Ben Braverman dropped from 240 pounds and a couple of prescriptions to a sub-3:40 marathon, and he says the real transformation happened somewhere between his ears.

Ben joins Dr. Andrew Fix to talk about what actually changes when someone moves from the far end of the wellness spectrum toward something closer to optimization. His story starts with running for beginners in its truest form: a guy on a treadmill who couldn’t run a mile, slowly building toward a marathon a few years later. The physical numbers are real: weight loss, a faster marathon, and blood pressure readings that finally started moving in the right direction. But Ben keeps circling back to something harder to quantify. He calls it mental clarity, the sense that decisions got easier, stress got more manageable, and his work and relationships improved almost as a side effect of taking care of his body.

What does it actually feel like to operate without a constant mental fog? And how much of that fog do most people simply accept as normal because they’ve never known anything else?

The two also dig into why personal growth rarely moves in a straight line. Ben’s second year of running was slower than his first, and a coach’s advice to celebrate small wins kept him moving forward when the personal records stopped coming. Andrew frames health less as a finish line and more as seasons of pushing and pulling back, a pattern borrowed from how elite athletes train and recover. Underneath all of it sits one quiet but stubborn idea: consistency, not intensity, is what actually moves people from the left side of the spectrum to the right. The conversation touches on nutrition, sleep, and the discomfort that seems to accompany any real change, landing on a simple idea: the gap between feeling okay and feeling genuinely well might be smaller than most people think.

Quotes

• “For someone that’s never really felt fit, you’re always a little tired because you’re eating poorly. You’re always a little fatigued.” (16:07 | Ben Braverman)
• “You don’t need to be running forty, fifty, sixty miles a week, lifting four to five times a week, cold plunging five times a week, hot yoga three times a week…If you get out there and you run for 30 minutes four times a week, and getting some resistance training two times a week, you probably will see changes if you’re on that left side of the spectrum.” (23:41 | Ben Braverman)
• “If you don’t have a coach, you should. I would give it a shot. If you’re trying to get faster or just trying to accomplish something, it’s helpful to have that expert.” (50:42 | Ben Braverman)
• “I feel like I process stress better. And I think that’s a byproduct of mental clarity. Being able to process the down days.” (43:41 | Ben Braverman)
• “If you know somebody that’s struggling with fitness, like I was on the left side of the spectrum, send them this pod, because you can transform even much later in life.” (53:55 | Ben Braverman)

Connect with Ben Braverman:

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn 

The In Good Order Podcast with Ben Braverman

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The post 232. The Ripple Effect of Fitness | Ben Braverman appeared first on Physio Room.

One of the hottest times of the year is here, and the sunshine just hits differently during the summer months.

Between longer days, outdoor workouts, hiking, running, travel, and busy schedules, summer often means more time spent being active. But as temperatures rise, staying properly fueled and hydrated becomes even more important.

Under-fueling and dehydration can lead to increased soreness, slower recovery, reduced performance during physical therapy and daily activities, and lower energy levels. Simply put, not giving your body what it needs can leave you feeling more tired and run down than you actually are.

The good news? A few simple nutrition habits can help you stay energized, recover well, and make the most of your summer.

Prioritize Hydration

Staying hydrated is always important, but hot weather and increased activity can cause your body to lose fluids more quickly.

Make water a regular part of your day rather than waiting until you feel thirsty. Depending on your activity level, how much you sweat, and the amount of time you spend outdoors, electrolytes may also be helpful.

Hydration doesn’t always have to come from your water bottle, either. Many summer foods contain water and can contribute to your overall fluid intake.

For a refreshing afternoon snack, try making homemade popsicles with whole fruit, yogurt, or freshly pressed juice. They can be an easy and enjoyable way to cool down while adding additional nutrients to your day.

Eat Enough to Support Your Activity

Longer days and warmer weather often mean more opportunities to move.

Whether you’re running, hiking, biking, strength training, attending physical therapy, or simply spending more time outside, your body needs enough energy to support those activities.

Not eating enough can affect:

• Energy levels
• Workout performance
• Muscle recovery
• Soreness
• Overall mood and focus

Calories aren’t something your body simply “burns off.” They’re the energy your body uses to move, recover, heal, and prepare for whatever comes next.

Don’t Forget About Protein

Protein plays an important role in muscle repair and recovery, making it especially valuable for active individuals.

Try incorporating a source of protein throughout the day rather than relying on one large serving at dinner.

Summer-friendly protein options might include:

• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Eggs
• Chicken or turkey
• Fish
• Beans and lentils
• Smoothies with a protein source

After physical activity, pairing protein with carbohydrates can be a simple way to support recovery and replenish energy stores.

Choose Light, Easy-to-Digest Meals

Hot weather can sometimes reduce appetite, making large or heavy meals less appealing.

Instead of skipping meals altogether, try choosing lighter foods that are easier to eat and digest.

Smoothies, yogurt bowls, sandwiches, wraps, salads, fresh fruit, and smaller meals throughout the day can help you continue fueling your body without feeling overly full.

The most important thing is to continue eating consistently, even if that means starting with something small when your appetite is lower.

Keep Simple Snacks Available

Summer schedules can get busy quickly.

Between road trips, sporting events, outdoor adventures, and vacations, it’s easy to go long periods without eating.

Keeping simple, portable snacks available can help you stay fueled throughout the day.

Consider options like:

• Fresh or dried fruit
• Trail mix
• Greek yogurt
• Cheese and crackers
• Protein bars
• Nut butter packets
• Sandwiches or wraps

A little preparation can go a long way toward preventing the afternoon energy crash that often comes from going too long without food.

Take Advantage of Seasonal Produce

One of the best parts of summer is the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables available.

Seasonal produce can add flavor, nutrients, and variety to your meals and snacks.

Some great summer options include:

• Watermelon
• Blueberries and raspberries
• Peaches
• Cherries
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Bell peppers

Try adding berries to yogurt or oatmeal, watermelon to a post-workout snack, tomatoes and cucumbers to salads, or zucchini and bell peppers to meals on the grill.

Simple Summer Nutrition Habits to Remember

You don’t need to completely change the way you eat during the summer. A few consistent habits can make a meaningful difference:

• Drink water regularly throughout the day
• Add electrolytes when needed based on activity and sweat loss
• Eat enough calories to support your activity level
• Include protein throughout the day
• Pair carbohydrates and protein after physical activity
• Eat something small when the heat reduces your appetite
• Keep convenient snacks available
• Take advantage of fresh, seasonal produce

The Bottom Line

Summer is a great time to get outside, stay active, and enjoy everything the season has to offer—but your body still needs the right fuel to keep up.

Prioritizing hydration, eating enough calories and protein, choosing foods that feel good in the heat, and keeping simple snacks available can help you maintain energy, support recovery, and perform your best throughout the summer.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. Focus on consistent habits that help you feel energized, recover well, and keep doing the activities you enjoy all season long.

Written by By Dr. Jessica Hockensmith, PT, DPT, Cert. DN, LMT, WAG | Physio Room

The post Summer Nutrition: How to Stay Fueled, Hydrated, and Ready to Perform appeared first on Physio Room.

The real test of motivation begins in the morning when life gives you another reason to quit.

Motivation, drive, and aging all meet in one honest question. What keeps you moving when your body feels different, the news is hard, or the next step feels heavier than usual? In this episode of The Code, Dr. Andrew Fix reflects on a conversation with a client who felt discouraged after receiving difficult medical updates, and that conversation led to a larger discussion about resilience and the deeper reasons we keep showing up for our health.

Andrew talks about the difference between outside pressure and internal drive. A coach, a goal, or a desired outcome can help for a while, but lasting motivation usually comes from something more personal. Maybe you want to stay active with your kids or grandkids. Maybe you want to travel with your spouse. Maybe you want to age with strength, independence, and energy. What reason feels strong enough to bring you back on the days you would rather stop?

This episode reframes exercise as part of protecting quality of life. Strength, mobility, reaction time, muscle mass, and resilience all shape how fully we get to live as we age. Healthspan matters as much as lifespan, and progress can be small without being meaningless. The goal is to keep taking the next step toward the life you still want to participate in.

Quotes

• “What is there as your guiding light, your true north on your compass? What keeps you motivated to wake up the next day and keep going?” (02:02 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “If you can find what we call an internal motivator, something that is within you, something that you are interested in, something that you want, as opposed to something external…That’s what’s going to help you get there.” (03:17 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “I ask you to come back to deeper meaning, what is the why? What is the purpose that you’re doing this for?” (07:20 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “We’re not trying to reach the top of the staircase in one step. We’re just trying to reach the next step. And the next step in the next step.” (10:59 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Whatever you have to do today that is challenging you, I hope you think deep about what motivates you to keep going and use that encouragement to help you push through.” (11:18 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

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The post 231. Why Do You Wake Up in the Morning? appeared first on Physio Room.

When most hikers think about preparing for the trail, they focus on cardiovascular fitness, leg strength, or the right gear. While those factors are important, one often-overlooked component can make a significant difference in both performance and injury prevention:

Ankle Stability

Whether you’re navigating rocky track, crossing streams, descending steep terrain, or carrying a loaded backpack, your ankles serve as the foundation for every step you take. Strong, stable ankles can help you hike more efficiently, reduce injury risk, and improve your confidence on challenging terrain.

Let’s take a closer look at why ankle stability is so important for hikers.

1. Reduces the Risk of Ankle Sprains

Hiking trails are rarely predictable.

Roots, rocks, loose gravel, uneven surfaces, and sudden changes in terrain constantly challenge your balance and foot placement. Without adequate ankle stability, a small misstep can quickly turn into a painful ankle sprain.

Strong ankles help control unexpected changes in foot position and improve your ability to react to uneven ground, reducing the likelihood of rolling an ankle on the trail.

2. Improves Balance and Confidence

Every hike requires continuous adjustments to maintain balance.

Whether you’re stepping across a creek, navigating a rocky section, or descending a steep trail, your ankles play a critical role in keeping you upright and stable.

Improved ankle stability allows you to:

• React more quickly to changing terrain
• Maintain better balance on uneven surfaces
• Move with greater confidence on technical trails
• Reduce hesitation during challenging sections

The more stable your ankles are, the more confident you’ll feel exploring new terrain.

3. Increases Hiking Efficiency

Your ankles are the first point of contact with the ground and serve as the foundation for the entire lower body.

When ankle stability is lacking, the body often compensates by relying on other muscles and joints to maintain balance. These compensations require additional energy and can increase fatigue over the course of a hike.

Stable ankles help create a strong foundation for the:

• Knees
• Hips
• Core

As a result, you move more efficiently and conserve energy during longer adventures.

4. Protects the Knees and Hips

The body functions as a connected system.

When the ankles struggle to provide stability and control, the joints above them often have to work harder. Over time, this can place additional stress on the knees, hips, and lower back.

Poor ankle control may contribute to:

• Excessive knee movement
• Altered walking mechanics
• Increased stress on the hips
• Reduced efficiency on uneven terrain

Developing ankle stability helps improve alignment throughout the lower body and promotes more controlled movement with every step.

5. Helps When Carrying a Backpack

Adding a backpack changes more than just the weight you’re carrying.

The additional load shifts your center of gravity and increases the demands placed on your ankles with every step. This is especially noticeable during steep climbs, technical descents, or multi-day hiking trips.

Strong, responsive ankles help you:

• Maintain balance under load
• Adapt to changing terrain
• Improve control on descents
• Reduce the risk of slips and falls

The heavier your pack, the more important ankle stability becomes.

The Bottom Line

Strong ankle stability is one of the most valuable—and often overlooked—components of hiking performance.

Stable ankles can help you:

• Reduce your risk of ankle sprains
• Improve balance and confidence
• Hike more efficiently
• Protect your knees and hips
• Stay stable while carrying a backpack

Whether you’re preparing for a weekend hike or a multi-day backcountry adventure, investing time in ankle strength, balance, and stability training can help keep you moving confidently on the trail.

After all, every great hike starts from the ground up.

Written by By Dr. Karissa Deptula, PT, DPT, Cert. DN | Physio Room

The post Why Ankle Stability Matters for Hiking appeared first on Physio Room.

Red and near-infrared light may be the most underestimated recovery tool in your environment, and the science behind what it actually does inside your cells is far more compelling than the wellness industry gives it credit for.

Scott Chaverri didn’t set out to build one of the leading red light therapy companies in the country. He was a burnt-out caregiver looking for anything that would help him sleep and function after two years of watching his son fight cancer. He found red light therapy in 2017 and noticed real changes. When the price of adding more panels shocked him, he decided to build his own. Mito Red Light did a million dollars in sales its first year.

The science behind photobiomodulation is worth understanding. Red and near-infrared wavelengths penetrate several centimeters into the body and act directly on the mitochondria, accelerating ATP production and triggering downstream effects that include better circulation, reduced inflammation, and a meaningful boost in cellular melatonin. A study on elite female basketball players found serum melatonin levels rose 67% after a single 30-minute session, which lines up with the number one piece of feedback Mito receives from customers: better sleep. Scott’s broader argument reframes the whole conversation too. Modern humans spend roughly 93% of their time indoors, and much of what red light therapy accomplishes is correcting a light deficiency most people don’t know they have. For the biohacking crowd chasing marginal gains, that reframe matters.

Dr. Fix brings a clinician’s perspective throughout, connecting photobiomodulation to the laser and dry needling work at PhysioRoom and asking the questions practitioners actually want answered: dosing, distance, timing, device selection, and when a panel outperforms a mask. The episode also gets into the single biggest reason people return their devices without ever giving them a real shot, and it has nothing to do with the technology.

Quotes

• “Modern humans have very indoor lifestyles and they’re sunlight deficient.” (08:44 | Scott Chaverri)
• “If the cells have more energy at their disposal, they can do their jobs better. And so theoretically, any cell that has mitochondria, which is every cell in the human body except red blood cells, has the potential to benefit from exposure to these wavelengths of light due to that increased ATP production.” (11:36 | Scott Chaverri)
• “We’re spending 93% of our time indoors. And so when they correct the deficiency, they notice that they’re feeling better, they sleep better, whatever the case is.” (09:01 | Scott Chaverri)
• “We just giving it a little bit more energy so it can do its job. It knows what to do. Just have to give it what it needs.” (21:50 | Scott Chaverri)
• “The sun rises. We’re meant to get copious amounts of red and infrared light at dawn. It’s the reason why the sky is red at sunrise and sunset, because that’s the only wavelengths that are reaching us. And so that is like the signal to wake up.” (1:01:40 | Scott Chaverri)

Connect with Scott Chaverri:

Visit The Mito Red Light Website 

Red Light Therapy (@mitoredlightofficial)

Scott worked for several Fortune 500 companies, in the business services, medical device, financial services and ecommerce industries. Having dealt with health challenges in childhood and early adulthood, Scott has always been passionate about all things health and wellness. Constantly learning, tinkering and evolving, his goal is to build Mito Red Light Inc into a preeminent health and wellness company empowering people with tools and information to optimize their performance and maximize their health spans.  

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The post 230. The Mitochondrial Advantage: How Red Light Impacts Human Performance | Scott Chaverri appeared first on Physio Room.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

One of the greatest predictors of running success isn’t talent—it’s consistency.

The workouts that truly move the needle aren’t usually the spectacular ones. They’re the countless runs completed week after week, month after month, and year after year. Consistent training builds fitness, resilience, and confidence over time.

But let’s be honest: not every training day feels exciting.

When every run starts to feel like work, it takes more mental energy just to get out the door. Motivation can fade, consistency can suffer, and burnout becomes a real possibility.

That’s where community makes all the difference.

Training alongside others can transform a difficult workout into something you genuinely look forward to. Whether you’re chasing a new PR, training for your first race, or simply looking for some accountability, finding the right running group can make the journey more enjoyable—and more sustainable.

If you’re looking to connect with other runners, here are some of our favorite run clubs in Colorado Springs and the Denver area.

Colorado Springs Run Clubs

Aravaipa Running Group

When: Mondays at 5:30 PM
Where: Fossil Craft Beer Co.

Aravaipa offers 2-, 4-, and 6-mile routes through Red Rock Canyon Open Space. It’s a great option for runners looking to explore local trails while connecting with fellow outdoor enthusiasts.

Cooldown Running Group

When: Wednesdays at 6:30 PM
Where: Red Leg Brewing Co.

This social run club features 1–4 mile routes through the stunning Garden of the Gods. If you enjoy a welcoming atmosphere and a post-run beverage with friends, this group is worth checking out.

Fleet Feet Run Club

When: Thursdays at 5:30 PM
Where: Goat Patch Brewing (Lincoln Center)

Fleet Feet welcomes runners of all experience levels and provides a supportive environment to stay accountable, improve your fitness, and connect with the local running community.

Orangetheory Fitness

With multiple locations throughout Colorado Springs, Orangetheory offers running-focused classes and hybrid strength-and-conditioning workouts designed to improve endurance and performance.

Contact your local studio for schedules, membership options, and class availability.

Denver Area Run Clubs

Embrace the Pace

Embrace the Pace hosts meetups at various locations throughout the Denver metro area, offering different distances and formats each month.

Their welcoming community makes it easy for runners of all abilities to get involved. Check their Instagram page for the latest schedule and event details.

Runner’s Roost

When: Thursdays at 5:15 PM and 6:00 PM
Where: Lone Tree Location

Runner’s Roost offers structured group runs and opportunities to connect with other local runners. It’s a longstanding favorite within the Denver running community and a great place to find training partners and support.

Fleet Feet

Cherry Creek: Tuesdays at 6:00 PM
Littleton: Saturdays at 7:30 AM

Fleet Feet’s free community runs are a fun and accessible way to meet other runners, stay motivated, and explore new routes. Whether you’re training for a race or simply looking to stay active, runners of all experience levels are welcome.

Why Run Clubs Matter

The best training plan is the one you can consistently follow.

A supportive running community provides encouragement on the tough days, celebrates your victories, and reminds you that you’re not doing it alone. The friendships, accountability, and shared experiences often become just as valuable as the miles themselves.

If your motivation has been lagging or your training feels stale, consider showing up to a local run club. You might find a training partner, a new friend, or simply the spark that keeps you moving forward.

Because while running may be an individual sport, the journey is often better together.

Written by By Dr. Drew Short, PT, DPT, CMFA | Physio Room

The post Finding Your Place in the Running Community: Colorado Run Clubs to Join appeared first on Physio Room.

That tight hamstring you’ve been stretching might be your nervous system asking for something else entirely.

When pain shows up in one place, the source is often somewhere else. Dr. Andrew Fix walks through a real patient case from Physio Room where a woman who was experiencing persistent pain in her hamstring had been doing what most people do: stretching it out and hoping mobility work would eventually help. The sciatic nerve originates from the lowest nerve roots of the lumbar spine, and when those roots get irritated, the nerve signals the hamstring to hold protective tension. What feels like tightness is the nervous system protecting itself. Stretching works against that response.

In many cases like this one, the root cause is a lack of spinal stability. Without adequate muscular control around the pelvis and lumbar spine, gravity loads the vertebral joints and compresses the nerve roots every time you sit or stand. Dr. Fix explains how positional testing revealed exactly this pattern: her hamstring tested pain-free lying down but reproduced symptoms seated. When she was cued to engage her deep core before repeating the painful test, symptoms dropped roughly 70% without a single hands-on intervention. The muscle was the same. The spinal load was not.

How often are people chasing mobility and flexibility when the real missing ingredient is stability and control? Dr. Fix makes the case for thorough assessment before any treatment begins, and offers a clear signal to watch for: if a practitioner skips the diagnostic work and goes straight to treating what you describe, it is worth getting a second opinion.

Quotes

• “Nerves are like electrical cords. They don’t enjoy being tugged on.” (04:25 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Your body’s trying to have this protective mechanism, we’re trying to stretch and take it away, and we’re not necessarily helping ourselves out. We’re temporarily relieving symptoms, but we’re not addressing the real issue at hand.” (04:40 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “When you have a lack of stability, what you cannot do is you cannot stretch it away. Because stretching doesn’t give you stability. Stability is like strength and control, your ability to control the joints and the tissues while you’re going through movement.” (05:20 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “It hurts when there’s no stability being created for the spine. But it doesn’t hurt or doesn’t hurt nearly as much when we do create some stability for the spine.” (11:17 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “They shouldn’t be just starting to treat something before they’ve really done a thorough assessment to know what they need to treat in the first place.” (13:54 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

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The post 229. What if Your Tightness is Trying to Protect You? appeared first on Physio Room.

For experienced cyclists, single-sided knee pain is actually the norm—not the exception.

When only one knee hurts, it often points to an asymmetry somewhere in the system. This could be a dominant leg, a subtle pelvic imbalance, differences in foot mechanics, or even a small leg length discrepancy.

If both knees hurt equally, the issue is more likely to be a global bike fit problem, such as saddle height or position. But when only one knee is painful, something is usually different between the left and right sides of the body.

Let’s look at some of the most common causes of single-sided knee pain in cyclists and why these asymmetries matter.

1. Leg Dominance and Compensation Patterns

One of the most overlooked causes of single-sided knee pain is leg dominance.

Most cyclists naturally favor one leg over the other without realizing it. Over thousands of pedal strokes, the body develops compensation strategies that often increase asymmetry rather than reduce it.

For many riders, the right leg tends to be stronger, more coordinated, and capable of producing more power. As a result, the body may rely on the dominant side while the opposite leg absorbs more stress and operates with less efficient mechanics.

This is one reason why left-sided knee pain is often more common in cyclists. The non-dominant side may struggle with force production, control, and stability, placing additional strain on the knee over time.

2. Leg Length Discrepancies

Even a small difference in leg length can have a significant impact on cycling mechanics.

A discrepancy of just a few millimeters may go completely unnoticed during daily activities, but cycling involves thousands of repetitive movements in a fixed position. Small asymmetries become magnified over long rides.

When one leg is longer than the other, the pelvis may sit unevenly on the saddle, causing one knee to travel through a slightly different path with every pedal stroke.

Single-sided knee pain is often the result of these repetitive asymmetrical loading patterns, especially when combined with other muscular or mobility imbalances.

3. Foot and Ankle Mechanics

Sometimes knee pain isn’t really a knee problem at all.

The foot and ankle serve as the foundation of the lower extremity. If one foot pronates more than the other or has reduced stability under load, the knee may be forced into a less efficient movement pattern.

Common foot and ankle issues that can contribute to one-sided knee pain include:

• Excessive pronation
• Collapsing arches
• Limited ankle mobility
• Differences in foot stability between sides

Because most people have some degree of asymmetry in foot mechanics, it’s common for only one knee to experience increased stress during cycling.

4. Pelvic Obliquity

Pelvic obliquity refers to a subtle tilt or asymmetry of the pelvis.

This can occur because of structural differences, muscle imbalances, or bike fit variables such as saddle position and Q-factor.

One of the challenges with pelvic obliquity is that it can be difficult to identify without a detailed assessment. The pelvis may appear level while riding, but small compensations can alter hip motion and knee tracking throughout the pedal stroke.

Over time, these changes may lead to excessive loading on one side and contribute to persistent knee pain.

5. Hip Muscle Imbalances

The hip plays a critical role in controlling lower extremity alignment during cycling.

When one side is weaker or less stable than the other, the femur may rotate excessively during the pedal stroke. This changes the position of the knee and can increase stress on surrounding tissues.

A common example is weakness of the gluteus medius, which helps stabilize the pelvis and control leg alignment.

When the hip loses its ability to provide stability, the knee often becomes the joint that absorbs the resulting movement and stress.

The side with poorer hip control is frequently the side that develops symptoms.

The Bottom Line

Single-sided knee pain is usually a sign that something is different between the left and right sides of the body.

Whether the source is leg dominance, a leg length discrepancy, foot mechanics, pelvic positioning, or hip strength, the underlying issue is often asymmetry and the compensation strategies that follow.

The goal isn’t simply to treat the painful knee. The goal is to identify why that knee is being asked to do more work than the other.

This is where working with a physical therapist who also understands bike fitting can be especially valuable. By evaluating both the rider and the bike simultaneously, it’s possible to identify the source of the asymmetry, improve positional stability, and create a more efficient and comfortable ride.

Written by By Dr. Tim Tracy, PT, DPT, OCS | Physio Room

The post Why Does Only One Knee Hurt While Cycling? The Hidden Causes of Single-Sided Knee Pain appeared first on Physio Room.

The secret to staying consistent might be hiding in your backyard.

Most people quit their fitness routines not because they lack discipline, but because progress is invisible in the short term. We live in a world wired for instant gratification, and when weeks of hard work in the gym produce no visible results, that invisibility is defeating. Yard work offers a useful contrast. Pull a weed, see the bare ground. Mow a strip of lawn, see exactly what you’ve covered. The feedback is immediate, and that immediacy does something powerful for motivation.

Dr. Andrew Fix uses that observation as a jumping-off point for a bigger question: how do you stay motivated when the progress you’re working toward won’t show up for weeks or months? His answer has less to do with willpower than with learning to notice smaller signals along the way. What went right today, even if the day itself felt like a loss? What did you learn from the thing that didn’t work out? The people who eventually reach their goals tend to be the ones who get good at asking those questions rather than waiting for a big win to validate the effort.

The episode is a good reminder that consistency isn’t a personality trait. It’s a practice, and part of that practice is training yourself to find evidence that the work is worth continuing, even when the scoreboard doesn’t show it yet.

Quotes

• “It takes a lot of time, weeks, months of consistency to really be able to sometimes see with your own eyes the progress that’s happening. That can be very defeating sometimes.” (04:35 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “What happens is they keep hopping from thing to thing, fad to fad, diet to diet, new workout plan to new workout plan. And you never stick with something long enough to actually see the results take shape.” (05:02 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Even on days that are not going according to plan, are there little things that worked out?” (07:10| Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “The people who are going to succeed and the people who are going to be in a farther place at the end of the day are going to have failed more times than the people who never got to that place.” (07:55 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Just keep falling and failing forward, and we’ll eventually make it to where we want to go.” (09:05 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

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The post 228. Why You’ll Rake Leaves But Skip the Gym appeared first on Physio Room.

When we analyze movement in Olympic weightlifting, the conversation usually revolves around bar path, speed under the bar, hip and shoulder mobility, or pulling mechanics.

But one of the most important pieces of the lift often gets overlooked:

Your Feet

What exactly are they supposed to do?

Your feet are the foundation for every position in the snatch, clean, and jerk. They influence how you produce force, absorb load, stabilize under the bar, and transfer power from the ground upward.

If the foot and ankle aren’t doing their job efficiently, you’ll often see it show up elsewhere in the lift—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically.

Understanding foot mechanics can improve performance, positioning, efficiency, and even reduce unnecessary stress throughout the kinetic chain. And if you’re missing lifts without knowing exactly why, this may be the piece you’re overlooking.

The Foot’s Role in Weightlifting

The foot and ankle constantly shift between two critical functions:

Mobility & Adaptability

and

Stability & Force Production

A successful lift requires the foot to transition between these roles at the right time.

During setup, lifters are often coached to keep the entire foot connected to the floor with pressure distributed through the midfoot—not excessively on the heels or toes. This creates a stable platform to push force into the ground.

As the lift progresses through triple extension and into the receiving position, however, the demands on the foot change significantly.

Let’s break down these two movement strategies and why both are important.

Mobility & Adaptability: Understanding Pronation

Pronation occurs when the midfoot rolls slightly inward, the arch lowers, and the heel subtly everts outward.

In many fitness circles, pronation gets labeled as “bad.” In reality, controlled pronation is both normal and necessary.

The problem isn’t pronation itself—it’s excessive or uncontrolled pronation that can create issues.

Controlled Pronation Helps the Foot:

• Adapt to the ground
• Absorb load during squats
• Achieve better squat depth
• Distribute force through the midfoot

During the descent of a squat or receiving position, the foot needs some adaptability to allow adequate ankle dorsiflexion and efficient force absorption.

A completely rigid foot often struggles to absorb force and can make reaching proper squat depth more difficult.

Pronation isn’t inherently problematic. The challenge arises when an athlete cannot transition out of pronation effectively or when the movement becomes excessive.

In some cases, a stiff or overly rigid foot may actually contribute to discomfort by pushing stress upward into the knees or hips.

If one side struggles more than the other, you may also notice weight shifts, asymmetrical squatting patterns, or reduced control as the body compensates.

Stability & Force Production: Understanding Supination

Supination is essentially the opposite strategy.

During supination, the arch becomes more rigid, the foot stiffens, and the foot functions as a powerful lever for force production.

Just like pronation, supination is often misunderstood. A high arch or rigid foot isn’t automatically “good,” just as pronation isn’t automatically “bad.”

The goal isn’t living in one position—it’s having access to both.

Controlled Supination Helps the Foot:

• Create a stable platform
• Transfer force efficiently
• Improve power production
• Support heavy loads

This becomes especially important when:

• Standing from the squat
• Driving in the jerk
• Producing force during the pull

A stable foot allows force generated by the legs and hips to transfer efficiently into the barbell.

Too Much Supination Can Create Problems

An excessively rigid foot may contribute to:

• Limited squat depth
• Poor load distribution
• Reduced adaptability in the receiving position
• Excessive stiffness throughout the lower body

Like most aspects of movement, the goal isn’t choosing one strategy over the other. It’s developing the ability to transition between them when the lift demands it.

Force Transfer During Triple Extension

As a lifter moves into triple extension—simultaneous extension of the hips, knees, and ankles—the foot transitions toward plantarflexion as force is directed vertically into the ground.

At this stage, efficient force transfer becomes critical.

The foot should remain balanced and connected to the floor without excessive movement into either pronation or supination.

Most lifters will naturally demonstrate a slight bias toward supination during this phase because rigidity helps maximize force production. However, moving too far in either direction can reduce efficiency.

When the foot collapses excessively into pronation or remains overly rigid in supination, several issues can arise:

• Reduced connection to the ground
• Inefficient force transfer
• Increased stress on the knees, hips, or lower back
• Altered timing during the pull
• Loss of balance under the bar

Small changes at the foot can create significant consequences throughout the entire lift.

The Body Will Always Find Motion Somewhere

One of the most important principles in movement is this:

If the body lacks motion in one area, it will find it somewhere else.

For example, limited ankle dorsiflexion often forces the body to borrow motion from neighboring joints and tissues.

This compensation may appear as:

• Excessive arch collapse
• Increased midfoot pronation
• Early heel rise
• Forward trunk lean
• Knee valgus
• Medial knee shifting
• Altered balance during the catch

Sometimes what appears to be a foot problem is actually an ankle mobility limitation, hip control issue, or motor control strategy occurring elsewhere in the body.

What Should Your Feet Feel Like During a Lift?

A well-functioning foot should feel:

• Connected to the floor
• Stable without being rigid
• Adaptable during receiving positions
• Strong during force production
• Balanced through the tripod foot

The tripod foot consists of:

• The heel
• The base of the big toe
• The base of the little toe

The goal is not to aggressively grip the floor or force a perfectly flat arch.

The goal is dynamic control—the ability to move seamlessly between mobility and stability as the lift demands.

Final Thoughts

The feet are often overlooked in Olympic weightlifting, but they influence nearly everything happening above them.

A lifter who understands how to use the feet effectively can:

• Improve positional stability
• Transfer force more efficiently
• Reduce compensatory movement patterns
• Improve balance and barbell control
• Create more consistent lifts

In weightlifting, power starts from the ground up.

And the feet are where that process begins.

Written by By Dr. Jessie Czarnecki, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, CIDN | Physio Room

The post Power From the Ground Up: The Feet in Weightlifting appeared first on Physio Room.

When the question every injured runner is afraid to ask, “Do I have to stop?”,  finally gets a straight answer, it turns out the real story has less to do with the pain itself and more to do with everything the runner wasn’t tracking.

Dr. Andrew Fix sits down with Dr. Vikash Sharma, DPT, founder of Perfect Stride Physical Therapy in New York, to talk through managing running injuries, avoiding stress fractures, and building a smart return to running after time off.

Stress fractures get missed more often than they should, and the clue is usually hiding in a two-minute conversation about nutrition and training load. Has your mileage gone up? Has your food intake kept pace? For a lot of runners, the answer to that second question is no.

For soft tissue injuries, Sharma’s approach is less about stopping and more about finding a sustainable baseline, trimming the run, filling the rest with cross-training, and using that window to build the strength and mobility that likely broke down first.

The conversation also covers training load management, deload weeks, why most runners’ strength work stopped producing results long ago, and what a real return-to-run progression actually looks like.

Find Dr. Vikash Sharma at @vikashsharma_dpt on Instagram or at perfectstridept.com. His clinical education platform for coaches and clinicians is at runningforlifeeducation.

Quotes

• “Runners run. That’s what they want to do, and they’ll keep running until the wheels fall off.” (09:48 | Dr. Vikash Sharma)
• “If two months ago you were running X amount of mileage and now you’re up 75% from that, but your nutrition hasn’t really changed at all, and now you’re starting to get signs and symptoms that make me think you have a bone stress injury, a hundred percent we’re shutting it down.” (10:39| Dr. Vikash Sharma)
• “Just like training their musculoskeletal system, just like training their nervous system and their brain — we got to train your gut as well.” (22:13 | Dr. Vikash Sharma)
• “Your low days need to be low so that your high days can truly be high days.” (32:53 | Dr. Vikash Sharma)
• “There’s always a story behind this human. There is a human in front of you. Just get back to that human element and dig — a lot of your questions will get answered the more they’re talking to you.” (54:23 | Dr. Vikash Sharma)

Connect with Dr. Vikash Sharma:

Perfect Stride Physical Therapy

Follow Perfect Stride Physical Therapy on Instagram

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The post 227. Finding Your Perfect Stride | Dr. Vikash Sharma appeared first on Physio Room.

With HYROX continuing to grow — and HYROX Denver coming up this November — more and more athletes are beginning to prepare for the demands of the sport.

One of the biggest misconceptions I still hear, though, is that HYROX is simply “CrossFit plus running.”

It’s not.

HYROX places very specific demands on the body through repeated:

• Running
• Sled pushes and pulls
• Carries
• Lunges
• Rowing
• SkiErg intervals
• High-volume fatigue work

The combination of endurance and strength creates stress patterns that require far more than just general fitness.

Why HYROX Training Feels Different

I see this all the time with athletes who begin preparing for HYROX by simply adding more running or increasing intensity in their current workouts.

Initially, performance improves quickly.

But eventually many athletes begin dealing with:

• Calf and Achilles tightness
• Knee pain
• Low back stiffness
• Hip overload
• Shoulder fatigue

Usually, the issue is not a lack of effort.

In fact, most HYROX athletes are highly motivated.

The real problem is that the body often is not specifically prepared for the unique demands of the sport.

Why Tailored HYROX Training Matters

The best HYROX athletes are not always the fittest people in the room.

In my experience, they are usually the athletes who:

• Move efficiently
• Recover well
• Train consistently

Good HYROX preparation should include much more than hard conditioning sessions.

It should also address:

• Mobility
• Running mechanics
• Strength endurance
• Deceleration and plyometric training
• Trunk stability
• Recovery strategies

There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Some athletes need:

• Better ankle mobility for running efficiency and sled work
• Improved hip stability for lunges
• Better trunk control under fatigue

If those weaknesses are ignored, they eventually become overload patterns.

Where Performance Physical Therapy Fits In

One of the biggest reasons I value performance physical therapy is because it focuses on keeping people training — not just treating injuries after they happen.

That may include:

• Identifying mobility restrictions early
• Improving movement quality
• Modifying training loads
• Building tissue resilience
• Improving recovery capacity

The goal is simple:
Help athletes continue progressing without constant setbacks.

Consistency matters far more than random bursts of intensity.

The athletes who improve the most are usually the ones who can train week after week without getting sidelined.

Why I Know This Matters

I’ve worked from multiple sides of performance and rehab:

• Strength and conditioning coach
• CrossFit coach
• HYROX performance coach inside a CrossFit gym
• Physical therapist assistant working with active adults and athletes

What I consistently see is that people do not fail because they lack motivation.

Most people are willing to work hard.

What they often need is a smarter, more individualized approach that matches:

• The demands of their sport
• Their current movement capacity
• Their recovery ability

With HYROX Denver approaching this fall, many athletes are increasing training volume right now.

That makes this the perfect time to focus not only on conditioning, but also on:

• Movement quality
• Recovery
• Durability

Train for HYROX the Right Way

HYROX athletes benefit tremendously from combining:

• Performance training
• Movement assessment
• Recovery strategies
• Rehab principles

The goal is not just to help athletes compete harder.

It’s to help them stay healthy enough to:

• Keep showing up
• Train consistently
• Recover effectively
• Enjoy the process long term

Because HYROX is more than just adding running to CrossFit.

It is a unique sport with unique demands — and athletes deserve training strategies that reflect that.

Written by By Jack Butler, PTA, Strength Coach | Physio Room

The post HYROX Is More Than Just Running Added to CrossFit appeared first on Physio Room.