The Ready State Podcast

We are so excited to kick off this season with Gabby Reece who is a legend on and off the court. Not only is she a Pro Beach Volleyball World Champion, but she is also a New York Times best selling author, model, actress, Nike’s first female spokeswoman, TV host, and leader in the world of health and wellness. Gabby is an avid proponent of empowering people to take responsibility for their own health and together with her husband, surfing legend, Laird Hamilton, she founded XPT – Extreme Performance Training. Gabby has become a role model to women worldwide in achieving peak fitness, good health, and overall well-being for themselves and their entire family. For more info on Gabby, check out XPT or follow her on Instagram.

Season 5 of The Ready State Podcast is here and it is all about AGING and LONGEVITY. Aging is a universal experience and yet we often feel powerless to its effects. We want to dig into this subject and learn about all the environmental and lifestyle factors that contribute to how we age, how long we live, and our quality of life as we age. Is it all about genetics? Or can we make a positive impact on how we age and increase longevity by making more educated choices? How does life, health, and sport change as we age? What actionable advice can we implement right now? We rounded up some friends that are not letting age define them. We check in to see what nutrition, sleep, and exercise look like for those that seem to have this aging thing down. People from Gabby Reece to Mark Sisson and Erwan Le Corre. Join us and get a little insight and some actionable advice so we can push further and redefine what health and performance look like on the back half of this journey we call life.

Chris Spealler competed as an individual in 7 CrossFit Games, is an Affiliate Owner, and is an all around great human and fan favorite. Chris collected top 10 finishes at the Games in 2007, 2008, and 2010, and the “Spirit of the Games” award in 2010. He has numerous podium finishes in regionals and opens as well as his 3rd place finish at the 2007 Games. Chris has been teaching at a variety of competitions and seminars since 2007 and is currently sharing his knowledge and experience developing and programming for Icon Athlete. We talk to Chris about early CrossFit, The Games, and his "we're all in this together" mentality. It was an absolute pleasure to wrap up this season of The Ready State with Chris! For more info on Chris, check out CrossFit Park City and Icon Athlete or follow him on Instagram.

John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and Fuse Move, as well as the creator of the online training phenomena, Johnnie WOD. He is a 9 year veteran of the NFL and was a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007, and appeared in 3 NFC Championship games. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. After retiring from the NFL, John got involved with CrossFit and eventually developed the CrossFit Football program, but we’ll let him explain how that all went down. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes as well as the Military, and he currently travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition for Power Athlete. For more info on John, check out Power Athlete, Johnnie WOD, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Dave Werner co-founded the first ever CrossFit affiliate. Dave is a Navy SEAL veteran, a highly experienced strength coach, founder of moveSKILL.com, and a long time leader in the fitness industry. He authored the Athletic Skill Levels© in 2006, a tool for gauging general fitness, which is now used by athletes and gyms all over the world. MoveSKILL.com, is an online resource for people seeking improved general fitness and helping them reach the strength and conditioning goals described by the Athletic Skill Levels. Before joining the U.S. Navy at age 17, Dave grew up wrestling, working on farms, and playing the cello in Oklahoma and Oregon. We talk to Dave about the earliest days of CrossFit, how affiliation came to be, and even hear the origin of the first named workout.

Brian Mackenzie was involved with CrossFit from the very beginning as the SME of CrossFit Endurance. He is an expert in the development and application of custom protocols to optimize human health and performance. His work harnesses and integrates respiratory, movement, strength and endurance-based training approaches to elicit unprecedented positive results. His protocols have been used to accelerate and raise both mental and physical performance in world-class Olympic and professional athletes, top executives, and operators, as well as to improve the health for people suffering from various chronic illnesses. Everyday people have also used Brian’s tools to reduce pathologic stress and to vastly heighten their mental and physical well being and performance. He has gone on to be the Founder & Creative Director of Power Speed Endurance, and the Co-Founder & President of the Health and Human Performance Foundation. We talk about everything from early CrossFit days, to how his methodology has evolved, to his sourdough bread baking practice. For more info on Brian, follow him on Instagram and Twitter, and check out PSE and follow them on Instagram.

Mike Minium started coaching when he was only 14, coaching adults and kids in tennis. He played competitive tennis through college, but never strayed too far from coaching, eventually focusing on general strength and conditioning. He discovered CrossFit in 2003, and was amazed at the impact it had on his fitness. He immediately got certified to coach and opened the very first CrossFit gym in the Bay Area. Mike has now expanded the CrossFit Oakland family to three locations. In this episode, we hear how Mike got started with CrossFit and discuss the importance of using CrossFit to improve athletic performance outside of the gym. For more info on Mike, check out CrossFit Oakland or follow them on Facebook.

Annie Sakamoto was one of the first women to take up CrossFit and she went on to become a trainer, affiliate owner, competitor, and one of the most beloved icons of the sport. She was one of the original “Nasty Girls”, pushing the limits of human performance not just for women, but humans in general. She placed in the top 10 three of the four times she competed in the CrossFit Games and was awarded the spirit of the Games award in 2011. Most recently she placed 3rd in the Legends division of the Rogue Invitational. In this episode, Annie runs us through her first experience with CrossFit (and consequently her first case of abdo), her affiliate journey, and what she is up to now. For more info on Annie, check out CrossFit Santa Cruz Central or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Tom Brose took a trip to Santa Cruz in 2005 to check out something called CrossFit. He trained alongside some of the earliest CrossFit legends, and learned directly from CrossFit founder, Greg Glassman. The intensity stunned him and the insights transformed his view of fitness. But what impressed him the most was the community. Tom has kept this in mind running his affiliate, and the people around him gush about what an amazing community of coaches and members he has built. We get to hear how Tom discovered CrossFit, what the early days were like, and how CrossFit DC has evolved over the years. For more info on Tom, check out CrossFit DC, or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Hollis Molloy has been part of CrossFit from the beginning and is one of only a handful of Certified Level 4 CrossFit Coaches worldwide. He is the co-owner of CrossFit Santa Cruz, and believes that everyone is an athlete, regardless of current ability or past experience. He does not tolerate subpar movement in his classes and works to inspire athletes to become the best possible movers. For Hollis, CrossFit is a way of expressing our true potential as human beings. When not in his gym, he travels the world as a CrossFit Seminar Staff member teaching both the Level 1 and Level 2 Seminars. Kelly has always said that “there are few coaches that are able to effectively blend technical ability, passion, and the capacity to understand and address an athlete's weaknesses as well as Coach Hollis”. In this episode we hear about how Hollis went from an unhealthy weight to taking over the original CrossFit HQ space, and running it successfully for over a decade. For more info on Hollis and CrossFit Santa Cruz, check them out here, or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Mike Burgener is known by most as Coach B. After excelling at multiple sports in high school, Coach B headed to Notre Dame to play football. This is where he began what would be the most influential relationship of his life, weightlifting with Father Lange. He went on to get an MS degree from the University of Kentucky and was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. But Coach B’s passion for Olympic Weightlifting is what he has focused on for over 50 years as an athlete, coach, and mentor. He is a Level 5 Senior International Weightlifting Coach, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, and got involved with CrossFit early on as their weightlifting SME. He runs Mike's Gym, the 5th CrossFit affiliate, out of his garage with a special emphasis on training "The Geezers". He has been named coach of the year by United States Weightlifting but maybe more importantly is considered family by the athletes he coaches. For more info on Coach B, check out his website here, or follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

TJ Cooper has been a lead trainer in tactical topics since 1987 and recently retired in 2016 after 34 years of continuous service. He still serves as a Lead Trainer for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and now works for the University of North Florida Police Department as a Police Officer leading the Training division. TJ teaches civilian, law enforcement and military agencies on demand. As a lead tactical trainer, he continually trains, attends and teaches high liability topics in criminal justice academies, colleges and training forums. TJ opened the second ever affiliate, CrossFit East, and was really the first to bring CrossFit to the tactical community with amazing results. In this episode we learn about how TJ got into CrossFit, how he has grown the community spirit CrossFit by creating the CrossFit East Family, and how CrossFit is a necessary skill set that can be applied in life and death situations. For more info on TJ, check out his website here, or follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

We are kicking off this season with one of the best and most beloved CrossFit Games athletes of all time. Jason Khalipa has competed in the CrossFit Games on 8 separate occasions - as an individual for 7 consecutive years, and wrapping up an 8th year as a team competitor. Throughout his CrossFit Games career, Jason has only placed outside the Top 10 once, has won every Regional competition he has participated in, and he won the Spirit of the Games award in 2009. Not only has Jason held all podium positions at the world championships, but he was also named to Team USA 3 times. Jason opened his gym in 2008 after winning 1st place in his first CrossFit Games appearance and 11 years later has expanded to over 20 locations. Jason and his wife Ashley live in Los Gatos with their 2 children Kaden and Ava. Ava’s 2016 leukemia diagnosis has led them into a life of philanthropy with the intention of supporting other families faced with the same adversity. For more info on Jason, check out his website and podcast here, follow him on Instagram, and definitely learn more about the Khalipa’s non-profit, Ava’s Kitchen.

Season 4 of The Ready State is a "Where are they now" of early CrossFit. Juliet and Kelly are coming up on 15 years of CrossFit affiliation and a lot has changed over the years. CrossFit literally revolutionized how we think about fitness and the limits of human performance. Its innovative training style, combined with a focus on community, completely upended the fitness industry. It has led to the creation of thousands of companies that support CrossFit affiliates and athletes, and has produced countless thought leaders. With more than 15,000 current affiliates, it is arguably responsible for creating the boutique fitness industry as we know it today. This season we talk to some of the earliest affiliates, Games athletes, and SMEs that helped shape this movement to find out their CrossFit origin stories, how the journey as been, and what they are doing now.

Nic Gill has been the head strength and conditioning coach for the New Zealand All Blacks for the last 11 years, a time of great international success including World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015. In addition, Nic is a wellness and fitness consultant to numerous international corporations as well as a limited number of individuals. He continues to refine his philosophy through research at the University of Waikato. Nic recently released his first book, Health Your Self, that aims to give practical knowledge to enable readers to build their own health and fitness plan. We talk with Nic about fitness, nutrition, and simple tweaks that are both reasonable and effective at improving health and wellbeing, all through the lens of raising healthy kids. For more information on Nic, check out his website, blog, and follow him on Instagram.

Katie Wells is the founder of WellnessMama.com, an online resource for women and moms (and dads!) who want to live healthier lives. Katie works with a team of researchers and medical advisors with the goal of making every post a simple answer to a single question. In this conversation we get tons of practical advice on raising kids with a focus on prioritizing nutrition, sleep, and bringing healthy habits into our homes. We were blown away with the system that Katie has created in her own home and the amount of responsibility that all kids can and should handle to become truly valuable members of the team we call family. For more info on Katie, check out WellnessMama.com, her podcast, or follow her on Instagram.

Dr. Mark Benden is an associate professor and department head for the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, where he also serves as director of the Ergonomics Center. Mark has done extensive research around kids and standing desks and actually is on the Board of the Starrett's non-profit, StandUp Kids. We get into tons of info on the negative impacts of sedentary lifestyle, and he offers up a ton of practical advice on how parents can work to combat this cultural trend. For more info on the work that Mark is doing, check out the Texas A&M Health Science Center website, the Texas A&M Ergonomics Center website, and StandUp Kids.

Gray Cook is a physical therapist, lecturer, author, and instructor. He founded Functional Movement Systems which promotes the concept of movement screening and assessment. Gray has been a seminal figure in how we think about and quantify movement, and how we communicate the language of movement. We get into the state of children's health and what's missing from global agreement about movement after a child passes the 21 month old mark. We also get some great takeaways about free play and how a half foam roller can change everything. For more information on Gray and Functional Movement Systems, check out his website, the FMS website, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Dr. Stacy Sims is an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist specializing in sex differences in response to exercise heat stress, recovery, and nutritional adaptations for health, body composition, and maximizing performance. She authored one of Juliet's all time favorite health and fitness books, Roar, which is a comprehensive guide to nutrition and training designed especially for women. We talk about all our favorite topics as they relate to kids and really start to get an understanding of why kids aren't just little adults and how girls and boys are inherently different. For more info on Stacy, follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Dr. Jose Greenspon is a board certified pediatric surgeon with a special interest in metabolic disorders, obesity, and bariatric surgery. He gives us a thorough and rather shocking state of the childhood and adult obesity epidemic, as well as a ton of practical takeaway advice for all families. We also get into the specifics of TeenLIFT, a multidisciplinary adolescent weight management program that was carefully designed to increase the likelihood of compliance, success, and long-term sustainability. Additionally, we put the fructose debate to bed once and for all. For more information on TeenLift, visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

John O'Sullivan is the founder of Changing the Game Project, whose mission is to ensure that we return youth sports to our children by providing the resources needed to make sports a healthy, positive, and rewarding experience for kids. After two decades playing and coaching soccer, John is an expert at training high-performing athletes by creating player-centered environments. He is also the best selling author of both Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes, and Giving Youth Sports Back to our Kids and Is it Wise to Specialize? John offers some really practical advice on how parents and coaches can help bring the fun back into youth sports. For more about John and Changing the Game Project, visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Mark Verstegen is the founder and president of EXOS and one of the world's foremost experts on human performance. Mark has coached some of the most elite athletes on the planet and has also worked extensively with the NFL, corporations, and the military. EXOS is built around four pillars of performance - mindset, nutrition, movement, and recovery - and Mark takes us through it all. He has trained a ton of kids and gives everyone from parents to coaches a lot of great takeaways. We were so excited to have Mark in-house to talk about his philosophy and experience training youth athletes. For more information on Mark and EXOS, check out the EXOS website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Season 3 of The Ready State is here and it's all about KIDS! We wanted to understand how to raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted kids without mucking it up. We talk extensively about nutrition, fitness, sleep, the current state of childhood obesity, sports specialization, what we are doing right, and what we are getting wrong. Our goal was to provide parents and coaches with tons of practical advice and takeaways that are both actionable and reasonable. Check out these fascinating conversations with Mark Verstegen of EXOS, John O'Sullivan, Dr. Jose Greenspon, Dr. Stacy Sims, Gray Cook, Dr. Mark Benden, Katie Wells, and Nic Gill of the All Blacks.

Amelia Boone started her racing career by winning 2nd place female (11th overall) in 2011’s World’s Toughest Mudder, her first ever obstacle race. Since then, she has become the most decorated obstacle racer of all time with over 50 podiums, all while working full-time as a corporate attorney. In 2016, Amelia suffered a debilitating femur fracture and subsequent sacral fracture that kept her from racing for over a year. Amelia talks to us about how she manages pain during competition and gives us an honest look into everything she feels she did wrong while recovering from her injuries to return to an elite level of performance. Amelia joined us via Skype.

We can not get enough of Alex Hutchinson’s book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance (2018) this year. His book takes a detailed look into the science of endurance and covers heat, hydration, nutrition, and all the things that we love to think about! Alex takes us through many of the topics in his book and gives us some insight into how the brain may ultimately be the limiter on our ability to suffer, and how changing our perception of pain can expand the limits of our endurance. As an added bonus, we talk briefly with Erin Cafaro, a 2x Olympic Gold Medalist in rowing, about how she thinks about and manages pain while competing. Alex joined us via Skype from Toronto.

A conversation about pain would not be complete without acknowledging opioids and all of the drugs used to treat pain. Chris Bell is the award winning documentary filmmaker behind Prescription Thugs (2015) that explores the opioid crisis in America. His newest film, A Leaf of Faith (2018), covers all aspects of the controversial drug, Kratom, a plant-based supplement showing big promise in pain relief. Chris has first-hand experience with chronic pain and the all to common drug abuse that comes with it. He talks openly about his experience with pain, drugs, death, and we go deep into all things Kratom. Chris joined us via Skype.

Sue Falsone is the first female head athletic trainer in any of the four major sports in the US, most recently with the LA Dodgers for 6 years. Functioning as both an athletic trainer and physical therapist to her athletes, she was able to develop a truly innovative and successful approach to treatment. She discusses her philosophy on pain and treatment, returning injured athletes to an elite level of sport, as well as being female in a male-dominated field. Sue joined us via Skype.

You may know Laird Hamilton as a big wave surfer, innovator, actor, and writer. What you might not know, is that Laird suffered and surfed through extreme chronic pain from a hip injury (and various other injuries). Laird has an interesting perspective on pain and helps us understand how his philosophy on life, nutrition, and fitness all play into health and recovery. Laird joined us via Skype from his home.

Dr. Andrew Huberman is a professor and researcher at Stanford University and is one of the foremost experts in neuroplasticity. He talks about the experience of pain, the brain's capacity to re-wire itself, and what he calls self-directed and adaptive plasticity. As we get into the specifics of his current work around fear and anxiety, he even gives us some fear reduction techniques. Andrew joined us via Skype from his lab at Stanford.

Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the biggest influences on the spine-first philosophy laid out in Becoming a Supple Leopard. He is a retired Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo, the writer of many influential books, and is an expert on back pain. Stu speaks with us about pain, the mechanisms, and his unique treatment methodology with clinical examples including his work with legendary powerlifter, Brian Carroll, the subject of his newest book, Gift of Injury (written with Carroll).

To dive right into the subject of pain, we knew we had to talk to the one and only Georges St-Pierre, UFC's 2017 Middleweight Champion of the World, and formerly 2x Welterweight Champion of the World. You can't talk about UFC without considering the role that pain plays in both training and competing. GSP talks frankly about how he experiences and deals with pain, both physical and mental, at the highest level of competitive sport. Georges joined us via Skype from Montreal, CA.

Pain is a universal experience for every human and we wanted to understand more about how it works, the role of that the brain plays, and how we can shift our relationship with pain. We spoke with athletes, scientists, filmmakers, and writers to help conceptualize the very complex and subjective nature of pain. Check out Season 2 for chats with Georges St-Pierre, Chris Bell, Laird Hamilton, Amelia Boone, Sue Falsone, Stu McGill, Andrew Huberman, and Alex Hutchinson. Welcome to Season 2. We think you're gonna like it here.

We are continuing our discussion on nutrition in this episode with Dr. Catherine Shanahan. Dr. Cate is a board-certified family physician with a background in biology, biochemistry, genetics, and ethnobotany. She attended medical school with an interest in how nutrition affects genetic health but graduated not having learned much about nutrition. It wasn't until she relocated to Hawaii that everything she did know about nutrition was turned upside down. Hawaii has the longest lifespans of any state and she was able to study the culinary habits of her patients – each of whom were raised in rural areas on home-grown foods prepared by simple methods. These findings were the start of her groundbreaking book, Deep Nutrition. This book is the single most important nutrition book that Juliet has ever found, and has truly changed the way the Starretts think about food and the way they eat. For more info on Deep Nutrition, check out Dr. Cate's website!

Nutrition is a huge part of the conversation for us, both personally and professionally. We are constantly hearing about fad diets and calorie counting. Our basic philosophy is to EAT REAL FOOD. Even still, we are always exploring how nutrition affects our overall health and fitness -what we eat, when we eat, the quality of the ingredients, even the types of oils we use. We are excited about this conversation with John Berardi - he is a writer, coach, researcher, athlete, and the co-founder of Precision Nutrition. John has devoted his career to making health and fitness something that can be achieved by everyone. Precision Nutrition is built on the simple idea that "Good health and a thriving body are the birthright of every single person on this planet." They have an extensive network of multidisciplinary, research-driven coaches that have helped tens of thousands of people work toward their goals and live healthier lives. Precision Nutrition also offers two certification programs enabling fitness and health professionals to become elite coaches using the latest nutrition knowledge in their own practices. Check out more info on Precision Nutrition! Check out the infographic that Juliet mentioned at the top of the episode!

Rebecca Rusch has famously been dubbed "The Queen of Pain" and is one of the toughest athletes in the world. Her litany of accomplishments literally defies belief. She's a seven-time World Champion in multiple sports, four-time Leadville 100 MTB Champion, the first person to ride the entire length of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the list goes on. We asked Rebecca on to talk about fear. In thinking about raising kids, as well as training high-performance athletes, we've developed a fascination and respect for the role fear plays in helping us all grow and be our best selves. We've started to think of training for fear and becoming fear-adapted as a vital component of any training plan. Check out more about Rebecca here!

Coach Harry Marra is one of the world's foremost experts on developing well-rounded athletes. He is a legend in the world of track and field and cemented his reputation as one of the all-time greats at the 2016 Rio Olympics when he coached American Ashton Eaton to his second Olympic gold medal in the decathlon - securing back-to-back wins in London and Rio. But that was just part of the story in Rio, because he also coached Ashton Eaton's wife, Brianne Theissen-Eaton to an Olympic bronze medal in the heptathlon. Coach Marra has also coached youth programs and is a big advocate for the role of play in shaping well-rounded athletes.

Eric Cressey, the president and co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance, is a trainer famous for his extensive work with baseball players. Because he works with players from the youth level all the way up through the pro level, in a sport where specialization is a major issue, Eric has an incredible perspective on how we can all help our kids get the most out of the sport they love while avoiding the perils of overtraining. Check out more info on Eric!

As parents who are fitness and health professionals, Kelly and Juliet are constantly having conversations with teachers, parents and coaches about how to set kids up for healthy lives. In this episode, we take a crack at understanding how to think about kids' fitness. Jeff and Mikki Martin are a husband and wife coaching duo with more than a decade of experience training kids to be great movers who are set up to be athletes for life. They are the founders of The Brand X Method with training centers around the world. For more info, check out The Brand X Method! Check out the Canadian infographic mentioned in the episode!

Dr. Jeremy Koenig is the Founder and CEO of Athletigen, a sports genetics company with a mission to educate and empower the community with their personal genetic information. This interview makes a great Part 2 to the last episode with Dr. Richard Lee. With Jeremy, we really get into his experience building a business and being on the front lines of bringing genetics research and science out into the world. Juliet and Kelly have had their DNA analyzed with Athletigen and we get into specifics of what Athletigen can offer. For more info on the partnership with MobilityWOD, check out Athletigen!

Dr. Lee is a pioneer in using cutting-edge technology to provide preventative healthcare. In this conversation we cover the science of genetics, the current state of research, where it's helpful, where it's not helpful, what we all need to know, and what we all need to watch out for. Juliet and Kelly have both had their DNA analyzed and seen Dr. Lee as patients, so we are able to get into specific examples of what can be learned and acted on, and whether they found it useful.

We live in a world of extraordinary human physical achievement. More people today are fitter, stronger, faster, and pushing their physical limits than at any time in history. And yet, we are still often bewildered by many of the most fundamental questions relating to our physicality. What constitutes the peak of physical well-being and how do we get there? Should men and women train differently? How does physical fitness really affect our mental state? What should we eat? These are questions not just about physical fitness, but questions for our time. As hosts of The Ready State, Dr. Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett, bestselling authors and luminaries in the health and fitness world, will guide you on an intellectual adventure to find answers to these questions and many more. They will engage top athletes, entrepreneurs, academics, and scientists in conversation, sharing theories and stories about human capacity and self-actualization. The goal: to help us all more fully realize our talents and skills, and explore what it means to be human in the 21st century.