Anthony Gurule 0:09
Alright guys, welcome back to the lip out life Podcast. Today. Kendra Sato is joining us from sunny California. They still caught selling in California, right?

Kendra Sato 0:19
They do. And it’s been raining for two days actually Sunny.

Anthony Gurule 0:22
There you go. There you go, which is so funny because Colorado technically, I think it I don’t know if this is just a rumor, but it has the most sunny days out of the year, then I think most states, even the Sunshine State, Florida, which is nice and sunny today here as well. So welcome. Say hello to everyone tell everyone who you are, what you’re doing so on and so forth. Well,

Kendra Sato 0:41
first of all, thank you for having me. I was really excited when you invited me to be on your podcast. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a podcast and I haven’t been very many. So super fun to be here. And I’ve been a fan of your work for. I can’t remember how long it was I’ve been following you. But you put out really great content. So you should. Yeah, um, so about me been a trainer for 10 years and more on the functional fitness side. So I got really lucky when I got into this world. And I started to come up under, you know, a really incredible athletic trainer at a local school here in the area. But then he introduced me to Mike Boyles the world for a better world and never really had to learn from anybody that I later found out wasn’t as incredible as I thought they were so only got to learn from the best. And so here we are, that’s awesome.

Anthony Gurule 1:25
And then so your early introduction was to athletic training.

Kendra Sato 1:29
Initially, I thought I wanted to do maybe athletic training, because I grew up in sports. So I thought I wanted to stay as close to on the field as possible. So I took a I did an internship for the I did Sports Med and then I did human nutrition stuff. And it just didn’t work out like it was a little bit too reactive for me. Yeah. So

Anthony Gurule 1:48
yeah, definitely as I did, at CEU at CU here, I did my last year, I was a student athletic trainer. So I wasn’t nearly as involved as the, I mean, I say this with grace, it was more or less at times a glorified waterboy to a certain extent, but we got a lot of hands on training, right. But some of it, you know, we weren’t as reactive as like injuries happening. But the speed of like, you know, we had to get football team out for practice, and you had to tape a bunch of angles, and then you had to do a hip spike, and then you had to do this. And while that was fun at a certain degree, it wasn’t my it wasn’t my pace at all, either. I think it’s

Kendra Sato 2:22
it’s super fun. I loved being like on the ground floor with the athlete, and especially different ones, but kind of reactive in the sense that you’re reacting to injuries, you’re reacting to issues. And I just same thing with physical therapy like that just was potentially a path and like this, isn’t it for me, I need more involvement on the forefront and less cleaning up a mess afterwards, you’re putting the pieces back together as much.

Anthony Gurule 2:44
Yeah, and I love that. So that kind of segues into the topic that we were chatting about beforehand is kind of you know, what I had asked like, what do you feel people think that you do well, and or what you feel you do well, and or that you enjoy. So a proactive approach. And as we were stating, it’s like how do we integrate, I might be paraphrasing the kind of the terms that we had used, but integrate this quote unquote philosophy model into every day life for for anyone, so I’ll let you kind of, you know, take take it forward and like what, what are you doing from a proactive sense with your clients with your community with your platform? That’s

Kendra Sato 3:19
a loaded question. We have 30 minutes. Yeah,

Anthony Gurule 3:23
I mean, it can be as early as possible, but more so it’s just like, Hey, I like like, I’ll start for example, like, I Live loud. It’s like our goal is to help guide you through adventurous life you’re meant for now we are chiropractors in rehab providers. So we’re also doing pain management. But as you know, through everyone, like I’ve taken as many perform better things as you can, our focus is proactive to like anyone who’s coming in with is realistically unless you just injured yourself from a sport setting more appropriate, but from who we see, most people didn’t just injure themselves, but there was a proactive component that wasn’t addressed with right. And that’s Yeah, absolutely. That’s the key to the puzzle. Yeah,

Kendra Sato 4:01
I think so my approach is very inclusive in a lifestyle so I work with a lot more general population athletes than I do competitive collegiate or professional athletes. And I actually prefer it that way. I do love any athletes we have a lot in common as far as like mindset and realities and all that kind of thing and identities but I feel like you make more of an impact with you know, quote unquote Gen pop athlete and you know, when I got into fitness, I didn’t really like it very much in a sense that I was always very active, but it nothing called me as far as many hours in the gym. Like that was the last thing I wanted to do. So how I actually got into training I could hardly explain but I stuck with it because I started to understand very quickly that you don’t just exist in the gym to people and you’re not just there to make them sweat or make up or make your very you know, rarely do those things happen. Maybe not the sweat but the other two and it was kind of more of like wow, I exist in this world do help people have better lives and it has been this is really just the catalyst for that. You know, so it’s not you have to be a fit person all the time. It’s not you have to love fitness or fall in love with it at the activity that is more of my approach. So you know if being in the gym is only a tiny little supplement, that’s perfect. If you are getting outside playing with your animals, your children, your friends going on adventures doing, you’re helping people move because you are the one that has the truck, like that kind of stuff. Yeah, that all counts, that’s activity that’s a fit, active lifestyle. And I think it usually catches my clients off guard, when they hear that kind of thing. And they hear that I didn’t really have much of a passion for fitness or being in the gym type fitness. You know, so I like to level with people. And I like to figure out like, you know, from their perspective, what is this going to do for them? Are they actually here? How do we weave it into your life instead of I’m trying to shove it down your throat and make it you know, a big huge part of your life? Like, let’s see how it can kind of coexist with you in a little bit more of a welcoming and sustainable way.

Anthony Gurule 5:50
Yeah, that’s such a good point. I mean, and I want to percent agree with you on that we see we see Gen pop. And to be honest, I think it’s one of the more challenging population to work with, just from a mobility standpoint is in and I say, older, because everyone I’m saying is older than me in this category, although I’m closer to getting there, like my our parents age, right? Is because there’s so much impact because they they were thinking like I live life, and I forgot to integrate this into my life. And all of a sudden, like, things just started going downhill. And it’s never too late. But they’re such a fun population to work with a because they see the value of it. But they’re kind of like remembering, I’m like, Oh my gosh, this is what my life was like, and I forgot about it. And it’s just that small integration into it doesn’t have to be a lot.

Kendra Sato 6:35
And I think a lot of people are still stuck on I have to do a lot. It has to be intense, it has to be, you know, really tough and very kind of crazy, I guess for lack of a better term. And that’s very intimidating to step into and deterring for most of us, myself included, you know, so very early on, I was lucky enough to not have a background of being very passionate about fitness, and just be an active moving person. And seeing how it kind of kind of takes the limits off of a lifestyle. And that enables people to kind of get more off the sidelines and into the game, whatever their game is. It’s more impactful, and it’s more sustainable, and it matters more to them. Because, you know, good coaches understand has nothing to do with that’s not our show. We’re, you know, behind the curtains and somebody’s like trying to make it better.

Anthony Gurule 7:21
Yeah, no, that’s so I mean, I think I think was good too. And I don’t know, if you kind of have a similar conversation with people is like, I always use the term context, right? Like everything we do in here, it has to have some sort of context into everyday life. Otherwise, it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean as much for some it might mean more. But if there’s no context output in from a, which I know, kind of similar conversations, you know, people like Capobianco and Dr. Cody and things like that, right, as we allow the same conversation is, when we’re trying to implement a new a new movement, a new feeling a new stabilization structure, it’s like okay, well, when you’re doing hiking, moving a friend, whatever that is, you know, implement this and see how see how it goes. And then and then all of a sudden, your neurons start just putting those pieces together, and it has so much greater impact. Absolutely. What are some of the bias? I mean, I’m biased towards a few tools, what are some of the tools that you find is, as far as you know, lower? Now, I want to say this, maybe that’s an outright term, but lower barrier of entry, but making that barrier of entry into fitness and integration, what are some of the tools and methods, like for me, it’s kettlebells, right? That you like using that you have found to be really helpful for this quote, unquote, Gen population, and in the feeling in the in the problems that they’re having of wanting to do these things.

Kendra Sato 8:34
I’m a huge fan of kettlebells, as well, for so many reasons, I tend towards the more universal tools, you know, barbells are great. I’m also a huge fan of dumbbells. You know, I don’t shy away from weights, it doesn’t matter the age or demographic demographic that I’m working with, everyone I work with is going to work with weights in some capacity. And I do find that while initially very intimidating, when I bring out a big kettlebell or bring out some dumbbells or you know, anything like that, it’s really cool to see a very quick evolution for most people when they see this big huge weight, or what they think is a big huge weight. And their immediate thought is, I don’t know, she might be shooting for the stars here. And once they figure out how their body can handle it, you know, with the right form and the right foundation in place, it’s really incredible. So I really like using weights as much as possible, to kind of empower people as quickly as I can. Because the more confident you are, the more you’re going to be willing to kind of push the envelope a little bit. And then be more, you know, empowered to take on other stuff and be a little bit more open to what else can I do versus I don’t think,

Anthony Gurule 9:42
yeah, that’s a good point. I mean, we just using the term like, hey, let’s just try, right? Yeah. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. And then we know what we need to do, right? But if you just try with those foundations in place, it’s pretty cool to see people light up and they’re like, Oh, I did not think I could do that. Yeah,

Kendra Sato 10:00
Ah, that’s really the best part. And you know, to kind of backtrack a little bit like I never put a weight in someone’s hand, unless I know that they have the range. And they have the foundation of strength and understanding of have enough movement for whatever it is that I’m asking them to do. So I set them up for success, for sure. I definitely hedge my bets. But um, you know, I don’t really bore them with all these details. Like when I’m asking them to do a stretch on the foam roller when we’re starting to begin, I’m looking at do they have shoulder mobility? Does it go straight into their back? Do they, you know, have all these prerequisites? And then once I know they do, I don’t have to tell them that I can just show them. So, you know, it’s a lot. It’s some people come in, and they really want to understand everything that we do and why and I love that. Yeah. But if you’re reading the room, some of the people are not super into it. And they don’t need to know what they’re qualifying for. They don’t need to know what they’re, at the moment like not necessarily appropriate for. So I kind of figured out their foundational attributes. First, I build them up, and I never set them up for failure. But then, you know, they don’t need to know everything along the way, for the most part. And so when they find out what they’re really capable of, it’s pretty incredible.

Anthony Gurule 11:05
Yeah, that’s why a partially like, well, certain kettlebells, like I have, most of mine are rep and I’m looking at it right now is that’s kind of a small kettlebells you can’t always see the weight on it. So sometimes, you don’t even tell them. It’s just like, hey, I know you were able to do this last one, right? And I’m just gonna, hey, we’re just gonna go up one in there. Sometimes I’ll ask like, well, we’ll have a choice. I’m like, doesn’t matter. I’m like, Just do the things that we taught you learn and, and see how it goes. And then oftentimes, that’s when the big they’re like, oh, my gosh, that was way more than I thought it was. But then it’s also cool, because it creates so much confidence. And like, I felt like it was 30 pounds. But yet I did 60 pounds. Like that’s a big discrepancy that they had no idea of their ultimate potential.

Kendra Sato 11:46
Yeah, it really works your advantage to being in the US and most people don’t use kilos of a belt. It’s, like 24 kilo, they’re thinking automatically 24 pounds. Yeah. And then they get after it. You’re like, Oh, that was actually 53. And like, wait, what?

Anthony Gurule 12:03
I think one of the things too, when someone you know, is either looking for a trainer, or they’re trying to find someone who can help integrate this into their life, as they see people and there’s like, oh, well, you’ve been doing this for 10 years, like, I’m not going to be able to do these things. So can you break down a little bit of like, what your training looks like, and in in now, but also like over the years that got you here, because I already shared some nice people with I will say having some kids minds kind of going this way to a certain degree. What is yours look like? What’s been able to give you the strength, the capabilities, dare I say you know, what someone is consider interested in aesthetic appearance of tone and muscle, what do you do for working out.

Kendra Sato 12:50
Um, so it’s had this really incredible evolution, because for the longest time, I did not work out work was working out, I would just set up weights, I would break down weights, and then I would go play outside of did not like being in the gym any more than I had to be. So I literally did not do any formal workouts for years. It just didn’t hold my interest. I wanted to learn movements, I wanted to play with them. And then that was kind of it. And then actually, through the pandemic, so my fiancee is the lead at a facility nearby. And I could go in but only when there were no clients in there at all. So I’d have to go on at five o’clock in the morning and have to be done by six. Luckily, during a pandemic, without kids and animals, that’s a pretty easy thing to do. When you have responsibilities, you can’t go to work and everything else is online. So that was really the first time I’d ever been very consistent with working out on my own. And then I started to realize I really like if I’m by myself or with a friend or something, I really like to do strength training. So bigger, heavier weights, slower movements, a lot more breaks, not necessarily just sitting on my ass, just you know, if I’m doing deadlifts, then I’m gonna supplement it with something else like a mobility drill, or, you know, a press or something that’s slightly unrelated to the muscle group that I’m using. So I’m not wasting time, but I’m also not just hammering myself away. Yeah. And then I realized that I kind of hate doing cardio by myself. And it’s just, it’s the worst mind game I can possibly play. So, you know, I’ll go to kind of more hit or high intensity classes that do a little bit of like lightweight strength, mostly, you know, metabolic training type stuff, because misery loves company, and I just don’t want to be alone. And if I have a little bit of competition with myself, or we have our heart rate monitors on or I have a friend who’s pushing me, I’ll do a much better job than if I were by myself and I’d probably last maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Yeah. Yeah, that’s kind of the split now is during training and then I do a little bit of like the classes and stuff to just get myself through.

Anthony Gurule 14:55
So what are you doing? Do you have like a set amount of like I do three days a car Do three days or two days of strength, two days of hit or does it vary on the week?

Kendra Sato 15:06
It varies a lot. One of my jobs is pretty sporadic. So sometimes they do have to travel last minute, sometimes they just don’t have, you know, the energy that can be extended on workouts, and it kind of throws things off. So I don’t do well with structure and organization, but I don’t like rigidity, especially in the realm of working out. So it tends to work out that it’s maybe two days of strength training, three to four days in the classes, metabolic training, cardio conditioning, whatever you want to call it. And then I try to get my bet outside once a week, if not more, at least for a walk or a hike or something. Bike Ride, what have you. So it’s really just how I’m feeling. And I really base it also off of like, do I feel like I can take this on and do a good job? If not, I’ll find an alternative. Yeah. And what I mean by that is like, did I sleep? Well? Am I eating? Well? Did I actually remember to drink water? It’s not an easy thing for me to do. You know, do I feel like I can tackle this? And I’ll come out better on the other side? Or do I feel like I’ll be destroyed on the other side? And that kind of dictates my answers as well?

Anthony Gurule 16:14
Yeah. And that’s such a, I think that in terms of the integration to the Gen pop ideas, there’s so many elements, right? You’re you travel from time to time for work, me as a parent, other people as whatever that role is. And the term that we’re referring to is some sort of ready state preparation, right. And it’s integrated by a lot of great personal trainers and coaches and programs there. But that’s something we always try to integrate and tell people is like, hey, how do you know you’re actually feeling well? And I think this is where and I don’t know if you use it, because I think you have an Apple Watch. From what I’ve seen, right? Is it Apple Watch, or Garmin Garmin, right? So I was for a while looking at heart rate variability and stuff to try to see that. But it’s, it’s it’s intimidating, even for someone who me who knows a lot of that stuff. I’m just like, man, it’s a lot to track that stuff. But also then just trying to tune in. So this is where everyone else is just like trying to tune in. Yeah, what was your sleep last night, right? Like, our family is going through a cold, like kids are getting up all these things, I’m not sleeping as well. And so what I had planned today is not nearly what I had intended to be just based on that preparation. And too many people just go in and think and it’s just like, Well, I still gotta get I still gotta check the box, I still got to push myself regardless. And slowly, they just start beating themselves up. How do you? How do you respond to people in that way to help them better understand the physiology and everything that’s actually happening.

Kendra Sato 17:46
So it’s different if I have the control versus if I’m advising if I have the control is in someone’s under my care, as a client. And my number one job before anything else in the world is to keep that person safe. So if I know they’re running on empty, and they’re here to because they either mentally have to check the box, mostly have to check the box, want the time away from whatever it is the live server with them will adjust accordingly. So I may still have them do some strength work, but they’re not going to be allowed to do anything more high intensity, they’re going to be able to do a couple of heavy lifts, they’re going to walk around, we’re going to relax, we’re going to chat, we’re going to do whatever it is that they need to do. And it’s going to be really dependent on their capacity. You can also be very quiet. I have two former clients that just love talking about the day we had a yoga session, not a yoga instructor, but they came in so destroyed, and so over it that the best they could possibly do is be there that day. Yeah. And they luckily it was the end of the day, last session, it was just them and myself, we turn the lights down. And I literally just to I turned on my best version of a yoga voice, and we stretched and rolled for an hour. Yeah. When it comes to advising somebody, it’s I kind of, it seems like the what i The advice that I give them is not really things that they’ve ever heard before, because I get a lot of surprise, usually when I advise stuff and it’s, you get to cheat or do whatever you want, when you go to where it is that you’re gone. So a lot of people who ask or when we talked about this, they’re going to, you know, an orange theory, a local facility, or joining classes, they’re they’re doing this stuff in a bigger setting where they don’t have one on one attention. And then the message is kind of like if it means that much to you to get your booty through the door, and to go to the class and finish it. Then everything else is you know, play your own game. So the coaches are going to maybe recommend me weights, maybe not. They’re going to teach you how to do the exercises. They’re going to time you through whatever it is that’s on the menu for that day. And then you get to cheat your way through it. If it says 15 reps and you can only do 10 Just do 10 Yeah, and no, you know, like the only person it’s affecting is you but you’re actually doing more for yourself doing 10 Good ones, and you’re doing 15 shitty ones. You know, and it’s what’s prescribed by your coach is not prescribed for you specifically. So, cut corners really want to cut corners and just honor where your energy is. And if you start feeling better, you can push a little harder, but if not, dial it back a little bit. And then at least you got it done. At least you started and finished. But you didn’t have to destroy yourself to do it.

Anthony Gurule 20:30
Yeah, and I think what’s so interesting is because we live in, and we live in a hustle culture, right? And I’m super subject to it, right? It’s hustle more and more and more from this for that. And that’s still and this is, I think, honestly, so the hardest because I still struggle with it, right? It’s like, was my body really tired? Or am I just kind of, you know, not wanting to do it today, right? So you know, then just, hey, strap up, let’s go. But you have to enact in only comes I think the biggest thing is it comes with experience, right? So if you’re a novice, this conversation is applicable, but not as much because you’re still in this growth phase, right? Whereas someone who’s in the middle, where you have a you have some reps under your belt, and you’re trying to figure out what am I just lazy? Or am I tired? Because there is a time where you do need to buckle up and strap up? Because we did we did don’t do anything, you’re still checking the box. But that’s it. That’s a hard thing. And again, like because you’re gonna always get the questions like, Well, what about this? What about this complaint, what is all day, you just got to get more reps in, you just got to get more reps in and then you’re gonna know, oh, I actually am tired, broken down, whatever that is. It’s not me just being lazy. I’m like, legit, physiologically depleted. Versus there are times where it’s just like, No, you’re you need to Let’s go Come on. Right. And that’s, I think that’s definitely a hard a hard balance for for anybody, but especially the newer to medium experienced individuals.

Kendra Sato 21:57
It is, but I really liked the word you use just now. And it was depleted. Like anybody whether novice, you know, in the fitness world or complete expert, like we all know that feeling of depletion, that feeling of just like I physically just, it feels like I don’t have anything to draw from and there’s a huge difference between that feeling of being depleted and empty, versus lazy and tired. And, you know, I think it’s, a lot of it is the coach’s duty to explain that those are, those are cues for your, from your internal self to listen to, like, do you feel like you just if I’m asking you to push harder, you really just can’t do anything, you’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel? Or do you feel like if I asked you to push harder and was there with you, you’d be able to dig deep and go for it. And I think that’s the difference between, you know, whether novice or not like if you feel like there’s something there and you know, in your self talk, like, you know, there’s something there or you know, that there’s nothing there. I think that’s a really important distinct distinction to make between the two.

Anthony Gurule 23:00
And again, there are wearable devices, watches, heart rate monitors and things which can help because then some people are just analytical, and they need that kind of like, oh, yeah, I have an elevated heart rate or I know Pavel has, I think it’s a breath hold, you do like a couple you have like one or two inhale exhales and then it’s a breath hold, I can’t remember because I don’t utilize it where the shorter your breath hold time indicates that physiologically you’re depleted. But there are resources out there if people want those specifics. And I think what’s so cool is about all that is like I came across this and I cannot remember who the guy was, I was trying to find it. But it was on a quick just, you know, scroll of a reel, but there’s individual talking about priorities, right? And he used his five by five model, right? The five top five priorities in my life like health, faith, fitness, you know, whatever that is business, and then each one of those have a subset of priorities in order to make that top priority. worthwhile. So in the fitness realm, I’ve been trying to go through this myself, like, realistically, and these are supposed to be actionable, actionable items, right? So when you looking at health, it’s like, like you said, like, I’m trying to get in today’s week of strength training, three to four days of cardio outside a day waters of focus, right? So when you break down this integration into life, it’s not a lack of time, it’s a lack of priority and understanding based on an individual’s goals. Right. But for more for most people, when they’re struggling to get it into their life, I was like, Hey, let’s prioritize, check in a few boxes, right? So when you’re talking about being depleted, I was like, just go check the box, like, get your ass there. It doesn’t matter if you are x, y, do it as best as you will. It’s just like, just go check the box. Don’t kill yourself, and then tell me how you feel the next day. More times than not they’re like so much better. Whereas focus of like checking every single possible thing that I can every single day because that’s a recipe for thinking fast.

Kendra Sato 24:51
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that people need to be able to it seems like there’s this weird expectation that There’s a certain duration and intensity to workouts for them to count. You know, if I moved for 10 minutes a day, and I had a really work heavy day where I was just kind of stuck in front of a computer for most of the time, and I did that 10 minutes of intentional movement, or just went outside for a little bit and just walked up and down my street, and that was it, that counts, that’s checking the box, that’s really, really awesome stuff and getting vitamin D and getting fresh air and moving my hips. Like, there’s so much that goes into that. But it’s not really celebrated in the current landscape. And I would like to see more of that. Also, like if I just, you know, if I did make it to class, and I knew that it wasn’t going to be a great day, and I made it through as much as I could. And I did realize halfway through like, oh, I can’t really push it, I have nothing else to give. And I just kind of sat on the bike for a little bit, or I’m an adult, I can leave whenever I want. I just do what I, you know, everything I possibly could and I decided like, Hey, this is it. I got nothing left and I proud of myself for coming. I gave it my all I’m done. I can go, yeah, it’s not gonna ruin anyone’s day. I’m not, you know, needing permission from anybody other than myself. I can just excuse myself, and I’m done for the day. And that’s good.

Anthony Gurule 26:19
Well, and that’s such a big thing, too, right? You’re in this for you. You’re not in it for anybody. Yeah. You don’t know, the coaches or anybody anything. Right? So as we’re wrapping up, what are because obviously, some of these people are listening, they’re not gonna be able to work with you one on one, whatever that CCAP pastor situation might be, or they’re interested in finding somebody, when you’re talking with someone who’s on the cusp, and really interested of this integration model of how do I fit it into my life? What are either some of the questions or ideas you prompt someone to think about just to help them kind of, you know, find that path or direction? So like, for instance, I might be like, well, what are some of the things you actually enjoy doing? Have you ever used dumbbells you know, about dumbbells you know about this? Or could it be like, hey, I want you to start thinking about, it’s hard to set goals when you don’t really know how to integrate it, right? So is there any kind of prompt people to think about or maybe process through in order to find either the gym, or the facility or the coach to work with?

Kendra Sato 27:19
There’s a couple of different things I would say, when I’m working with someone, and, you know, especially right now it’s December, we’re moving into holidays, Soon thereafter, we’re going to be moving into everybody’s resolution of losing 15 pounds, right? That’s probably going to die by February 1. Because people don’t really get the opportunity to think very much about their why their deep seated, why and I call it more of an anchor than a why. So what I mean by that is, when you make a resolution, that’s something along the lines of I want to lose 15 pounds this year, because I want to look better. Well, that’s not really the anchor, usually, you have to ask the same question or that ask the question, What’s your why? Or why are you here? Why is this important? And then you ask why five more times past that. And this is something that precision Nutrition has taught me. And once you keep digging, digging, digging, then you find out like, Oh, I feel like when I’m lighter and leaner, I stand taller, I walk through rooms with more confidence, I feel better in life, I feel better at work, I feel better. You know all these things. That’s more of a deep seated why. So that would be the first step. And that doesn’t mean that that translates directly to weight training, it doesn’t mean that that translates directly to running or anything else. It just means having a healthier lifestyle gets you this thing. So this is what really means something to you, outside of that you need to find. So fitness is a very weird world where everyone’s kind of expected to know what to do, which blows my mind. We expect you Oh, just do this. Oh, this is super simple. Oh, follow along. It’s like, are you serious? Why do we think people like quit so fast and get so overwhelmed and are completely intimidated because the expectation is completely unrealistic. And a lot of professionals are asking people to be savvy and something that they’ve been studying and they’ve been immersed in, when they’re not when their audience could possibly care less. So I think when you’re looking for someone to follow, learn from be trained by jump in classes with whatever the case may be, find someone you’re comfortable asking questions, and getting really good answers that make sense to you. So it’s very easy, and I still do this too, in realms that are not fitness. If I ask a question and I get an answer. I’m like, okay, cool. And then two seconds later, I’m like, that didn’t make any sense at all. But instead of going back and advocating, like whoo, can you explain it to me again, or say it differently or give me an example or two? Are you really good with analogies or metaphors? because I don’t get it. Yeah, that’s hugely important. If you’re with somebody who expects a certain level of proficiency, and you’re not there, that’s your cue to find somebody else. Yep. And then to find someone who is humble enough to not always have all the answers and give you, you know, smoke when you’re asking for a real. So having a coach who has an air of confidence, but also, humility is huge. Go into the biggest, baddest person who seems like they have every single answer all the time, they probably don’t. Yeah, and they’re probably not wise or safe enough to figure something out with you as an individual, to keep you on the right path. So it’d be another one just like, find someone you’re comfortable with, you can ask a lot of questions, even if you feel like they’re silly. You should never be meant to feel like your questions are done. Yeah. You know, and then find if you want empowerment, find somebody who’s going to help you learn in the long run. Versus you need me. Yeah, gotta be, you know, if you want it to be sustainable, and in your life, you can remember Oh, yeah, okay. So my coach said that, it’s, you know, if I have a heavy workday, I could maybe just do five squat. And he said, my squats are really good. So we’re just gonna do that. And then you have ownership over it, versus someone who’s making you feel like, you need all the bells and whistles you need their equipment, you need their space you need, you can’t really do anything without them. So find someone who can help you weave it into your life. And it doesn’t always have to be fitness movement related. It can also be drinking water, it can be being mindful before bed, or spending some time outside every day, or making sure that you, you know, have something green on your plate always. It can be just about anything that aids in a healthy lifestyle. Just as long as it’s something that is interesting and exciting to us as an individual. So that’s another, I think the last thing I would say is when I’m talking to clients about maybe how we can integrate better habits into their life, or my family or somebody who’s wanting to do something better for themselves like, well, what’s most exciting to you? Maybe they did see an Instagram ad with sandbags, and they thought they were the coolest thing ever. I want to learn how to use sand bags. Awesome. Nobody will use that we’ll start there. Yeah, my favorite tool in the whole world, they do love it. But cool. That’s what you’re excited about. That’s where we’re gonna go. Or I’m really good at eating vegetables. I’m not so great at eating protein. But I do love it. I just don’t really think about it, or I don’t know much about it. Like, cool. We’ll teach you where you can put protein into your meals or snacks or whatever it is that we just find things that like mean something to the person right now. And then we just build one thing at a time.

Anthony Gurule 32:52
That’s probably you wrote context and relevance, right? Yep. I love it. I’m working with I always need to ask this. I got to get it in right. Where can people find you? What’s best if they wanted to reach out with you connect? Are you taking on clients, you do remote coaching? Is it only in person?

Kendra Sato 33:10
No, I am. I am taking on clients, it is going to be remote for the most part unless someone listening happens to be in Santa Cruz area. So you can find me on social media. My handle is just my name at Kendra Sato. And then I also have a website that I’m constantly working on and building but I do now have a training page. So it’s a little bit about me a little bit about my credentials, and a little translation, my credentials. And then there’s a tab that you can click on that actually just emails me directly. So

Anthony Gurule 33:40
yeah, perfect. Yeah, well, I had a great time talking to you. I think that’s such a ton of great information. Again, this is such such important what we’d see as like nuggets of information but can be profound for each and every one of you guys. So if you enjoy it, please share it with someone else you know might be on honestly the struggle bus but the figuring figuring it all out on how to actually live. So thanks again and look forward to connecting again soon.

Kendra Sato 34:09
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Anthony Gurule 34:10
All right. We’ll talk soon. Okay,

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Anthony Gurule 0:10
All right, we’re gonna jump right into today’s episode. Today’s episode is about the length tension relationship. Now, for some of you might, you might be thinking, wow, how is this important? What is this apply to me? Well, to me, this is actually a very important piece of the puzzle when we’re dealing with rehab and recovery that most people aren’t talking about. And this really helps you unlock the knowledge about how your body moves, and operates, especially from just a backing up, especially from just a movement perspective, right. So getting right into it length tension relationship, what that means is the muscle the our muscle fibers generate tension, right, they get tighter when you ask them to work. Now, here’s something important to always note is a muscle can only pull, right, we oftentimes will look at like a pushing motion, even like a squat, like I’m pushing the ground away, your muscle is lengthening as you push away from something it is it is shortening, and that in turn is pulling, that is pulling a body part or another joint or another bone in order to elicit movement.

Anthony Gurule 1:19
Now, what’s important to note about that is there is a position in which the muscle belly, the belly is like the middle part of the muscle, right where most of the muscle fibers are. And in turn, this also is in relationship to the tendon which attaches to the bone. But there is a position in which the muscle belly can generate the most amount of force. And and it’s not, we can’t say it’s like oh, and it’s X amount of length, or whatever that is, right. It’s it’s it’s it’s an inherent thing that is felt and developed throughout your body. And it can change because you can get stronger in positions of shorter or longer positions, right in relationship to the to the muscle length. But more importantly, what we’re looking for is how can you better understand this to help you with leverage? Now leverage is the name of the game when it comes to resistance training, right? Your ability to leverage right to move something allows you to get stronger, the more weight you can move or leverage, then the more adaptation you can have.

Anthony Gurule 2:28
Now that being said, too, we can use the leverage. And the same, the same concept of stretched, the stretch length tension relationship, to maybe elicit more strength, right, if I can generate tension in a muscle belly, that’s longer can I make it stronger in that longer position. Now this is also important because we talk about in previous episodes, as indicated, in alluding to this episode of How length tension relationship can improve shoulder pain. This is also true for like lower back pain, right? When we’re dealing with disc injuries and things like that we’re looking at the muscles are oftentimes in a hyper spasm short position, because they don’t want they don’t want the the joints, the the spine to move because that might elicit more pressure on a disc. And so what happens is they become locked down in tight and their tension is only then generated in a short position. And then when we ask them to elongate to move and trade create tension in a long position, they don’t know how to do it. And sometimes that creates spasm, potential muscle injuries and or they buckle fail and fatigue, which then puts more pressure onto the lower back.

Anthony Gurule 3:37
So understanding the length tension relationship allows you to create this framework of like, okay, well, I feel like I have the most control and leverage within this range of motion. Right now, it’s good because we want to build on that. And then as we build on that we can we can expand upon that. And this is also especially true as we talked about the shoulder, the shoulder while we want it to be strong in various positions. It is strongest in certain positions based on this length tension relationship of having the rotator cuff, being able to control where our shoulder is and how it operates. So when we’re dealing with rehab, rehab, rehab is strength training in the presence of pain so you’re still doing all the things that you should and could be able to do just maybe slightly modified, regressed or lateral laterally changed. But what we’re doing is we’re changing it ever so slightly because there is pain. We don’t want to elicit more pain we’re not trying to push and work through pain, but at the same time we appreciate pain and when we change the the our orientation and position then we’re able to influence the length tension relationship to allow you to generate good healthy tension without eliciting or maybe triggering pain.

Anthony Gurule 4:49
So in my mind, this is a is a is a critical component to the rehab and recovery process. We’re working within a maybe a country rolled a range of motion or a controlled position for this reason. For this reason, it also helps you change how you’re loaning other joints that might be angry, right? Because the muscles are more in control. Or let’s say for instance, you’re dealing with patellar tendinopathy. Right or patellar. tendonitis, right. And we’re doing box squats, we’re controlling range of motion and depth. So we can still load the tendon to create adaptation, and change and improve that tendon. But at the same time, we’re not going too far that might be pulling on that, on that inflamed tendon, or possibly muscle belly or tendon tear, right. So this is, in my mind, a really critical component of the recovery and rehab process, that is not being talked about enough, because we just assume, Oh, you just if it hurts, just don’t do it. Right, we need to maximize on this, we can still find ways to load in in elicit adaptation in response, we just have to know what positions, depth and variables to manipulate and change. So if you feel like you’re kind of just honestly just stuck, you’re not getting a lot out of your movements, or you feel like you’re really limited because because of pain, or because of what someone told you to do. I promise you, there’s definitely ways for us to start progressing.

Anthony Gurule 6:16
You’re planning your program. And oftentimes, you know, when we work with people from a remote setting, or in person, we’re just going through their programming in their planning, right? So if someone’s at a gym, or they’re doing a group class, or even we’ve had people that have, they’re seeing PTS because they want to go through insurance, and they’re getting a lot from it, but yet at the same time, they know they’re not good enough. We help them hey, you let me see your PT program, right. And so we’ll do consultations, we’d say okay, well with this program, I think you’re in the right direction. But I would do this this in this this way, right. So whether it’s us helping you redefine your PT program, whether it’s us helping you with your current group training or your customized programming, helping you change and look at what you’re doing, so that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we can keep doing everything, but sometimes just small modifications of changing angles, levers positions, length tension relationships, will open up better opportunities for you to maintain everything that you’re doing, but not regress due to triggers and flare ups of the pain that you might be experiencing. So I hope this was super helpful for you guys. Again, please like share, comment, subscribe, help us get this word out to other people so that we can help others just like you live a loud, adventurous life. Thanks for tuning in guys Live Loud.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai