not hyper mobile, which
baffle. 

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00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:21,640
I like, I'm always just trying 
to check about. 

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00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,520
He's like, stop assessing me and
I'm like, you have to be hyper 

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00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:25,920
mobile. 
Like we're so close. 

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00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,320
So we told him like an hour 
every day and for you to not be 

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00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,480
hyper mobile. 
It really just confuses me. 

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00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:33,840
But I had a talk with him for 
the millionth time and I was 

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00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:37,480
like, George, you know, just 
just checking just to make sure 

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00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,159
I understand this, even though 
we've talked about it before. 

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00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,400
And I said, George, like, did 
you ever have pain Where it 

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00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,600
where like you would just have 
agony and your your knees would 

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00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,280
be aching as a child or your 
neck or your shoulders or stuff 

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00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:51,240
where it didn't make sense like 
what you and I were talking 

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00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:51,680
about? 
Yeah. 

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00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,000
And he said this and like my jaw
hit the floor. 

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00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,560
He said, Alex, I have never 
experienced pain without a 

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00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:00,640
reasonable cause and effect, 
which is the most mathematician 

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00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,720
and he's a mathematician, by the
way, but most mathematician 

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00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,120
answer ever. 
But I just like that. 

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00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,480
Keeps me up at night. 
Good for you, George. 

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00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:08,720
Good for you. 
He. 

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00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:13,840
Is he is definitely, yeah, a 
very different, different 

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00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:15,560
experience from us, shall we 
say. 

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He he just sits at a desk, 
doesn't get injured and just 

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00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:20,800
lives his best life. 
And it's good for him. 

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00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,400
I know it's incredible. 
But back to you. 

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So you were going on your 
journey, you were doing some 

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00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,800
fitness stuff, some strength 
training and other stuff in 

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00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,680
there and you're getting pain. 
What happened next? 

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00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:33,400
Because you've you told me the 
story a little bit at the 

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00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,760
workshop we did together Cream, 
I did a workshop with me was 

187
00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,560
fabulous. 
We'll do Part 2 eventually, but 

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00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,880
what happened from there? 
Well, in order to go forward, I 

189
00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:49,520
actually need to go back a few 
years because the this whole my 

190
00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,000
whole story into movement and 
starting to understand my buddy 

191
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,560
more actually started 15 years 
ago. 

192
00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:02,120
So way before I stepped foot 
into a CrossFit gym at all. 

193
00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:08,840
I had weird symptoms like 
hormonally and stuff and they 

194
00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:14,160
didn't really quite make sense. 
And it took about a year to get 

195
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,720
the diagnosis after an MRI, and 
they found a brain tumor like a 

196
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,320
little prolactinoma. 
And that was ultimately the 

197
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,320
culprit of why I was feeling so,
so strange and why my hormones 

198
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,440
were all over the shop. 
And they initially they're like,

199
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,240
oh, it might be like pregnancy 
or PCOS or whatever, and they 

200
00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:33,680
were just throwing all these 
terms at me. 

201
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,120
But it eventually turned out to 
be this prolactinoma, which is 

202
00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,880
effectively A benign brain tumor
and was put on a load of 

203
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,440
medication. 
And normally in the medication 

204
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,360
leaflet you have like possible 
side effects and there's like a 

205
00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,000
laundry list of things and most 
people will experience one or 

206
00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,120
two. 
And I started the to get the 

207
00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,920
entire whack of them. 
And part of that is like that 

208
00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,600
you're you'll, you'll experience
some pain in different parts of 

209
00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,600
the body. 
So I was just kind of miserable 

210
00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,760
all the time, which led me into 
osteopathy actually, because I'd

211
00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:13,680
gone to various different health
professionals and nobody could 

212
00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:17,360
quite pinpoint why I was in so 
much pain then like it has your 

213
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,600
product, enoma should have no 
impact on the rest of your body.

214
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,000
Your medication shouldn't really
impact anything. 

215
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,240
And but it did, you know, and I 
used to go to the gym, not sort 

216
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,800
of casually, I'd spend time on 
the treadmill and whatnot, but I

217
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:33,920
wouldn't go, I wouldn't do any 
strength training. 

218
00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,120
I didn't really know that much 
about strength training just 

219
00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,000
because you know, you'd look 
into the strength section of the

220
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,440
gym and it would just all be 
dudes. 

221
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,680
And, and you know, it wasn't 
really, it didn't feel like I 

222
00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:48,120
was welcome there either. 
And I didn't really know enough.

223
00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:55,360
And it wasn't until my 6th or 
7th osteopath session where I'm 

224
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:57,720
like, I can't, I just can't keep
doing this. 

225
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:05,280
I think. 
And not to to scare anybody, but

226
00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:10,200
it's like I never understood the
notion of not wanting to live. 

227
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,680
And I think in those moments 
where I was experiencing so much

228
00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:20,280
pain, I kind of understood that 
sometimes you you're in so much 

229
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:25,000
pain and just not being alive 
would be better. 

230
00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:31,280
Not that I would ever dare to do
anything to hurt myself, but it 

231
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,800
was just this moment where I'm 
like, I cannot go on. 

232
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,400
And I think that was the pivotal
moment when I was crying on the 

233
00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,000
table with my osteopath and I 
said, I don't know what to do. 

234
00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:47,840
And he said you need to find 
something to strengthen your 

235
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:57,200
body because right now it's in 
it's in like panic mode and you 

236
00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:00,160
need to find something because 
he's like, you can keep coming 

237
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,080
every week and giving me your 
money and I will make it a 

238
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,720
little bit better. 
But ultimately it's not going to

239
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,840
go away. 
So I'm like, OK, and I'm, I'm 

240
00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:15,360
very practical. 
So I'm like, OK, let's just find

241
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,280
a bunch of things. 
Going to the gym by myself was 

242
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:18,800
boring. 
So I'm like, I'm going to just 

243
00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,680
try and do different things. 
And I tried a bunch of things 

244
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,520
and eventually crossword was 
starting to sort of be around 

245
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,800
more. 
I would hear about it and the 

246
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,640
barbell felt really scary to me.
So I was like, I don't know. 

247
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,960
And then I went to a CrossFit 
gym and I had a really bad 

248
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:43,520
experience with somebody who 
just wasn't very personable and 

249
00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:48,440
couldn't quite understand that I
was coming from a really painful

250
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,080
place. 
So I was like, why? 

251
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:55,000
I guess this is not for me? 
And then it took me about 18 

252
00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:02,160
months to to feel courageous 
enough to step foot into another

253
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,000
gym. 
And it was such a different 

254
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,120
experience. 
The person I spoke to just was, 

255
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,200
it was just a soft landing. 
They were just really reassuring

256
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,440
and they were like, don't worry,
our coaches are great. 

257
00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:15,520
They're going to take care of 
you. 

258
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:20,760
And the first foundation class I
did, there were seven foundation

259
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:25,080
classes at the time. 
I think it was like a deadlift 

260
00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,440
class. 
It, it was like the first time 

261
00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:33,160
it ever touched a barbell. 
And it was this pivotal moment 

262
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,200
where the coach was like, oh, 
you're built really well for a 

263
00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:42,240
way, way after, you know, 5 foot
2, you know, short limbs, long 

264
00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,160
torso and like you can get into 
the positions really well. 

265
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,560
And I just, something just 
clicked in my head. 

266
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,320
I'm like, this is it and I just 
knew it. 

267
00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,120
And even though it was 
uncomfortable and I was, I'm 

268
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,240
still hurting, I just persisted.
And I did the seven intro 

269
00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,880
classes and the same coaches who
do the foundation classes did 

270
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:04,760
the main classes. 
So by the time I started the 

271
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,560
main classes, they already knew 
me and they already knew that I 

272
00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:13,720
was struggling with some other 
things than the average 30 year 

273
00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:18,240
old at the time and it just 
changed my life. 

274
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,440
And it was barbell workouts 
specifically that I kind of just

275
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,280
took to because I also noticed 
that if I did a workout that had

276
00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,880
keeping pull ups for example, my
shoulders didn't like it. 

277
00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,800
So this is where I started to 
get an inking of hang on a 

278
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,280
second. 
I did all the strict work first 

279
00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,800
because there was a rule back in
the day at our gym that you had 

280
00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,560
to have 5 strict pull ups before
you were allowed to do any kind 

281
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,600
of Kip swings. 
So my like I had built up the 

282
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,480
musculature I needed and to be 
safe. 

283
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,040
But every time I did any kind of
keeping movements, it just, it 

284
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,960
hurt. 
So this is where then we, we 

285
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,480
start that part of the story 
where where you started at, 

286
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,960
where I just noticed that things
were not quite right. 

287
00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:05,320
But simultaneously, I had to go 
for blood tests every three 

288
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,400
months to monitor the tumor and 
my bloods just kept getting 

289
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,600
better and better. 
And they're like, what are you 

290
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,280
doing? 
I'm like, I'm just being active 

291
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:17,040
and I'm working out and, and I'm
making sure I know what I'm 

292
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,680
putting in my body. 
So if there's something that has

293
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,320
a label that has eighteen 
ingredients that I cannot 

294
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,880
pronounce, maybe I don't have 
that, you know? 

295
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:31,080
And yeah, it was, it just kept 
getting better. 

296
00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,360
And I said, right, I'm going to 
dial down the those are the 

297
00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,480
medication because it, the side 
effects were still there. 

298
00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:43,400
Some of the severe paranoia, you
know, thoughts that didn't feel 

299
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,040
like my own thoughts. 
So I'm like, I'm not gonna, I'm 

300
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,720
not gonna take as much. 
And they're like, well, but the 

301
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,880
tumor is so bad and I'm like, I 
don't care. 

302
00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:53,320
My bloods are clearly getting 
better. 

303
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,720
You can't make me take the 
bigger dose. 

304
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,680
So I'm just gonna lower the 
dose. 

305
00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,560
And I did. 
And my bloods kept getting 

306
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,040
better. 
And I'd started with one 

307
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,960
CrossFit session a week to 2:00 
to 3:00 to 4:00. 

308
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,839
But I would be quite selective. 
I would always want to do the 

309
00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,319
ones that had a barbell in it. 
I just. 

310
00:17:13,319 --> 00:17:16,800
I'm not surprised. 
Absolutely loved it. 

311
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:21,520
And they were like, well, you're
now on the smallest dose of the 

312
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,040
meds, which is like, I have to 
cut this tablet with like the 

313
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:29,120
sharpest knife because it barely
registers otherwise as a tablet 

314
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:34,800
now because it's just powder. 
And they're like, well, clearly 

315
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,760
everything's still OK. 
So OK. 

316
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,000
And then they changed it from 
seeing them every three months 

317
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,320
to every six months. 
And for the last nine years, I 

318
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,360
want to say I have to see them 
once a year. 

319
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:56,000
I noticed that or I now know 
that when high stress situations

320
00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:02,200
will prompt things to look worse
again because the the body 

321
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:07,920
response accordingly. 
So managing my my mindset and my

322
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,280
stress levels is really 
important as well because 

323
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,520
otherwise I would just have to 
increase the meds again. 

324
00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:20,040
But having said that, they did 
an MRI five years ago and they 

325
00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,640
couldn't even find the tumor 
anymore. 

326
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:28,880
So that I considering that they 
started with you're just going 

327
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:30,920
to up the meds over the course 
of your life and you'll likely 

328
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,920
end up in a wheelchair to oh, we
can't even find the the the 

329
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,080
thing anymore. 
It's pretty, pretty incredible. 

330
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,760
Well, that's, that's absolutely 
fantastic. 

331
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:43,960
Your story touches on so many 
things. 

332
00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:48,880
So the mental health aspect of 
fitness, I have to say most of 

333
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,600
the patients I see, so the fat 
like 99% plus probably are 

334
00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,400
hypermobile these days. 
I still see people who have 

335
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,520
complex chronic or treatment 
resistant injuries who are not 

336
00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:58,800
hypermobile, but the vast 
majority obviously are. 

337
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,440
There is a big overlap. 
And although this applies to 

338
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,360
everyone, I do see a big overlap
with people who are 

339
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,360
neurodivergent and hypermobile 
because it's there. 

340
00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:10,360
We know from research, 
especially with ADHD and HDS and

341
00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:15,040
HSD, it's very prevalent. 
And a lot of people will kind of

342
00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,680
manage their mental health or 
one of the ways that they affect

343
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,200
their mental health positively 
is through exercise. 

344
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:22,080
And you've seen that be true for
me. 

345
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,600
I think it's also knowing you've
been true for you to me too. 

346
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,120
Yeah. 
And that place of darkness. 

347
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:31,520
And I think you spoke about in 
such a nuanced and thoughtful 

348
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,840
way about, you know, not having 
active ideation, but just 

349
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:40,720
feeling so broken and so down 
and so lost and alone. 

350
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,880
And just it, the weight gets 
heavy sometimes. 

351
00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:47,360
Like it gets so heavy. 
And for a lot of people, like 

352
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,000
exercise can kind of be that 
thing that just keeps them 

353
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,840
ticking over, you know, gives 
you a reason to leave the house 

354
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,200
or get up out of bed or just do 
something. 

355
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,280
And I think it's just, I think 
one of the key things that you, 

356
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:01,320
I know have helped some of the 
the patients I've referred to as

357
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:02,800
well this way we do work 
collaboratively. 

358
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,080
Sometimes we'll talk to them 
that later. 

359
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,640
And one of the things you helped
me with back when I was going 

360
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,800
through quite a difficult time, 
was just having something to do 

361
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,080
that gave me a thing, a way that
I could feel something in my 

362
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:14,480
body that wasn't pain. 
Yeah. 

363
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,560
Yeah, I'm a guy. 
Anyways, I'm surprised we got 

364
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,160
through recording a few episodes
before the 7th. 

365
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,280
Anyways, Karima, you also 
touched on when you first 

366
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,040
started CrossFit. 
And again, you know, for you is 

367
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:29,720
CrossFit, for other people, 
it'll be something else. 

368
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,240
I think it's about finding your 
thing and we'll talk about that 

369
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,560
later. 
But you were doing these classes

370
00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,280
and you felt some things, you 
know, some pain. 

371
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:39,920
I sometimes say my body's 
talking to me. 

372
00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,640
If you're not sure what it is, I
have to ask you a question. 

373
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:47,200
Did you have the foresight or 
knowledge to find ways to kind 

374
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,760
of not push through that, or did
you kind of just push through it

375
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,680
and then deal with the 
consequences later and learn 

376
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:53,840
from that? 
Do you get what I mean? 

377
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,600
Yeah, I do. 
And sadly it's, it's the latter.

378
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:03,120
I pushed through because I 
really, really, even though the 

379
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:06,480
reason I started it and got into
it was because I was in pain. 

380
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:12,480
The better I felt, the more my 
unknown, unbeknownst to me, 

381
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,640
little competitive part in me 
was like, Oh, you could like 

382
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:18,800
compete. 
You know, I like a very low 

383
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,680
level, but still like the, the 
in house competitions or when we

384
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,720
did competitions against other 
gyms. 

385
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,160
And you know, I, I really 
noticed that I do have that 

386
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:33,240
competitive element within me. 
And so I would just push through

387
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,760
because I just didn't want to 
accept that there was, quote UN 

388
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,800
quote, yet another thing. 
Yeah, I just wanted to be 

389
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,520
normal. 
I just wanted to be a normal 

390
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:50,960
Crossfitter that didn't have to 
monitor things that were just, 

391
00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:56,960
you know, it's like, just let me
do the thing and do it like 

392
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,880
everybody else. 
But then I just couldn't keep 

393
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,160
pushing through. 
So even though within the first 

394
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,040
year my osteopath effectively 
fired me because he's like you 

395
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:09,800
don't need me anymore. 
You're not in pain anymore. 

396
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,800
I kind of had to go back to him 
because I was now struggling 

397
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,680
with some of the CrossFit 
induced things where I didn't 

398
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,280
listen. 
So when my body started talking 

399
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,280
to me, I would just try and shut
it up and be like, I'm just 

400
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,520
going to get through this 
workout versus what I would do 

401
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:33,240
now and what I have done really 
for the last, I want to say 5-6 

402
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:38,640
years where I even if I do a 
class, I am almost hyper 

403
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,280
vigilant about what my body is 
telling me. 

404
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:44,520
So if everything feels fine, 
great. 

405
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,600
But that doesn't mean I check 
out and then I come back into my

406
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,280
body at the end of the workout 
to see how I'm doing. 

407
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:54,480
I'm there present in my body the
whole time. 

408
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,960
It's not about letting my mind 
wander and be distracted. 

409
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:07,640
It's about making sure that each
Rep feels as good as it can, and

410
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,480
then if it doesn't, I stop. 
I analyze. 

411
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,240
I am no longer interested in 
being competitive with anybody. 

412
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,440
It's just about can I come in 
and do this workout? 

413
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,480
And yes, I'll be sore tomorrow, 
but I'm not injuring myself. 

414
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:31,880
I'm not causing any damage that 
may last because no workout is 

415
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,640
worth it. 
I'm not a competitive athlete. 

416
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,440
I'm not, you know, an Olympic at
like, I'm not somebody who's 

417
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,320
career depends on a performance,
a workout. 

418
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,800
So for me, it's a love of 
movement. 

419
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,440
That's why I do it and because 
it makes me feel good 

420
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,200
physically, mentally and 
emotionally. 

421
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:54,960
So it's just about being fully 
aware, yeah, Of what's. 

422
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,640
Happening I call that being kind
to your body. 

423
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,800
You know, when I talk with my 
patients and when I talk with 

424
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:03,520
myself, I think like, am I being
kind to little Alex? 

425
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,280
Is this what she needs to say 
now there's something else you 

426
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:08,840
touched on as well. 
Oh, another concept I like to 

427
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,400
talk about is being your own 
coach. 

428
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,840
So, you know, I got to work with
some quite high level 

429
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,080
competitive athletes, 
professional athletes. 

430
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,880
And when you work in that type 
of environment, their coach is 

431
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,280
on them like white on rice. 
Like there is a they're 

432
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:22,440
supervising. 
They're like, oh, you looked a 

433
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:23,960
little bit off there. 
Are you feeling OK? 

434
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,320
There's this really nurturing 
and collaborative relationship 

435
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,080
that top coaches and top 
professional athletes who have a

436
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,800
good coaching relationship will 
have. 

437
00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,920
And it really made me think 
about being my own coach. 

438
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,760
And I think that's something 
which is critical, especially if

439
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,600
your body's a little bit 
different, because the best 

440
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,320
coach in the world or the best 
PT or whatever, they're not 

441
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:45,880
going to know what you're 
feeling. 

442
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:47,560
Yeah, but it's such a hard 
skill. 

443
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:48,840
I have to say I found it hard to
develop. 

444
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:50,520
Did you have a hard time 
learning that? 

445
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:59,160
No, simply because the hyper 
vigilance has kind of always 

446
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,600
been there, but I've ignored it 
most of the time. 

447
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:06,680
But since not shutting it up, 
it's actually really easy to 

448
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,080
hear. 
So I just had to allow that 

449
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,480
voice to speak versus just 
telling it to shut up and then 

450
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,280
cranking up the music on my 
headphones to to sort of drown 

451
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,800
it out. 
That's that's been a thing. 

452
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,360
And sometimes, I mean, even now,
you know, even last week I went 

453
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,800
into a workout and my buddy was 
like, my, my right shoulder was 

454
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:33,920
just like, and I was like, and 
then I was like, no, no, hang on

455
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,800
a second. 
If you do this, then it's just 

456
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,760
going to make things worse 
tomorrow. 

457
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,000
And I had to stop and I had to 
modify it. 

458
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,840
And that was, you know, I was a 
bit like, but it was fine. 

459
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,120
And because I knew it was the 
right decision in the moment. 

460
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,840
No, absolutely. 
I think if you see someone 

461
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,640
talking to their joint in a 
class, there's like a 99% chance

462
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:56,760
it's me. 
No, I like the question too. 

463
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,600
Like, is it worth it? 
That's what I I'll be like, you 

464
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,040
know, I'll feel something in a 
class that I'm going to a 

465
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,400
session I'm doing and I'm like, 
is it worth it? 

466
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,640
Like is this the workout I 
really want to get this injury 

467
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,000
on? 
Yeah, Most of the time it's no. 

468
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,720
Yeah, I would say should be all 
the time, but sometimes I 

469
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,240
sometimes I do things. 
Anyways, in terms of your 

470
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,160
journey, so you fell in love 
with the barbell. 

471
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:20,680
I did. 
I was thinking of calling this 

472
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,360
episode Saved by the Barbell, 
but we'll see. 

473
00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:26,640
Maybe that episode naming it 
takes time and, you know, 

474
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:28,920
artistry. 
But you were saved by the 

475
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,840
barbell and then you've kind of 
grown from there further. 

476
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,360
Like, you know, you helped me. 
Tell me a little bit about what 

477
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:38,280
you you know, how that has 
experienced, how that has 

478
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,000
affected your journey and how 
you've kind of grown from that. 

479
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:47,400
Well, the, it's been interesting
because when I got diagnosed and

480
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,120
when I started CrossFit, I 
wasn't working as a coach. 

481
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,520
Umm, I had a very different 
career. 

482
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:58,600
I was, I had a desk job in 
publishing and this whole foray 

483
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,680
into coaching and into 
especially the competitive 

484
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:07,040
element of CrossFit made me 
realize that while whilst I was 

485
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:11,880
working out and trying to get as
many reps in a workout or 

486
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:13,960
whatever to beat the person next
to me. 

487
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,560
I was watching everyone else in 
the workout and noticing little 

488
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,760
things that they could have been
doing better. 

489
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,480
So where they could be more 
efficient or where they, you 

490
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:30,080
know, where they were catching a
weight in a certain way that was

491
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,600
going to impact their joints in 
a negative way. 

492
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:35,240
And I would just see that and it
would slow me down. 

493
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,400
And over time, I realized I 
didn't care so much about my 

494
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,920
performance anymore. 
And that was a really gradual 

495
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:49,360
process. 
And I started volunteering to 

496
00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:51,280
judge other people in 
competitions. 

497
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,880
And I don't know, for most of 
you, you might not know this, 

498
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,720
but when you're judging somebody
in a competition, you're not 

499
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,520
coaching them. 
You're supposed to just count 

500
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,440
their reps and tell them when 
they're not doing a legitimate 

501
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,280
repetition. 
And I would start coaching them 

502
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,120
and telling them what they could
be doing better in a in a very 

503
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:14,960
nice way. 
And I realized that I got so 

504
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:22,480
much enjoyment from that, from 
helping someone else do better, 

505
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,760
and that wasn't a competitive 
environment. 

506
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:32,480
Competitive environment. 
He's tired, thanks Suck. 

507
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,200
We need to get him a couch one 
day. 

508
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:38,640
So are you still talking about 
coaching? 

509
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:45,600
No, but that gave me an in 
playing into what I might be 

510
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,480
good at. 
So this, the whole experience 

511
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,600
that led me into it that at the 
time I thought was the worst 

512
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,280
thing in the world. 
My diagnosis in fact, led me 

513
00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,720
into what I now consider to be 
my major purpose. 

514
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:10,800
And that is helping other people
understand the capacity of their

515
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:15,680
own bodies through not just 
their physical self, but also 

516
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,480
through their mindset. 
So the way that they approach 

517
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,720
their workouts, the way that 
they, what they say to 

518
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,320
themselves, like you're saying, 
you know, talking to your joint,

519
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,240
I think that's all that is fair 
because what you are saying to 

520
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,160
yourself is really important. 
If you go into a workout and you

521
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:38,040
are constantly putting yourself 
down and people joke when I say 

522
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,200
this, but your body hears you. 
It's all it's like a like a self

523
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,720
fulfilling prophecy. 
You keep telling yourself your 

524
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,680
crap or your body doesn't work 
or whatever. 

525
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:53,120
It will respond accordingly. 
So I can't raise my 

526
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,840
hypermobility and I wouldn't 
want to at this point, but 

527
00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:01,160
telling myself I'm terrible 
because I'm hypermobile really 

528
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:05,640
doesn't help me. 
So it's meeting yourself where 

529
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:10,560
you're at, understanding that 
focusing on all the things that 

530
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,640
you don't like or you'd rather 
have isn't going to be useful, 

531
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,080
and then focusing on the things 
that you can control and can do 

532
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,720
which really matters. 
No, absolutely. 

533
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,040
I've always found to someone who
you know, has no new and a 

534
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,080
coaching capacity that you have 
really helped me just like see 

535
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,400
what am I bringing to the table 
today and just being OK with 

536
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:37,680
that. 
I think there's this, I think 

537
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,320
for people who are hypermobile, 
often there's this idea of 

538
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,960
feeling like you're too weak or 
too sensitive. 

539
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,440
And again, some of it, yes, is 
self-inflicted, but it's also 

540
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,800
inflicted sometimes by maybe 
coaches or personal trainers or 

541
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,800
people who are in that 
environment, like you said, 

542
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,960
maybe even early on with people 
who don't understand what you're

543
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,720
going through. 
And it makes you so small. 

544
00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:01,040
And for me, I have to say, when 
it came to being exposed to 

545
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:02,840
crossing, and to be clear, I'm 
not telling everyone to do 

546
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:04,000
CrossFit. 
There are different ways to 

547
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:05,800
train. 
I call it Alex Fit because I 

548
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,840
just do what makes me happy at 
this point. 

549
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,640
Yeah. 
But I was able to find little 

550
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,000
things and little movements that
gave me this huge feeling of 

551
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,360
success. 
Like, I was like, Oh my gosh, I 

552
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:22,400
just did my first front squat or
something new when it comes to 

553
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,080
novelty, because I know you work
with people in, in different age

554
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:27,840
demographics. 
So I, I do, you know, you have 

555
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,920
seen patients of mine in their 
30s or 20s or whatever, but I 

556
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,320
know you also work with 
patients, especially those kind 

557
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,400
of 60 + 75 plus maybe 90 plus. 
You're doing all those ages. 

558
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,440
How important to you is novelty 
and that idea of kind of 

559
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,960
constantly learning and I, I 
call it playing with movement. 

560
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:51,360
I'm never not reading something 
about movement. 

561
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:58,720
I my husband jokes that like I 
have more books than I have time

562
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,160
to read. 
Everyone of those, Dave and I 

563
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,920
have a rule he cannot buy a new 
book till he's a red one and. 

564
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,240
Yeah, that rule wouldn't 
wouldn't work in in my house. 

565
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:13,360
But I just, I mean, I also used 
to work in publishing. 

566
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,920
So I value the written, the 
written word. 

567
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,000
I'm not a Kindle person. 
I have to have the physical 

568
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,280
thing in my hand. 
I'm also a fan of a highlighter.

569
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,440
And I'm sorry to those people 
who don't like the idea of 

570
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,280
highlighting things in books, 
but I'm, you know, when I'm 

571
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:32,520
keeping a book, I'm not gonna, 
you know, it's my book. 

572
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:34,280
For you right now, it's gonna. 
Yeah. 

573
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:36,720
I do too. 
I feel like, you know the people

574
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,760
who I don't know ancient Egypt, 
who would write stuff like on 

575
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,600
the pace of little little notes 
and stuff we see in archaeology.

576
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,640
Someone might see one of your 
books one day and be touched by 

577
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,880
the notes you've read in there. 
It creates a memento of the 

578
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,160
person you were at the moment in
time, and you're at it. 

579
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,480
I think it's beautiful, adding 
art to art. 

580
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,800
Yeah, absolutely. 
And also like you, I'll read 

581
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,720
something and it'll link to 
something else and, but it's not

582
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,400
in that book that it links to 
that that other thing. 

583
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,800
So I'll make a little note on 
the side that it links to XY and

584
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,320
Z or whatever. 
And that's helpful for me 

585
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:13,080
because ultimately it it's good 
to connect the dots. 

586
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,800
There's a lot of practitioners 
in various different disciplines

587
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:19,880
who think their way is the only 
way. 

588
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,960
And ultimately that cannot be 
the case because our bodies are 

589
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,280
not all the same. 
So things that one person can be

590
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,120
really good at, I can't be 
really good at just because of 

591
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,040
my Physiology and just because 
I'm built differently. 

592
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:39,320
And that's perfectly fine. 
So there, that can't just be 1 

593
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:48,240
correct way to move. 
So I think it's really valuable 

594
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,600
to continue learning and 
learning from different 

595
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:55,280
disciplines. 
My husband is a Brazilian Jiu 

596
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,520
Jitsu black belt. 
So you know, movement has been a

597
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,800
huge part of his life as well in
a training capacity and he 

598
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,960
teaches a little bit as well. 
So it's we're always nerding out

599
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,159
over different movement, 
movement disciplines and 

600
00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:13,239
patterns and how they kind of 
intersect as well. 

601
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,080
And it's just, it's so 
fascinating and interesting. 

602
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,280
One of my clients, she's in her 
late 70s, said to me the other 

603
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:27,080
day, I know I say I hate it when
we make, when you make me go 

604
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:28,840
down to the floor and get back 
up. 

605
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,480
But the other day I dropped 
something under the sideboard 

606
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,120
and I needed to get to the floor
and get it out from under the 

607
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,440
sideboard. 
And I live by myself, so I have 

608
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,760
to be able to do this by myself.
I cannot rely on somebody else 

609
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,560
to come over and help me get 
whatever fell under the 

610
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:53,360
sideboard, you know. 
And we when we can do certain 

611
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,320
things, we don't think about 
those things. 

612
00:34:55,320 --> 00:35:01,400
But when I was at the height of 
my pain party, there are. 

613
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,000
So there were so many basic 
things I struggled with. 

614
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:11,080
Just getting off the floor I was
was really painful because my 

615
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,360
joints were were inflamed and 
everything was aching and even 

616
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,240
just getting out of bed was 
really hard. 

617
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:24,880
So I have a huge appreciation 
for anyone who finds themselves 

618
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:29,120
in a quote UN quote 
deconditioned state because 

619
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,560
maybe they never went to the gym
ever. 

620
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,720
Or or maybe they used to go to 
the gym, but then, you know, 

621
00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:38,640
work or family life or whatever 
took over and all of a sudden 

622
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:43,040
they're finding themselves stuck
in different positions or really

623
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,800
struggling. 
And you, you kind of chuckled a 

624
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,520
little bit when you said 90 
plus. 

625
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:54,760
But genuinely, I have coached 
people in their 90s who fell and

626
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,240
couldn't get up again. 
And if you are 90 something and 

627
00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:02,720
you live by yourself and you 
fall and nobody's coming over, 

628
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,920
you might. 
And I'm not being harsh here. 

629
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:07,600
You might die there. 
It's true. 

630
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,720
You know, and unfortunately 
there's way too many cases of 

631
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:17,600
that. 
So it's a simple case of making 

632
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:24,440
sure that I help as many people 
restore movement, whether it's 

633
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,840
because they haven't moved for a
while or they've never really 

634
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:35,040
thought about movement until it 
was gone, or because they've 

635
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,480
discovered they're hypermobile 
and they can't do certain things

636
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,920
anymore because it causes too 
much pain. 

637
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,560
Like for me, it's. 
Yeah. 

638
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,760
Have you ever just in, in your 
experience working with clients,

639
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:48,640
have you ever found someone 
where you felt like, oh, it's 

640
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:50,400
too late for them to start or 
they're too down? 

641
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:54,440
Yeah, no, People think they're 
like 9095 out of 80, whatever. 

642
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,200
It's the musculoskeletal system.
People think it shuts off. 

643
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,440
Like when you turn 30, there's 
this whole idea that like, oh, 

644
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,800
everything's done now. 
It's like, are you kidding me? 

645
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,480
It's it's like saying the, I 
don't know, the sun stop shining

646
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,320
or whatever. 
It's just they are cells and 

647
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,440
they respond to certain stimuli.
Yes, it becomes harder as we age

648
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:12,760
or harder as we have certain 
health conditions, but they 

649
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,440
don't tend to become like wholly
unresponsive. 

650
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,320
I think it's this big 
misconception, something that I 

651
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,680
think you're a bit of a 
specialist in, if I could say 

652
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:24,560
so, is helping people find a 
place to start because I think 

653
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,760
that's the single most important
thing. 

654
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,320
And I think a lot of people 
listening to this will have have

655
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,520
concerns about, you know, like, 
what can I do or can't I do if 

656
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,360
I'm hyper mobile? 
And again, that comes down 

657
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,760
ultimately to your medical 
doctor and the advice they've 

658
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,680
given you. 
But I do think there's a bit of 

659
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,880
a problem sometimes because 
sometimes people in certain 

660
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,600
healthcare professions, my own 
included, they don't appreciate 

661
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,560
how many different ways there 
are to move. 

662
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,680
And like I have referred 
patients, do you know where 

663
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:56,440
they're starting from a very low
level and they've been nervous, 

664
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:00,360
literally nervous to come to 
just even to walk into a gym 

665
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,640
space. 
And and I find that just knowing

666
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,000
that there's someone who. 
Will. 

667
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,680
Get like, I tell them like, you 
know, Karima will get you. 

668
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,520
Yeah, like she she will get you.
And you know what I tell them 

669
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,120
to? 
I say, like, you can tell her 

670
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,160
whatever you want and she's fine
with it. 

671
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,000
And then I tell them one other 
thing, which is I have shown up 

672
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,760
to Karima's classes. 
You know what I'm going to say? 

673
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:24,880
I have shown up and Karim's 
like, Alex, how are you doing 

674
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,840
today? 
I'm just like bad, you'll just 

675
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,200
tell me that's OK babe. 
Can you help me figure it out 

676
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:34,320
and go from there? 
Is there any like advice you 

677
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,000
have to people where they feel 
like they just don't know how to

678
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,640
start or they're nervous about 
taking that that first step? 

679
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:49,320
Well, the first thing I'll say 
is just talk to the person 

680
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,920
you're working with. 
I think way too many people 

681
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:56,000
think that there's some kind of 
hierarchy here. 

682
00:38:56,240 --> 00:39:01,680
Just because I'm a coach means 
I'm somehow above you somehow. 

683
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,040
But at the end of the day, the 
way I work with people is that 

684
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,520
we are a team and we're going to
figure this out together. 

685
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,080
And whenever people ask me what 
I do for a living, you know, I, 

686
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,120
yeah, sure, I'll say like, I'm a
longevity coach and a CrossFit 

687
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:21,520
coach, but ultimately I am. 
I create a safe space for people

688
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:32,000
so that they can come in and 
feel safe to tell me when 

689
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,200
something hurts, tell me when 
they're not comfortable with 

690
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,840
something, tell me that they're 
scared to start again because 

691
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:42,240
the last time they started, they
ended up in a bad place. 

692
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:50,280
So we, I have a every single 
person I start with, they come 

693
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:54,400
in initially for a movement 
assessment, but the movement 

694
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,000
assessment is so much more than 
that. 

695
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,800
It gives them an idea of who I 
am as well. 

696
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,640
Yeah. 
And there is such a thing as 

697
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,600
compatibility. 
Like I have had an instance or 

698
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,840
two where I knew that somebody 
would be more compatible with 

699
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,200
someone else where I just knew I
wasn't the right fit for them. 

700
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,760
It's like speaking the same 
language, but one person speaks 

701
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:23,400
with a really thick accent and 
you kind of you can't quite 

702
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,080
understand each other properly. 
That's such a good description 

703
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:27,080
of it. 
I get it sometimes with 

704
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:28,520
patients. 
I'm not the perfect person for 

705
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:29,800
everybody. 
Nobody is. 

706
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,080
And in that instance, I have 
referred people to someone where

707
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,640
I'm like, I know exactly who you
need to work with and I've 

708
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:40,800
referred them. 
And the, the instances where 

709
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,160
that has happened, it's been 
correct. 

710
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:48,000
And so I don't, I also think 
it's important to acknowledge 

711
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:52,680
that that first, like I don't, I
don't sell anyone a package. 

712
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,080
I don't, I don't go, you have to
come in for 10 sessions. 

713
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,680
I just get them to come in once 
and meet me and talk to me. 

714
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,800
And through that movement 
assessment, I get an 

715
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,760
understanding of what it is that
they've been struggling with and

716
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:12,560
they get an idea of who I am and
how I work Because, and quite a 

717
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,200
few of my clients will will be 
able to tell you this. 

718
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:20,000
We'll do something like like a 
movement or a little breath work

719
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,840
exercise or whatever. 
And then I go, OK, let that 

720
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:29,880
download, let your body tell you
how it has received that thing. 

721
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,000
And they're like what you're 
talking about. 

722
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,840
OK, how do you feel now? 
Like a bit light headed? 

723
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:40,880
I'm like, OK, let's breathe. 
So it's it's getting them to 

724
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:46,960
understand that they are their 
own best expert because no 

725
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,080
matter how long I trained 
somebody for, I will never be 

726
00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,600
able to hear that inner voice. 
And when people start working 

727
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,080
with me initially, sometimes 
they haven't paid attention to 

728
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:58,920
that voice in years. 
They don't even realize it's 

729
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:04,600
still there. 
So it's about, it's just about 

730
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:09,040
create, helping them create that
awareness and then teaching them

731
00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:13,200
how to move and still pay 
attention at the same time, then

732
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,760
allowing something to to sort 
of, I like the word download. 

733
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,440
I don't know why. 
It makes sense to me. 

734
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:21,320
Yeah. 
Like feeling things is hard to, 

735
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:23,000
I'm going to say. 
And I find it's just an 

736
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:24,600
observation I'm going to make 
based off my patients. 

737
00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:26,080
Maybe it'll resonate with you or
not. 

738
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:29,320
I find there are two types of 
patients I see. 

739
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:32,400
The 1st I'm going to talk about.
They're the ones who like, feel 

740
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:33,760
everything. 
They have a very good, they have

741
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,640
a natural skill when it comes to
listening to their bodies. 

742
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:38,600
I would describe you as that 
way. 

743
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:42,800
You're very, very sensitive to. 
I, I think what you, you know, 

744
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,240
experience around you, I'm sure 
you experience within yourself. 

745
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,760
There's the other group, which 
definitely is me. 

746
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,960
I've had to go on a big growing 
a big dirty to get to Maria Bull

747
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,120
in a China shop like Labrador 
puppy. 

748
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:57,680
Just carrying on with things 
have pushed down those thoughts 

749
00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,800
and feelings so much because 
they they just like just are 

750
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:03,160
ball of whatever they are, you 
know. 

751
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:08,120
And it's really hard to find 
that type of balanced listening,

752
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:09,760
which is I think where growth 
comes from. 

753
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:12,080
So I compare it to parenting. 
Not that I know anything about 

754
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:13,600
parenting, but I do have two 
cats. 

755
00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,640
And it's really easy to be a 
kind of helicopter parent to 

756
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,400
your body where you're almost 
doing that anxiety listening. 

757
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,800
And it's also easy to be 
neglectful. 

758
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:25,720
Yeah. 
And it's really hard to be in 

759
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:27,720
the middle. 
Yeah, absolutely. 

760
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:31,040
I mean, I, I sometimes the hyper
vigilance serves me, but 

761
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:35,120
sometimes doesn't as well 
because I'm like is that am I 

762
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,000
feeling? 
Is it or is it? 

763
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:43,040
I don't know. 
But like a recent case about 6-7

764
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,400
months ago, I could just tell 
something was off and I, but I 

765
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,160
couldn't tell what it was 
because it was a new experience 

766
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:52,280
And I just kept, I just kept 
going. 

767
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:56,080
It's, it's, it's next to my ear.
I can, there's no pain, but 

768
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,920
something's there. 
And I'm like, is this my 

769
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,880
imagination? 
Am I actually feeling something?

770
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:06,240
And am I thinking about it so 
much that made myself feel 

771
00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:08,000
something because that's another
thing. 

772
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,680
So it was like, is this like, am
I being like hypervigilant? 

773
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,800
Is this or is this a thing? 
But it didn't go away. 

774
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:19,360
And I'm like, OK, well, what can
I do? 

775
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,320
So I ended up making an 
appointment with an ENT and she 

776
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:27,840
did a test and she was like, 
well, I don't know how you've 

777
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,240
been functioning. 
And I'm like, what are you 

778
00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:31,200
talking about? 
She was like, your vestibular 

779
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:35,800
nerve is so inflamed that I'm 
surprised you can walk in a 

780
00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:36,600
straight line. 
Oh my. 

781
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:39,560
Gosh. 
And I'm like, and it's the one 

782
00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:41,640
on the right. 
And I kept going. 

783
00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:45,600
I something is happening here, 
but I'd been to the GP and she 

784
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,760
looked in my ear and she was 
like, I mean, we can't really 

785
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,560
see an inner ear infection and 
it doesn't really look like 

786
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,800
there is. 
And it wasn't really until I 

787
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,760
went to a private ENT and she 
confirmed she was like, it is 

788
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:02,720
really bad. 
And I'm like, OK, so there is a 

789
00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:06,720
bit of wrestling with that every
now and again. 

790
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:11,600
But then if the feeling doesn't 
pass, getting a, getting a 

791
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,600
professional medical opinion is 
the next step. 

792
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:17,680
Absolutely. 
And at least for me, and I think

793
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:22,680
it should be versus the other 
side, if you're more on the 

794
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:27,480
hypochondriac spectrum and 
you're like running to the GP 

795
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:31,040
for every single teeny tiny 
thing, obviously that can be an 

796
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:33,240
issue as well. 
But I think it's just about 

797
00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:36,520
learning to trust yourself. 
And in that instance, I'm glad I

798
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:39,320
did because otherwise I wouldn't
have been able to deal with it. 

799
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:42,720
And yeah, it just makes you feel
a bit crazy otherwise. 

800
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:44,600
It's really hard. 
Like you talked about being that

801
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,440
person, that special percentage 
of a percentage who has every 

802
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:48,880
single side effect from 
medication. 

803
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,840
And the reality is that is a lot
of my patients, I have been that

804
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:53,880
like one in two million person. 
Yeah. 

805
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:58,720
And it's so hard because like 
there's almost an in a way good 

806
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,720
reason to get medical, you know,
the last thing to do. 

807
00:46:01,720 --> 00:46:03,240
If in doubt, please get a 
medical opinion, OK. 

808
00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:04,720
If you're worried, if I think 
please do that, yeah. 

809
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:10,520
But it can help sometimes to be 
able to take a breath or to have

810
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,000
a healthcare professional you 
can talk with about that. 

811
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,000
So sometimes my patients will 
come to me, we'll talk about 

812
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,360
things, and I'll say, look, give
it two days or give it one day 

813
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:20,800
because I can kind of give that 
type of perspective on certain 

814
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,360
issues within the scope of my 
professional capacity. 

815
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,840
But it's really hard to have to 
kind of triage your own 

816
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:27,720
feelings. 
Yeah. 

817
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:31,120
When you get weird feelings 
sometimes, like I am, I 

818
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,080
sometimes get peripheral nerve 
issues, like small fiber. 

819
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:35,440
Neuropathy is a technical term 
for it. 

820
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,720
But I'll feel like I've poured 
acid on my arm. 

821
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,680
So I was in my early 20s. 
Like, why do I have a patch of 

822
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:42,440
skin that's burning? 
This makes no sense. 

823
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,240
There's nothing there. 
You know, I'm looking at it 

824
00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:47,400
thinking I'm losing my mind. 
And I was, you know, I'd be very

825
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:49,800
careful with what chemicals I 
used in the house and 

826
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,080
everything. 
And it would just go away as 

827
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:54,320
soon as it came. 
It would be there for a day and 

828
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,840
then go away. 
And I'll never forget. 

829
00:46:57,840 --> 00:46:59,960
There was one time I was walking
with my mom before she passed 

830
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:01,440
away in a mall. 
And it was one of the last times

831
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:02,760
I ever got to go shopping with 
her. 

832
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:06,040
But there was this, it felt like
this burning patch of skin on my

833
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:07,880
thigh. 
And I would go to the loo, you 

834
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:11,200
know, the bathroom toilet and be
looking for something on my 

835
00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:12,680
skin. 
And there was nothing there. 

836
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,440
But it was so bad that I bought 
a new pair of jeans and had a 

837
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:17,840
borderline meltdown because it 
just felt like something was 

838
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,840
burrowing into my skin. 
And it was, it was nothing. 

839
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:22,840
Yeah. 
So it's it wasn't nothing. 

840
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,040
It was the way. 
It wasn't. 

841
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:27,240
It's not nothing. 
See, that's an example where 

842
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:29,520
like this is hard and I still 
have ongoing and. 

843
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,920
No, like you, you, we've become 
a bit dismissive. 

844
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:35,000
I think as well. 
We're like, oh, well, that I did

845
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:37,000
go to a health professional and 
they said it was nothing. 

846
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,760
And I'm like, OK, I'm a huge fan
of getting a second opinion as 

847
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:41,880
well. 
Yeah, we're third. 

848
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:46,560
I was third ABS No absolutely 
because like the even with my 

849
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:49,280
diagnosis, even though he gave 
me the fact as they were, he 

850
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:55,040
also I I realize now and I 
realized then low level, but I 

851
00:47:55,120 --> 00:48:01,160
am it's much clearer now that he
gave me all the preconception he

852
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:04,320
had about the condition. 
So like all the things that 

853
00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:08,280
could potentially happen, all 
the worst case scenarios, he put

854
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:10,840
them on the table. 
And it wasn't really until I 

855
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,240
got, I went to see a different 
endocrinologist and I showed him

856
00:48:13,240 --> 00:48:15,240
my paperwork and stuff. 
And then I started talking about

857
00:48:15,240 --> 00:48:18,280
what that first doctor told me 
that would happen to me. 

858
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:22,640
And he's like, no, no, no, no, 
no, no that that is like in some

859
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:27,240
rare cases this could happen. 
But I made that part of the 

860
00:48:27,240 --> 00:48:32,440
diagnosis and part of the truth.
Whereas essentially the guy's 

861
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:36,520
bedside manner just wasn't 
sensitive to my to the fact that

862
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:40,720
this was quite stressful for me 
and he just put all the worst 

863
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:45,960
case scenarios on the table and 
made them my new truth. 

864
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:48,880
And it wasn't really until I 
went and saw somebody else who 

865
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:53,400
was like, no, no, no, no, that's
a, that's a worst case scenario.

866
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,920
And that doesn't happen to most 
people. 

867
00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,440
Yes, sure it can happen, but 
you're already managing your 

868
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,960
situation really well so it's 
unlikely to happen. 

869
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:07,480
Yeah, I have to say I find 
healthcare weird in the sense 

870
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:10,040
that we have an expert on one 
side of the table, the 

871
00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:12,480
healthcare provider, the medical
doctor, whatever we have the 

872
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:14,840
patient on the other. 
And you know, Dave is a lawyer. 

873
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:17,040
So I've gone and had some 
exposure to the legal industry 

874
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:18,160
and how it works spit through 
that. 

875
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:21,640
And like if I was dealing with a
legal issue, I would never not 

876
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,480
have representation from an 
expert to communicate with the 

877
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:26,480
other, you know, person about 
the issue. 

878
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:30,000
But in healthcare settings, we 
have one expert, one non expert,

879
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:34,360
and we're relying on the expert 
to say things in a way which is,

880
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,120
you know, clear and correct and 
you know which the patient 

881
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:39,600
understands. 
And so many things like your 

882
00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:43,080
experience happen because of 
that power imbalance, I I think.

883
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:47,440
Yeah, I mean, my, my, my younger
sister is at Med school and she 

884
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,360
does various internships and 
she's starting to notice that 

885
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:57,640
she's also very sensitive and 
very empathetic to people. 

886
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:05,720
And she's noticing where health 
care providers aren't noting the

887
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:10,320
patient's emotional state of 
mind before giving them a quote 

888
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:15,040
UN quote bit of bad news or a 
diagnosis that that may be a 

889
00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:19,440
little bit of a struggle. 
And she was saying she's like, 

890
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:21,000
well, how, how am I going to 
deal with this? 

891
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,760
And I'm like, you are noticing 
it. 

892
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,360
That's amazing. 
And you're going to be a doctor.

893
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:30,520
So you could, you will be that 
Doctor Who will have that level 

894
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:33,000
of empathy. 
And she hasn't had like loads of

895
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:34,880
experience, as I make it sound 
really terrible. 

896
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,480
But she has had one or two 
experiences where she's just 

897
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:41,880
noticed that they just delivered
the news without first kind of 

898
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:50,000
sort of sensing the, you know, 
the, the patient's state of 

899
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,720
mind. 
I mean, it was in one case, she 

900
00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:56,240
said they didn't ask the patient
to sit down first before they 

901
00:50:56,240 --> 00:50:59,320
told them that there was a bad 
diagnosis. 

902
00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:02,720
So it's just little things like 
that where you're like, if 

903
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:08,040
you're going to get a get some 
bad news, which I mean, you 

904
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:10,400
might faint, who knows, you 
know, these things happen. 

905
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:14,400
But if you're sat down, that's 
just a better space to be if 

906
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:16,440
you're going to be given that 
kind of information. 

907
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:21,000
And I think I get it as well 
because my dad was a surgeon. 

908
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,880
You're, you are talking, you're 
going through so many people on 

909
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:27,640
a daily, weekly and monthly 
basis. 

910
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:32,440
And it can be such a tough job 
that you do have to 

911
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:35,560
compartmentalize some of your 
own feelings very often. 

912
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:39,120
But I think This is why when 
you're saying getting a third 

913
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:42,040
opinion as well, you know, it's 
just like just finding the right

914
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:47,680
health professional for you that
can give you the, the, the care 

915
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:51,640
that you need is important. 
No, absolutely your your story 

916
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:53,920
where you tried the CrossFit 
classes didn't have that good 

917
00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:55,480
experience. 
Then I can't remember why you 

918
00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:58,200
tried again or how you actually 
why did you go back and try. 

919
00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:02,480
Again, I just had a feeling. 
I just had a feeling because the

920
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:05,920
first time I tried, it was like 
an intro session with somebody 

921
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:11,480
and he was just, I don't know, 
terrible bedside manner. 

922
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:14,040
And it, he made me feel very 
uncomfortable. 

923
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:20,520
And I just felt really off about
the whole thing. 

924
00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:24,720
And then I within the 18 months,
I kind of thought about it more 

925
00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:27,200
and more and I thought it's a 
him thing, not a CrossFit thing.

926
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:30,560
So it was just like, he just 
made me feel really 

927
00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:32,400
uncomfortable. 
It wasn't that CrossFit made me 

928
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:35,440
feel really uncomfortable, which
is why I sought at a different 

929
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:38,640
gym and then and obviously 
different people and different 

930
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:39,640
coaches. 
And I was really, really 

931
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:47,560
fortunate. 
But yeah, it's it's, I just knew

932
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:50,560
that I wanted to try again. 
Had some reflection. 

933
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:52,320
I don't really tease that out. 
No, I am. 

934
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:55,000
I have told the story before. 
When I was 17 I saw a 

935
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,840
physiotherapist and they told me
I'd have to live with wrist pain

936
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:00,400
that I'd had since I was 11. 
For the rest of my life, I was 

937
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:03,600
sleeping in a brace at night. 
So I fractured my wrist and then

938
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:05,520
had pain and they were just 
like, here's your brace, get 

939
00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:09,240
out, live your life. 
Then they just left me to deal 

940
00:53:09,240 --> 00:53:11,560
with arthritis from the tender 
age of 11. 

941
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:15,440
And I saw a physiotherapist, did
nothing, ended up seeing another

942
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:16,960
healthcare provider. 
The person happened to be an 

943
00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:20,800
osteopath, but they did improve 
my symptoms and it was only 

944
00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:24,240
through pure like serendipity, 
just by chance because I had 

945
00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:26,560
been so let down and I I'd done 
the thing. 

946
00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:29,520
I had done the patient thing 
you're supposed to do when you 

947
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:31,920
have muscle and joint pain, 
which is I saw the appropriate 

948
00:53:31,920 --> 00:53:35,080
healthcare professional and then
it didn't go well and I was just

949
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:37,240
like, this is stupid. 
I'd rather just be in pain and 

950
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:39,520
spend my money on like chocolate
or shoes or anything. 

951
00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:42,240
Chocolate or. 
Shoes, any? 

952
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:44,320
Yeah, you know what to get me 
for Christmas. 

953
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:50,720
But for me, you know, as a 
person who's God had some years 

954
00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:54,000
now and some life like when we 
redid our kitchen recently and 

955
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:56,800
we got like 5 opinions before 
doing the kitchen. 

956
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:00,640
And for me, I love my body more 
than I love my kitchen. 

957
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:05,080
So I think that for me is just 
really highlighted the kind of 

958
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:09,760
lack of sense, I guess you would
say, towards how people treat 

959
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:12,200
their health, which is often 
people will do what I did, just 

960
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:15,360
get one opinion and 
understandably give us gospel. 

961
00:54:15,520 --> 00:54:18,040
Yeah, versus like, oh, you're 
looking for a kitchen or you're 

962
00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:19,840
looking for an accountant. 
Did you get 3 opinions? 

963
00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:22,200
Did you get 5 opinions? 
Like we need to normalize 

964
00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:24,520
getting more opinions about 
healthcare. 

965
00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:26,720
And I know it's hard. 
I know in public healthcare 

966
00:54:26,720 --> 00:54:30,480
systems it's not possible. 
And I get that always, but it's 

967
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:33,360
something that I hope people can
just take away from this because

968
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,880
you wouldn't be here as well as 
you are today if I can say that,

969
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:41,680
if you didn't go back. 
No, I mean, I always think maybe

970
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:45,600
I would have found it a 
different way, but ultimately we

971
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:49,000
we will never know because it's 
we can't. 

972
00:54:49,000 --> 00:55:00,800
But the journey has definitely 
been the thing that may like 

973
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:03,440
caused all the positive changes 
in the end. 

974
00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:05,280
Like I would not wish for a 
different body. 

975
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,840
I would not wish not to be hyper
mobile. 

976
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:12,080
I would not wish not to have had
the diagnosis because it taught 

977
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:16,040
me so much not just about myself
and my body, but also how other 

978
00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:17,880
people might feel within 
themselves. 

979
00:55:18,240 --> 00:55:20,960
And when they when somebody 
comes to me and says I'm in a 

980
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:26,520
lot of pain, I am there. 
I get it like, and that is why 

981
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:32,040
I'm so passionate about what I 
do as well, because I'm not 

982
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:37,040
coming at this from a Oh yeah, I
can kind of imagine it's a I've 

983
00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:40,080
been there. 
Yeah, I've, I've absolutely been

984
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:44,280
there. 
And you know, I when I'm being a

985
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:48,360
bit stupid and I'm not paying 
attention to to my stress levels

986
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:53,360
or I just load myself with too 
many things or I'm not paying 

987
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:55,480
attention to the voice. 
Oh no, I. 

988
00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:59,960
Find I find myself in a bad 
place and I think no, no, we do 

989
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:02,720
not want to be here. 
But I think context is 

990
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:07,120
important. 
So it is. 

991
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:13,200
It is with the. 
I suppose it's the same thing as

992
00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:15,640
when you think about what you 
needed when you're a child, 

993
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:21,480
finding ways to give yourself a 
thing that you didn't get as a 

994
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:23,800
child. 
It's the same sort of thing 

995
00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:27,680
where when people come to me, 
I'm like, what is it that I 

996
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:32,000
didn't get from the people that 
I sought out for help that I can

997
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:35,360
now give people that are in a 
similar position or that are 

998
00:56:35,360 --> 00:56:37,360
also in a state of discomfort 
and pain? 

999
00:56:38,600 --> 00:56:40,800
How can I create the thing that 
I need it? 

1000
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:46,800
And I think therein lies the 
unique position in having gone 

1001
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:50,400
through these awful experiences,
quote UN quote awful, because 

1002
00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:56,080
ultimately they led me to 
changing careers and, you know, 

1003
00:56:56,080 --> 00:56:59,440
going in a very different 
direction and just working with 

1004
00:56:59,640 --> 00:57:02,280
so many wonderful people like 
you and you know, all my 

1005
00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:05,960
clients. 
And it's just, you know, when 

1006
00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:10,680
you, when you, when I talk to 
somebody who says I was finally 

1007
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:14,920
able to pick up my, my 
granddaughter, there was no way 

1008
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:19,720
I could have done that before. 
I mean, that's just, you know, 

1009
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:21,920
it's just like. 
Do you cry happy too? 

1010
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:22,960
Sometimes. 
I'm gonna be honest. 

1011
00:57:23,360 --> 00:57:27,600
I'm O2 in my clinic office. 
Every day one person is crying. 

1012
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:29,520
Sometimes it's me. 
Sometimes it's a patient being 

1013
00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:30,640
sad. 
Sometimes it's a patient being 

1014
00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:32,000
happy. 
Yeah, To be clear, they're 

1015
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,000
usually not sad with me. 
They're sad about when. 

1016
00:57:34,560 --> 00:57:37,800
They've come here before. 
But no, that like the happy 

1017
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:41,400
tears feeling of like you've 
helped someone do something 

1018
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:43,720
which is just so integral to 
their like existence. 

1019
00:57:43,720 --> 00:57:45,880
You know what what matters most 
to them, what's nearest and 

1020
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:48,280
dearest to them. 
I have to say as well, because 

1021
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:50,960
you talked about kind of being 
in that space and getting what 

1022
00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:53,680
it's like to be at the bottom. 
I think, you know, there are a 

1023
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:57,520
lot of people in this field who 
are hyper mobile and who maybe 

1024
00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:00,680
get it from their perspective. 
But I think what makes a true 

1025
00:58:00,680 --> 00:58:03,360
expert, and I would call you 
that, I think you're amazing. 

1026
00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:08,920
But it's your ability to to get 
where people are at, but also 

1027
00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:13,240
allow them to have their own 
experience without imposing your

1028
00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:15,120
experience on them. 
Have I said that clearly? 

1029
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:18,280
Yeah, because it's a hard skill 
to do because I'm tempted. 

1030
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,120
When I see patients sometimes 
I'm like, I'm like, they should 

1031
00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:22,760
be feeling this in a way. 
Like I'll almost have that 

1032
00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:24,960
little voice where I'm expecting
something to happen and they 

1033
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:26,680
tell me something completely 
different. 

1034
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:29,960
To this day, I'm still surprised
by what I see in clinic. 

1035
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:33,160
And I'm just like, Alex, We 
shall not impose our experience 

1036
00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:35,160
on others. 
We must receive what they are 

1037
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:36,120
bringing to the. 
Table. 

1038
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:39,800
Well my I asked so many 
questions in my sessions. 

1039
00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:42,720
How did this feel? 
Did it feel like this? 

1040
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:45,640
No, OK, how did it feel? 
I'm constantly asking how 

1041
00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:48,800
people, what people are feeling 
and they're like, look at me. 

1042
00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:51,680
I'm like, yes, I'm OK. 
And I'm like, OK, listen, this 

1043
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:53,160
isn't for you. 
This is for me. 

1044
00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:56,680
So I can under so I don't make 
assumptions about what you may 

1045
00:58:56,680 --> 00:58:59,920
be feeling based on my 
experience when I learned how to

1046
00:58:59,920 --> 00:59:03,320
do this movement or when I 
learned how to, you know, 

1047
00:59:03,840 --> 00:59:06,880
understand how important 
breathing is in, in movement and

1048
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:09,120
that kind of thing. 
So it's it's, I don't want to 

1049
00:59:09,120 --> 00:59:11,520
assume to know how you are 
feeling. 

1050
00:59:12,920 --> 00:59:15,320
And I come back to this every 
single time. 

1051
00:59:15,920 --> 00:59:17,520
It doesn't matter how long I 
train you. 

1052
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:21,960
You are the one who will send 
something before I can tell. 

1053
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:26,080
You know, it's like you're 
moving and it looks perfect to 

1054
00:59:26,080 --> 00:59:26,960
me. 
And then you go, oh, yeah, my 

1055
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:31,200
knee really hurt doing that. 
And I'm like, yeah, why didn't 

1056
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:34,000
you stop or tell me? 
And that I, oh, I just pushed 

1057
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:36,320
through it. 
I'm like, OK, cool. 

1058
00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:41,080
Let's talk about this. 
So it's, you know, it's so I 

1059
00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:43,440
completely agree and understand 
what you're saying. 

1060
00:59:44,120 --> 00:59:49,960
I don't want to put my lens on 
their experience because they 

1061
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:52,360
may be similar. 
But at the end of the day, as I 

1062
00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:55,400
was saying, we're, we're all 
different and unique and we have

1063
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:58,560
things that we have in common 
that we share, but we are still 

1064
00:59:58,560 --> 01:00:01,880
our own individual, you know, 
living. 

1065
01:00:02,560 --> 01:00:04,240
Breathing bodies. 
Absolutely. 

1066
01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:05,400
No. 
The question, I was gonna 

1067
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:08,000
mention that at some point, but 
you ask so many questions and 

1068
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:10,240
initially it did bother me 
because I'm like, Karima, just 

1069
01:00:10,240 --> 01:00:12,800
tell me what to do. 
I do not want to have to think. 

1070
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:15,880
I do not have to have to answer 
your questions, but I have to 

1071
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:19,440
say it helps. 
It is the I always grow. 

1072
01:00:19,840 --> 01:00:20,720
I'm. 
I'm still growing. 

1073
01:00:20,720 --> 01:00:23,000
I'm still learning. 
Karima, you've told me that 

1074
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:28,640
you're doing a Move Along with 
Me program for 75 to +5 plus. 

1075
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:31,520
Can people do it if they're 
under 75? 

1076
01:00:31,800 --> 01:00:32,920
Oh, yeah. 
Sweet. 

1077
01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:35,120
Because I tell I have a lot of 
patients in their 20s and 30s 

1078
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:36,960
and some of them have different 
health issues and don't know 

1079
01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:39,440
where to start. 
And a lot of times the best 

1080
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:42,680
fitness stuff out there is the 
stuff that's targeted, you know,

1081
01:00:42,680 --> 01:00:45,600
60 plus. 
Focus on listening to your body.

1082
01:00:45,640 --> 01:00:48,680
Yeah. 
Well, my programs are generally 

1083
01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:53,160
called armored. 
So you armor yourself for life. 

1084
01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:58,400
My, my main program is called 
Armored for aging. 

1085
01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:01,000
And that can be for anybody. 
I mean, it doesn't have, you 

1086
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:04,320
don't have to be 65. 
I won't show you the door. 

1087
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:09,360
And I initially started it as a 
just an online program. 

1088
01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:12,240
And then I realized, actually, I
don't want to be removed from 

1089
01:01:12,240 --> 01:01:18,400
people, but I can't be coaching 
everybody who wants to to coach,

1090
01:01:18,520 --> 01:01:21,320
especially since a lot of my 
clients don't live in the same 

1091
01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:26,440
country. 
So I do work with people online 

1092
01:01:26,440 --> 01:01:28,880
and they, a lot of people who've
worked with me for a while, they

1093
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:32,280
do a program for them and we 
check in once a week and I make 

1094
01:01:32,280 --> 01:01:34,000
sure that they get what they 
need. 

1095
01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:38,760
But I have noticed in some of my
clients who used to do Zoom 

1096
01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:42,120
sessions with me in lockdown, 
because of the time difference, 

1097
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:47,240
is that there's just no way that
we can zoom all the time or at a

1098
01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:50,240
time that is appropriate for 
them and for me because it might

1099
01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:51,480
be in the middle of the night 
for me. 

1100
01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:56,320
So I'm launching a follow along 
program. 

1101
01:01:56,320 --> 01:02:04,120
So it's videos of me doing the 
workout and you're just 

1102
01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:06,320
following along and you can 
pause it if you need to. 

1103
01:02:06,320 --> 01:02:09,760
And we're just in the creation 
process at the moment. 

1104
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:14,520
But you it's, it's minimal 
clickage as well. 

1105
01:02:14,800 --> 01:02:18,640
You click on the link, you 
answer 4 questions about pain 

1106
01:02:18,640 --> 01:02:23,480
and energy levels, and then you 
get guided to the appropriate 

1107
01:02:23,560 --> 01:02:30,920
selection of videos so that, for
example, sitting and standing. 

1108
01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:34,000
Do you feel like you can sit and
stand without assistance today? 

1109
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:36,440
No. 
OK, then you're guided to an 

1110
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:43,280
assisted video so that it has 
sitting and standing in it, but 

1111
01:02:43,520 --> 01:02:46,160
I'm using something to support 
myself and I'm showing you how 

1112
01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:49,880
to support yourself. 
And I talk about breathing and 

1113
01:02:50,840 --> 01:02:55,280
it is completely guided by me so
that you feel like I'm there 

1114
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:57,720
with you. 
I love that and I love how picks

1115
01:02:57,720 --> 01:02:59,880
up on the dynamic aspect too, 
because a lot of people who are 

1116
01:02:59,880 --> 01:03:02,720
hyper mobile and you see me be 
this way, I'll come to the gym, 

1117
01:03:02,720 --> 01:03:05,040
be able to do lots of sporty 
things and be pretty fed. 

1118
01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:08,480
And then another day I will come
in and say Creamer, I'm not 

1119
01:03:08,480 --> 01:03:11,120
feeling it today. 
And so that dynamic aspect, even

1120
01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:13,000
though again, I know you're 
doing that for people in that 

1121
01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:16,080
specific age demographic, it's 
so applicable to being hyper 

1122
01:03:16,080 --> 01:03:19,200
mobile because people will have 
almost like chaotic bodies where

1123
01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:22,240
you don't know what you're going
to get on a given day and it can

1124
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:23,560
be hard to predict. 
Yeah. 

1125
01:03:23,640 --> 01:03:24,960
So I love that. 
I've got to ask one more 

1126
01:03:24,960 --> 01:03:26,920
question, then we'll wrap up 
because I know we've kept you 

1127
01:03:26,920 --> 01:03:30,560
here and I know you're busy, but
do you coach in different 

1128
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:32,520
languages? 
Because I feel like you speak 5 

1129
01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:33,840
languages for some reason. 
I've. 

1130
01:03:33,920 --> 01:03:37,240
I speak three. 
OK, it's two more of them. 2 

1131
01:03:37,240 --> 01:03:40,440
Fluently. 1 I'm a little bit 
broken because I am Syrian so I 

1132
01:03:40,440 --> 01:03:42,560
do speak Arabic. 
I just don't speak Arabic often 

1133
01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:47,360
enough that it's still fluent. 
So it can be a little bit broken

1134
01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:52,840
by but yeah, I do speak Arabic, 
but even my dad used to speak to

1135
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:54,960
us in German. 
So it's like this is not 

1136
01:03:54,960 --> 01:04:00,160
helpful, but yeah, I could, I, I
do coach in German a little bit 

1137
01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:02,720
as well. 
And like I coach my mother and 

1138
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:05,480
she, she speaks Spanish, English
and I speak to her in German. 

1139
01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:08,480
So it's, it's, and I have a 
couple of clients I coach in 

1140
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:10,680
German as well. 
So it's, it's just weird when 

1141
01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:14,800
I'm like looking for the word in
German that I have never had to 

1142
01:04:14,800 --> 01:04:16,880
use because I left Germany when 
I was 10. 

1143
01:04:17,240 --> 01:04:20,480
And, and then I'm like fishing 
for the, the, the movement 

1144
01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:23,280
pattern word in German. 
And I'm like, I just can't say 

1145
01:04:23,280 --> 01:04:25,000
it in English because I don't 
know what it is. 

1146
01:04:27,040 --> 01:04:29,640
Oh man, that's too funny. 
No, I love that. 

1147
01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:32,000
Thank you so much for your time,
Karima today. 

1148
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:35,760
I really, really appreciate it. 
And it's just been so healing in

1149
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:39,000
a sense, you know, to be able to
just connect on all these things

1150
01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:42,240
that we've kind of gone through 
together and in our own ways. 

1151
01:04:42,240 --> 01:04:46,040
And you know, I'm so grateful 
that you are here and I know 

1152
01:04:46,040 --> 01:04:48,160
thank you so much. 
And I know my my patients who 

1153
01:04:48,160 --> 01:04:51,160
I've referred to are happy and 
grateful as well. 

1154
01:04:51,200 --> 01:04:53,160
And I have to say that 
continuity of care, last thing 

1155
01:04:53,160 --> 01:04:55,200
I'm going to touch on continuity
of care is critical. 

1156
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:58,280
The fact that I they can refer 
to someone who can talk to me 

1157
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:00,520
and the patient, you mentioned 
teamwork earlier. 

1158
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:05,000
It is, I think, the single most 
important thing in making a 

1159
01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:07,160
treatment plan or strategy work,
so I will. 

1160
01:05:07,160 --> 01:05:11,320
Always say to my clients, if 
you're being seen by a physio or

1161
01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:14,720
an osteo or any other kind of 
health professional, give them 

1162
01:05:14,720 --> 01:05:18,520
my details. 
Ultimately, we are your team to 

1163
01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:21,120
make sure that you can do the 
things that you want to do. 

1164
01:05:22,240 --> 01:05:24,640
It's all well and good if they 
they go and have a good 

1165
01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:28,560
experience with them at you or 
and then have a good experience 

1166
01:05:28,560 --> 01:05:30,200
with me. 
But there's if there's something

1167
01:05:30,200 --> 01:05:33,440
that you notice about somebody 
that I need to know, but the 

1168
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:38,280
patient might not know to share,
then and then I won't know. 

1169
01:05:38,280 --> 01:05:41,640
So I have had contact with lots 
of other health professionals 

1170
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:45,400
where it's like, Oh yeah, I saw 
so and so and and they really 

1171
01:05:45,400 --> 01:05:48,240
need to pay attention not to do 
this because also sometimes they

1172
01:05:48,240 --> 01:05:51,120
don't want to tell me because 
they just want to do the 

1173
01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:52,800
workout. 
They just want to get on. 

1174
01:05:53,600 --> 01:05:57,120
And and I get that, but 
ultimately that's the thing to 

1175
01:05:57,120 --> 01:06:01,000
make sure that they can still do
the thing in two years time and 

1176
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:03,960
five years time, in 10 years 
time because the average 30 

1177
01:06:03,960 --> 01:06:09,600
something doesn't think about 
their 65 year old self, but I 

1178
01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:11,600
do. 
We're 50 years time, you know. 

1179
01:06:11,600 --> 01:06:14,840
Listen, I just, I just pulled 
that number out of the air so. 

1180
01:06:15,280 --> 01:06:18,680
You know, and, and good personal
trainers, good coaches, good 

1181
01:06:18,680 --> 01:06:21,800
osteos, physios, chiropractors, 
whatever, healthcare providers 

1182
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:24,400
of various kinds, they will make
the time to connect to people. 

1183
01:06:24,400 --> 01:06:26,280
I am deeply invested in my 
patients outcomes. 

1184
01:06:26,280 --> 01:06:27,880
You're deeply invested in your 
clients outcomes. 

1185
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:30,400
They will connect because 
patients are always surprised 

1186
01:06:30,400 --> 01:06:32,040
that I do this. 
And they're like, oh, you know, 

1187
01:06:32,480 --> 01:06:33,840
like, are you OK with this? 
Do you have time? 

1188
01:06:33,840 --> 01:06:36,960
And I'm like, yes, because I 
care deeply about your clinical 

1189
01:06:37,000 --> 01:06:39,160
home. 
So again, it's always wonderful 

1190
01:06:39,160 --> 01:06:40,960
to be able to work with you in 
that way. 

1191
01:06:41,040 --> 01:06:45,600
My love, Kareema, last question.
If you could turn back time or, 

1192
01:06:45,600 --> 01:06:48,120
you know, teleport to the past 
and tell yourself something when

1193
01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:52,200
you were at your lowest, what 
would you want yourself to know?

1194
01:06:53,320 --> 01:06:57,040
Just trust yourself because 
like, I knew there was a way 

1195
01:06:57,040 --> 01:06:58,640
out. 
I just couldn't see it, but I 

1196
01:06:58,640 --> 01:07:01,520
could. 
Like I knew it wasn't like that 

1197
01:07:01,520 --> 01:07:05,160
wasn't the end, you know, the, 
the pain bubble wasn't where it 

1198
01:07:05,160 --> 01:07:10,080
was going to end because I'd 
read lots of very, I mean, I 

1199
01:07:10,080 --> 01:07:13,440
read a lot, but I'd read about, 
you know, when people experience

1200
01:07:14,280 --> 01:07:18,360
a quote, UN quote rupture in 
their life, oftentimes that is 

1201
01:07:18,360 --> 01:07:20,640
going. 
That is one of the most 

1202
01:07:20,640 --> 01:07:25,000
significant periods of gross. 
And at the time. 

1203
01:07:25,240 --> 01:07:28,960
And if anybody, even myself from
the future had said that to me, 

1204
01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:30,960
I would have thrown them out the
window. 

1205
01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:36,440
But it's true. 
It it often is. 

1206
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:39,480
So just I wouldn't say anything 
more than just just trust 

1207
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:41,480
yourself. 
It's it's going to be OK. 

1208
01:07:42,480 --> 01:07:44,400
So yeah. 
No, I love that. 

1209
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:46,240
I feel like you'd say trust 
yourself and maybe give yourself

1210
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:48,720
a hug. 
Yeah, be kind to yourself for 

1211
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:51,320
sure. 
Karima, thank you again for your

1212
01:07:51,320 --> 01:07:53,600
time today. 
I hope to be able to have you 

1213
01:07:53,600 --> 01:07:56,440
back in future and I'm sure I'll
see you sometime soon. 

1214
01:07:56,440 --> 01:07:58,040
Yeah, absolutely. 
Thank you so much.

