Hey Reader, I was out of town visiting my cousin last week and figured I'd try a Pilates class while I was there. About 4 minutes in, I was already questioning the life choices that led me there. This class was designed to be deliberately and aggressively hard. It’s the kind of class where you look around the room wondering if everyone else is suffering as much as you are and their faces confirm that yes, they absolutely are. I knew that going in. And still, I dropped to my knees in every...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I’ve been doing the same handful of exercises in my workouts all year, and I’ve never felt stronger. There’s so much pressure to be doing the newest, hottest, flashiest thing, but to be honest, sticking to the basics will make a world of difference. If you already make 17,492 decisions a day, making your workout even this 🤏🏻 much easier is a huge mental load off. Keeping it simple meant I stopped scrolling for inspiration before every workout. I didn’t have to stand there and try...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, For the first time I can remember, I tripped and totally ate it on the asphalt this week. 🫠 It was dark. I caught myself on my hands. It just really sucked. I’ve always said pain is a matter of when, not if, because life happens when you have a body that moves through the world. But so many people play small because they're afraid of exactly this kind of moment. Afraid of falling. Afraid of getting hurt. Afraid that if something goes wrong, they won't know what to do. I wasn't...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, For the longest time, I used to accept that I would feel sore and tight after a massage because that’s what always happened. So I gave explicit instructions to use the lightest pressure, always found it impossible to speak up when it inevitably wasn’t (it’s the people pleaser in me), and learned to avoid it entirely. But then I had my first Rolfing session, and everything I thought I understood about bodywork changed. Massage, by design, relaxes your muscles, which can temporarily...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, I gave my therapy balls away last weekend. I made a new friend at a music festival who mentioned that his neck had been bothering him to the point where he had to skip some of the festival because of it. And I really can’t keep my thoughts to myself when someone tells me pain is getting in the way of their life. 🙈 So I gave him my personal set of Movement Mavens® Therapy Balls, told him how to roll with them and where he could find videos to get started with. And I watched his...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Pain has a funny way of becoming background noise. You stop noticing it as something to fix and start navigating around it like furniture in a dark room. You just know where it is. So you adjust and you live with it and your brain forgets that it isn't supposed to be there. That's where I was with my foot. I was struggling with foot pain all throughout 2024 as I took care of my dad and he eventually passed. I didn't connect the two at first (anyone who has experience knows that...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, If you’ve ever wondered how much strength training you need for it to “count”, let me tell you what’s been working for me. Two days a week, I lift weights for about 45 minutes, although I’ll be honest that it takes about an hour if I scroll on my phone between sets. 🫣 Both days are built around what I call the Big 3 (aka the foundations of good movement): 👉 Squat 👉 Hip hinge 👉 Overhead reach Learn how to move well with the Big 3, and then gradually add weight. As long as you’re...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, April is almost over. So if you showed up for yourself this month, even if it was just once, and not perfect, and only 10 minutes on a Tuesday when you had nothing left…that counts. It all counts. We spend so much time waiting until we're ready enough, consistent enough, or caught up enough to start taking care of our bodies. As if feeling better is something we have to earn first. It's not. Your body doesn't need you to have it all figured out. It just needs you to keep coming...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, If your upper back, neck, or hips are holding onto tension right now, this video is just for you. 👉 Try this Upper Back Rollout I did it as a post-camping wind down once I got home on Sunday and let me tell ya, the difference you'll feel when you're done is kind of remarkable. It takes less than 10 minutes and this sequence is my go-to any time I need to unwind, whether that’s after a long week, a travel day, or an action-packed weekend of camping. There’s nothing quite like...
3 months ago • 1 min read