Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness artwork

Autonomy 🤸🍔✊ GMB Fitness

202 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 77 ratings

Autonomy means deciding and moving. Ryan, Andy, and Jarlo aren't here to shill for some stupid supplement company. This show explores fitness as a way to play your own game and do more of what matters, all based on decades of training, coaching, and clinical experience. And truly awful jokes. If you hate every formulaic fitness podcast, you just might be in the right place.

Fitness Health & Fitness Education bodyweight exercise physical culture physical therapy fitness movement handstands flexibility autonomy mastery
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Episodes

Training Around Minor Injuries

September 24, 2021 07:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MB

The most requested topic from a recent round of surveys, how to train around minor injuries is a real and pertinent issue for all of us at some point or another. Whether you wake up one morning with a crick in your neck or you twist your ankle while running, learning to train with limitations is a skill that can be learned. In this episode, we dive into what constitutes a minor injury, why it's important to keep moving, and how to assess your situation and stay productive so you don't feel...

Bored? Good. Here's Why . . .

September 10, 2021 09:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MB

"It's time to make the Donuts." In a few recent polls, we found that about half of you say you move on from a training program when it gets boring. Given that repetition is basically requisite to any physical training, we thought we’d tackle this topic and vouch for the grind of donut making. Boredom is part of the process. Whether you learn to get interested in the details or just accept the repetition and cruise through it, sexy results come from unsexy efforts. As do delicious donuts. ...

Bored? Good. Here's Why . . .

September 10, 2021 09:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MB

"It's time to make the Donuts." In a few recent polls, we found that about half of you say you move on from a training program when it gets boring. Given that repetition is basically requisite to any physical training, we thought we’d tackle this topic and vouch for the grind of donut making. Boredom is part of the process. Whether you learn to get interested in the details or just accept the repetition and cruise through it, sexy results come from unsexy efforts. As do delicious donuts. ...

Q&A-Hole: Not the Answers You Were Looking For

August 26, 2021 01:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MB

On any given day, we get dozens if not hundreds of questions on our YouTube videos, social posts, and via email. And we enjoy answering them because we never want you to get stuck or give up. Most of our answers have carry-over to whatever situation you find yourself in, so we thought we'd share the love. In this episode, Ryan and Andy answer a handful of commonly asked questions.  Some of these are about advanced skills and others are about how or where to begin. So whether you've been sit...

You're Not An Athlete

August 12, 2021 01:00 - 15.3 MB

Nike says that "if you have a body, you're an athlete." That's BS, and it can lead to poor decisions and wasted energy that don't benefit you. Of course, you may be an athlete. We've worked with clients competing at all levels in just about any sport or activity you can name. But the vast majority of people we work with are definitely not athletes. What does that mean? Are we saying they're not good enough? Serious enough? No. Simply that their lives don't revolve around their training....

You Are NOT An Athlete

August 12, 2021 01:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MB

Nike says that "if you have a body, you're an athlete." That's BS, and it can lead to poor decisions and wasted energy that don't benefit you. Of course, you may be an athlete. We've worked with clients competing at all levels in just about any sport or activity you can name. But the vast majority of people we work with are definitely not athletes. What does that mean? Are we saying they're not good enough? Serious enough? No. Simply that their lives don't revolve around their training....

How to Play with Yourself

July 23, 2021 01:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MB

Play is a topic that is often left out of the conversation in fitness. This is in spite of the fact that experimentation, exploration and going off script is at the core of many physical training disciplines—dance, martial arts, acrobatics, any sport you play. However, play is not just free form improvisation or what children do on the playground; it requires a foundation in what you are practicing. In this episode, we get into a subject that is near and dear to our hearts and some of our ...

Minimize Training While Maximizing Gains

July 15, 2021 01:00 - 42 minutes - 29.3 MB

Chances are if you like what we do at GMB, you don’t want to spend hours each day working out. Like us, you want to focus on just the essentials in order to help you better enjoy the things you love to to do like practicing your martial arts and being active with your families.  In this episode, we were happy to be able to chat with Philip Chubb, otherwise known as the Mindful Mover, in which we discuss how to minimize the time you spend training while maximizing the range of gains you mak...

Rule #1 (Don't Die)

July 02, 2021 16:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MB

Martial art has its history in combat, so as a company founded by three martial artists, Rule #1 (Don't Die) is fundamental to GMB.  If you die, you don't get to do anything else. It's over. That's the end. It might sound dramatic but self-preservation is key to making any kind of progress. While this seems like a fairly basic and obvious fact, it is one that often falls to the wayside when we start taking on new challenges. In this episode, we talk about how everything comes with a tra...

Raising Strong Girls, Part 2 (Juliet Starrett)

June 18, 2021 09:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MB

As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply. So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear ...

Raising Strong Girls, Part 1 (Juliet Starrett)

June 11, 2021 13:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MB

As a company founded by three dudes, GMB might seem like a very male centric company. But about half our team is women. The three dudes are married. Two of us have daughters, so raising strong girls and women is something we actually care about deeply. So we got in touch with one of the coolest, most successful and badass women we know: Juliet Starrett. She’s the CEO of TheReadyState.com, an attorney, and a champion athlete. She’s also a mother of two teen girls and has managed not to tear ...

No, "Prep" is NOT just a Warm-Up

March 05, 2021 08:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MB

We get it - you were born before the turn of the millennium, so much of your knowledge of health and fitness comes from the Jane Fonda Workout VHS and watching interviews with Arnie in junior high PE class. But you’re a grown-ass adult, and you’re still capable of learning new things. It’s time to learn how to prepare your body for a productive training session. “But I heard warming up is a waste of time!” I’m sure your buddy with the bad back who told you this helpful tidbit had your best...

Prep vs. Warm-up

March 05, 2021 08:00 - 17.8 MB

We get it - you were born before the turn of the millennium, so much of your knowledge of health and fitness comes from the Jane Fonda Workout VHS and watching interviews with Arnie in junior high PE class. But you’re a grown-ass adult, and you’re still capable of learning new things. It’s time to learn how to prepare your body for a productive training session. “But I heard warming up is a waste of time!” I’m sure your buddy with the bad back who told you this helpful tidbit had your best...

YouTube: A Love/Hate Story

February 25, 2021 23:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MB

Why buy a program when there are 50 billion free workouts on YouTube? Precisely because there are 50 billion free workouts to parse through. In this episode, we talk about the good, bad, and ugly of the free content on YouTube. We cover: what YouTube is useful for and its limitations the appeal of fitness videos how we learn by mirroring what we see  how that differs from training and true autonomy some of our favorite YouTube channels Learn how to use YouTube to help you make the be...

Beware of People with Easy Answers

February 18, 2021 17:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MB

"Just squat!" "Just do intermittent fasting!"  As sentient beings in the 21st century, we all have pretty solid bullshit detectors by now, but when we're facing challenges, it's still tempting to believe the easy answers. And why not? Mostly, they're offered in earnest from friends with the best of intentions. But sometimes, there's an insidious bias behind the rec. In either case, "just X" is usually masking a litany of gotchas and caveats that you should understand before jumping in.  T...

Hell Yes or No, Revisited

January 28, 2021 17:00 - 23 minutes - 16.3 MB

It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities out there. Decisions are hard, and we can't make them for you. We can, however, show you how we make a lot of our decisions. In this episode, we revisit the framework "Hell Yes or No," give examples of how to apply it in both your life and training, and explain how it can free you up from indecision, inaction, or overwhelm. Learn how to practice saying "No" so that you are spending time doing what you really want to. Support the show 👉 ...

Fighting Boredom in Your Workouts

January 14, 2021 17:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MB

"Boredom, I think, protects the individual, makes tolerable for him the impossible experience of waiting for something without knowing what it could be." Here's the deal: you will get bored. We all love that new-car smell and sense of novelty when we start something new. The first couple of weeks on a new program or routine usually feels like you're really making progress, but then the honeymoon ends, and you find yourself knee-deep in The Grind.  The Grind is the inevitably boring middle...

Programming & Fighting Boredom

January 14, 2021 17:00 - 17.7 MB

"Boredom, I think, protects the individual, makes tolerable for him the impossible experience of waiting for something without knowing what it could be." Here's the deal: you will get bored. We all love that new-car smell and sense of novelty when we start something new. The first couple of weeks on a new program or routine usually feels like you're really making progress, but then the honeymoon ends, and you find yourself knee-deep in The Grind.  The Grind is the inevitably boring middle...

When To Do Weighted Moves and When Not To

January 07, 2021 17:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MB

"Progressive overload" is a principle in training that says you need to continually add greater stimulus to an exercise to keep seeing a training effect. And it makes sense. To get stronger, you need to continue pushing your body. But the history of popular fitness has instilled a bias here that overload can only be achieved via a handful of training variables, primarily load and repetitions. So once we get to a certain point, we naturally start looking at adding weight to our training. It...

When To Do Weighted Moves and When Not To

January 07, 2021 17:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MB

"Progressive overload" is a principle in training that says you need to continually add greater stimulus to an exercise to keep seeing a training effect. And it makes sense. To get stronger, you need to continue pushing your body. But the history of popular fitness has instilled a bias here that overload can only be achieved via a handful of training variables, primarily load and repetitions. So once we get to a certain point, we naturally start looking at adding weight to our training. It...

Trajectory of a Fitness Journey

December 31, 2020 16:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MB

Everyone starts the new year with a slew of well-intentioned goals. And with goal setting comes questions of how to take the steps to reach them, when you'll hit that mark, and how to know if you're doing the right thing. In this episode, Andy and Ryan talk about ideals, expectations and reality, and how to honestly and confidently start or continue your fitness journey. We cover: why there is no set path and no optimal rate of progress 3 examples of where you might be in your fitness jo...

Redefining Your Impossible

December 24, 2020 16:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MB

If you've tried something new even once in your life, you might be familiar with falling flat on your face, possibly literally. In this episode, Ryan chats with David 'Jacko' Jackson and Tim Stevenson, founders of School of Calisthenics. They talk in-depth about how they developed their philosophy of "redefining your impossible" by exploring your physical potential through body weight training.   Jacko and Tim share their stories and thoughts on: why play might be more the most important ...

How to Practice Recovery

December 18, 2020 00:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MB

We get a lot of questions about Recovery which is not surprising, given how much information there is out there.  There's no easy way to cut through all the noise since Recovery is and should be subjective, but in this episode, we break down: why Recovery is not separate from your training how only you can decide what you need the importance of tracking your baseline common recovery methods and tools examples of when to do what Recovery, like any aspect of your training, cannot be coo...

Structuring Short Sessions (when shit gets crazy)

December 10, 2020 16:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MB

We've all been there -- schedules and routines change, and we can't fit in our regular workout. Rather than trying to stick to your routine amidst a big project, the holidays, or a busy time, tailor your workouts to better serve you. In this episode, we talk about: changing your mindset when your needs change specific adjustments you can make to your training how to plan in advance so your workouts help you focus examples of how to structure short, effective sessions  Learn how to use ...

Effective Strategies for Physique and Nutrition

December 03, 2020 17:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MB

Have you ever Googled a topic and been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of products that are supposed to solve your problem? Or underwhelmed by the lack of real answers? In this episode, Andy chats with Andy Morgan of Rippedbody.com about why helpful information doesn't sell, and how to figure out what to do based on your own needs.  We cover a variety of simple yet effective guideposts and strategies for working on your physique, including : why context matters when to use supplements h...

Easy Wins for Fat Loss - with Andy Morgan

December 03, 2020 17:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MB

Have you ever Googled a topic and been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of products that are supposed to solve your problem? Or underwhelmed by the lack of real answers? In this episode, Andy chats with Andy Morgan of Rippedbody.com about why helpful information doesn't sell, and how to figure out what to do based on your own needs.  We cover a variety of simple yet effective guideposts and strategies for working on your physique, including : why context matters when to use supplements h...

If You Can't Do It In Jeans . . .

November 26, 2020 17:00 - 33 minutes - 23.4 MB

You want to be able and ready, not just good at working out. Readiness means going beyond just capability so you can actually access and apply your skills and abilities when needed. Chances are, you don't wear sweats and trainers all day, so you really have to stop a moment and think about how your clothes limit you. That why we say that if you can't perform a skill you've practiced while wearing the things you usually wear, you can't really perform that skill completely on-demand. Andy ...

If You Can't Do It In Jeans . . .

November 26, 2020 17:00 - 33 minutes - 23.4 MB

You want to be able and ready, not just good at working out. Readiness means going beyond just capability so you can actually access and apply your skills and abilities when needed. Chances are, you don't wear sweats and trainers all day, so you really have to stop a moment and think about how your clothes limit you. That why we say that if you can't perform a skill you've practiced while wearing the things you usually wear, you can't really perform that skill completely on-demand. Andy ...

DOMS - they suck!

November 19, 2020 17:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MB

DOMS. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. You don't like them, and they don't like you, but if you're training your body at all, you're going to have to learn to live with each other. There's tons of myths about muscle soreness. Some people think they're the surest sign of a good workout (they're wrong). Others seem to think they indicate overtraining (also way wrong). While getting sore is a stupid thing to shoot for in your workout, they're also nothing to worry about. We'll teach you how to...

Balance

November 12, 2020 16:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MB

Balance is one of those things most people don't realize they can improve - or even that they might need to improve . . . until they start trying to learn different ways to move.  The fact is most people don't have a problem with balance so long as they stick to normal activities. But when you're outside your comfort zone, things change. Luckily, balance is very trainable. This episode covers our a simple framework for improving your balance step-by-step, with our favorite drills and techni...

All the Things Your Workout Leaves Out

November 03, 2020 17:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MB

When we think about fitnessing, a relative few activities come to mind. Weightlifting, running, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, etc. Why? Mostly because they're very efficient at producing very predictable results.  But they also leave some things out, especially: non-linear, off-center, and multi-planar movements continuing skill development Now, we're not saying you should quit using efficient methods just because they're reductive, but you do need to address those important areas. Th...

How Movement Helps With Anxiety

October 29, 2020 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MB

Anyone experiencing anxiety lately . . . ? Congratulations, you're human. The good news is you're definitely not alone. Studies show that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the US affecting 1 in 5 people every year and  that 1 in 3 will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Things like pandemics can lead to higher feelings of stress and anxiety, which can impact sleep, diet, and overall well-being. In this episode, Ryan and GMB Trainer Jenn Pilo...

What To Do After Elements

October 22, 2020 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MB

When people start with GMB, we almost always recommend starting with Elements. It's our broadest and most foundational program, and it's structured to provide a scalable challenge to just about any level. But what happens after that? This is one of the top five questions we get from active clients, and the answer depends on a few things. Many people repeat Elements. Some use it for recovery or warm-ups. Some people move on completely to other training. This episode goes over the best st...

Why Beating Yourself Up Doesn't Work

October 15, 2020 16:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MB

The diet world teaches us that beating ourselves up about food and our body is what "motivates" us. We've been taught that feeling badly enough will help us hit our goals. Of course, beating ourselves up didn't work the last time. And it didn't work the time before that. It's never worked. Yet, we still keep getting sold the same lie. In this episode, you're going to find out what the four levels of motivation are. Beating yourself up actually is on the list — it's the lowest level. If you...

Pushing Yourself

October 08, 2020 19:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MB

There's not a more clichÊ phrase in all of fitness, but here goes: if you want to improve, you have to push yourself.  Pushing yourself is hard, and it can be counterproductive too. In fact, we've devoted a lot of carbon dioxide in past episodes to talking about some of the ways pushing yourself - too hard, too often, or just in the wrong way - can cause problems. So consider this episode the balance to every time we've said "maybe you should do less." Here's some of what we're gonna cover...

Mind-Body Connection

October 01, 2020 15:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MB

'Mindfulness' is one of those words that can sound really out there, but improving mind-body awareness can have a profound impact on how you experience the world and your sense of security in your body. Jenn Pilotti is a GMB Trainer who's been coaching for well over a decade and just has a ton of education and experience under her belt. She's just released a new book, Body Mind Movement: An evidence-based approach to mindful movement, which is aimed at giving professional trainers the tool...

Why You're Eating (and why it matters)

September 24, 2020 15:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MB

We've all turned to the tub of ice cream (or whatever your favorite comfort food is) after a rough day. Eating to self-soothe does work. It's a normal and human thing to do. But when we get in the habit of using it as our only way to manage stress or emotions, we can start to feel like we aren't in the driver's seat with our eating anymore. In this episode, we explore how self-compassion means doing what matters to us, even when we are stressed and uncomfortable. Self-compassion is often ve...

Overcoming Tendonitis with Steven Low

September 17, 2020 15:00 - 1 hour - 51 MB

Have you ever felt limited by joint pain? The truth is, very few of us haven't experienced injury, stiffness, or pain in our joints. And unfortunately, many of us are given diagnoses like 'tendonitis' without any hope for recovery.  In this episode, we chat with Steven Low, author of Overcoming Gravity, Overcoming Poor Posture, and now Overcoming Tendonitis, about how to overcome tendonitis and tendinopathy based on the latest research and his own clinical experience. We answer questions y...

Small Space? Use it Well

September 10, 2020 15:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MB

With so many people now trying to exercise at home, we're hearing more and more often how challenging it can be if you're used to having more space and a specialized environment. But there's a lot to be gained from learning to use the space you have.  Not much room Bad flooring? Family or roommates?  None of these are deal breakers. This episode is focused on preparing the right timing, spacing, and mindset for a productive training session. While we'd _love_ for each of our clients to h...

Stretching and How to Make It Work

September 03, 2020 15:00 - 1 hour - 41.5 MB

You've likely heard a lot of different ideas about stretching: how it doesn't work, how it makes you weak, or how you'll hurt yourself if you do it 'cold.'  In this episode, Jarlo and Rose discuss and dispel myths and seemingly conflicting information about stretching, including tips for who should stretch, when to stretch, and how to stretch. We also cover: flexibility vs. mobility benefits of stretching, and how to maintain flexibility active, passive, static, and dynamic stretching ...

How Often Should I Eat?

August 27, 2020 15:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MB

One of the biggest questions folks have is about eating timing and frequency. How much does it matter? When does it matter? Who does it matter for? This is one of those topics where it seems like everyone has an opinion. This episode covers everything from intermittent fasting and two meals per day, booming now, to old school bodybuilding and five meals per day. We give an overview of how to know if you're hungry for a snack, or if it's just stress. On the other end we cover why you prob...

Rings vs. Bar for Pull-Ups

August 20, 2020 15:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MB

Which is better for pull-ups - rings or bar? As in most things, there's only one right answer, and it's completely obvious. Just kidding... we're actually gonna give everybody's least favorite answer on this one: it depends.  But why? What does it depend on?  If you're just learning pull-ups (going from zero to your very first pull-up), what's the best way to learn? And if you can already do some pull-ups and want to figure out the best way to continue using them to get even stronger, ho...

Training While Tall

August 13, 2020 15:00 - 25 minutes - 17.5 MB

Sure, being tall has its benefits, but when it comes to skill work certain movements can seem always out of reach, even when you tower over everyone else.  Ryan and Jeff talk about why some skills are harder when you are tall and how you can train toward them anyway. They cover common obstacles and injuries you may run into and how you can use the GMB Method and smart programming to avoid them.  Some things are more challenging when you are tall, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up o...

Put the Fork Down

August 06, 2020 16:00 - 18 minutes - 13 MB

If you're trying to control caloric intake, one of the most effective tactics we know also turns out to be the simplest: put your fork down between bites.  OK, that's it. No need to listen... Unless you want to learn: how it works and why this is so effective the psychology behind hunger and satiety signals how to get into the habit of really noticing how you feel as you eat If you care about any of those things, then please do listen, because you'll learn how to notice when you're ful...

Single-Leg Strength Exercise

July 30, 2020 15:00 - 43 minutes - 30 MB

When you think of leg strength, squats and deadlifts (rightly) come to mind. And if you think of bodyweight leg exercises at all, it's probably as a (poor) substitute. But very athletic movements happen with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Enter single-leg training. It's not just "something to do if you don't have a squat rack." This episode is about using single-leg exercises - some classic, and some lesser known - to strengthen your legs through their full ranges of motion. We'll...

Spinal Health Part 2 - Thoracic

July 18, 2020 02:00 - 49 minutes - 33.8 MB

In Part 1, we gave an overview of how the spine works and talked about the low back. Back bone’s connected to some other bones, so this time, we’ll talk about the thoracic spine and how to keep your back healthy and pain-free.  In this second episode on the Spine, we cover: why chronic pain happens more frequently in the thoracic and neck how posture and ergonomics actually affect pain how to figure out your "directional preference" to be more comfortable and get more done in your day E...

Avoiding Unconscious Eating

July 16, 2020 15:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MB

Everyone who's ever tried to work on their nutritions has had the experience of eating something and then feeling guilty because it didn't fit their diet or match their goals. Yup, it happens to us too. The thing is, we're complicated organisms, and we spend a lot of our time operating on instinct. We build up habits and routines, and we spend our days on autopilot, so should we really be surprised if we end up eating what we usually eat instead of what we know is best for us? In this e...

Pelvic Health

July 09, 2020 15:00 - 48 minutes - 33.7 MB

Until fairly recently, pelvic health was a topic that didn’t get a lot of love. That’s partly because it’s complex, and partly (sadly) because some of the issues are embarrassing for people to talk about.  If you’ve been concerned about your pelvic health (and you should be), this episode is for you. Jarlo talks with GMB Trainers and movement specialists JJ Thomas and Jenn Pilotti about one of the most important yet mysterious areas of the body. Points covered:  Understanding that the pel...

Protecting Your Pelvic Health

July 09, 2020 15:00 - 48 minutes - 33.7 MB

Until fairly recently, pelvic health was a topic that didn’t get a lot of love. That’s partly because it’s complex, and partly (sadly) because some of the issues are embarrassing for people to talk about.  If you’ve been concerned about your pelvic health (and you should be), this episode is for you. Jarlo talks with GMB Trainers and movement specialists JJ Thomas and Jenn Pilotti about one of the most important yet mysterious areas of the body. Points covered:  Understanding that the pel...

Mastering Your Core Development

July 02, 2020 15:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

This is gonna be the most annoying discussion of core exercises ever. A few things we're not gonna tell you: how many crunches you should be able to do how long to hold the hollow body or what the next progression is how many abs Ryan has What we will teach you in this episode is a thousand times more useful. If you wanna learn why almost zero training systems feature tons of direct core work, listen up. We'll cover everything you need to know to really master core strength for practic...