Health Culture

03/04/2025

Your experience is your own. Your solution is your own, too.

02/27/2025

Recovery modalities are great but don't major in the minors

02/07/2025

Ron came in to work even though he had some lower back pain. Ron has been working hard long enough that he knows to separate the pain experience from a sense of danger.

We put the clubs in Ron's hands to decrease the weight he was pushing while keeping the intensity up.

Calling on the arms to do some work and adding a grip component allows Ron to load his back in a safe without having to move a ton of weight.

02/04/2025

So many new lifters get led astray. They leave the fulfilling, successful and rewarding path of the "fun" and the "consistent" because of sweet, tempting whispers about "optimal."

Optimal is for athletes who want to sacrifice their health (mental and physical) and their time on the altar for the sport that they love. Optimal is for athletes whose training goals are basically the training itself.

The rest of us are just trying to be healthy. The rest of us are just trying to have fun. And the beauty is that not only is "optimal" unnecessary for health and fulfilment...

IT IS ACTUALLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. Optimal is you staying consistent, reaching your goals and enjoying your life. Anything else is just the false promises that you find when you get deep into the weeds.

01/29/2025

I generally try to keep my hands clean. I don't really get into internet fights. The only time I ever took a swing was when I saw a well known figure in the strength and conditioning world insult Planet Fitness.

Because here's the thing: fitness industry must have a lot of gall to do this BAD of a job fighting the sedentary lifestyle/obesity crisis while insulting people who go to a gym that's marketed to be beginner friendly.

At the end of the day the biggest obstacle to getting healthy is essentially "gym anxiety." It may not feel this way to you but understand that a gym is nothing more than a building full of anxious people worried about the other anxious people looking at them.

Sure there are some gym rats and some old salts who feel comfortable and confident. But for the most part you're in this with everyone else.

So Planet Fitness may not have squat racks and deadlift platforms and all the toys that the athletes and the cool kids have. But at the end of the day its inviting people into the fitness space. The cool kids should really be embarrassed at how poor of a job they are doing of that.

01/26/2025

We are often told that we should sacrifice self-care and relaxation for the sake of exercise and activity. And it is true that a certain level of discipline and sacrifice ARE required for your health. Afterall, we can't get something for nothing. We have to be able to give up SOMETHING in order to prioritize good habits.

And yet, it seems that work is the untouchable, golden-child of our cultural priorities. Everything must be rearranged around our work schedule because God-forbid we alter the work schedule in order to be healthy.

Let me give you a real example: I am lighter and weaker than I have been in years. And this is actually appropriate. It reflects my priorities: 1) My family responsibilities, 2) the success of Health Culture and then in 3rd place is my physical fitness routine.

In fact, it should be noted that while I was going through the Fire Academy my fitness took a dive down to 4th place.

But I've recently caught myself in a bad habit: skipping my workout to get admin and marketing tasks done. Now there may be a voice in your head that says, "Joe, why would you consider that a bad thing. Those tasks need to get done!"

And they do. But here's the thing. I have a computer at home. I don't have maces, sandbags and dumbbells at home. I've recently started to have to play a game called, "Can I do this at home?"

Because in my prioritization of Health Culture over my fitness routine I've forgotten how to work SMART instead of working HARD. I can get on my computer and do the marketing or run the numbers after the kids go to bed. But after I turn the key and finish my work day any chance to stay healthy is gone.

We have to sacrifice and we have to plan in order to prioritize our health. Please don't forget that work isn't immune from these calculations. Your work to stay healthy, you don't stay healthy to work.

01/14/2025

This may seem like a silly photo and a silly post but honestly, that's because of something I've been surprised to see at a very silly frequency.

Here's a surprising (literally, I have been surprised by the frequency) occurrence:

"I have had hip pain for the last XX years and the [chiropractor, physical therapist, coach] wasn't able to make it go away." They show me their squat form with their toes perfectly straight and symmetrical and then tell me why they can't do it or why they can but it will be painful.

Then I say hey point your foot sorta in this direction. And then suddenly I'm the miracle worker when their pain goes away.

Please let me be the first to tell you that I'm not doing anything special here and this isn't anything impressive. But in the health and fitness space we get obsessed with these stupid, imaginary lines.

Your body doesn't know or care what a straight line is. Your body doesn't care what symmetry is. Everyone's bones are twisty. We don't have straight bones they all twist to some degree. Some people's bones twist more and some less.

So when we (as an industry) get obsessed with having people move along these straight lines we are asking them to work against their anatomy.

And then some day some guy comes along and says "what if your toes did a different thing?" And suddenly he's House M.D.

01/14/2025

05/04/2024