Bendy & Strong Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Bendy & Strong podcast I sit down with Gia from The Hypermobile Lifting Club to answer your questions and chat about hypermobile training.  Topics we covered: What's going on in our training How long do you have to do "foundational" work before you get into more traditional strength training? How to fix sore wrists from training? How to ad...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Bendy & Strong Podcast, I have guest Shant Rahman on to discuss posture. Some topics we cover: - Destigmatising posture - Is there such thing as "good" or "bad" posture? - When is "anterior pelvic tilt" an UNhelpful diagnosis? - When can postural deviations (e.g. exaggerated lordosis) actually enhance sporting performance? -...

Send us Fan Mail Research literacy is SO important - both for navigating the world with hypermobility, and when navigating the current online/social media space.  Research literacy is the ability to find research, read it, understand it, critically evaluate it, and put it into practice. This is not a skill you are born with - it is one you need to learn and develop. So I sat down with researchers...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast, I sit down with Jade Barclay and Rouha Granfar to discuss their recent publication: Fascia as a Regulatory System in Health and Disease. This paper serves as a one-stop-shop for familiarising yourself with fascia. So if someone asks you, "Is there one paper I can read that will give me the foundations on fascia?" - then THIS is the paper to give them.  A...

Send us Fan Mail Have you been told "the best thing for EDS/hypermobility is to get strong" - but then nobody told you how actually start? Or maybe you've started up already but you keep getting hurt/flared up each time you try. To be clear, I'm not saying that everyone with EDS will experience difficulty when starting out with strength training, but if you DO then this podcast...

Send us Fan Mail I recently had my SIJ sublux a few days after a heavy training session. I spoke about it with my EDS/hypermobility specialist 'rehab guy' - Shant - and he told me he'd recently had the same thing happen to one of his hEDS clients. We discussed the solution we had each come up with, which was so far working for each person respectively - and it turns out great minds...

Send us Fan Mail Do you find you flare up every time you try to progress in your training?  This is a very common complaint - but on the other hand, if we NEVER progress our strength and rehab can become stagnant and this can cause its own set of issues.  This "Goldilocks zone" where we're progressing in the right way AND amount is our "window of tolerance". And this is wh...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Bendy & Strong I am running through the list of things I've been doing over the past few months/years to pull myself out of feeling the worst I've ever felt.  When my dad died 2 years ago, my health plummeted and I was so scared that I would never get better. I wished I'd had a pathway out.  So in this video I'm discussing the pathway I t...

Send us Fan Mail This is a very common complaint I hear from EDS & hypermobile folk. Here are 4 solutions I use when dealing with this.  ********** The next round of my strength course for EDS starts soon! Sign up here (or if you missed out, put your name on the waitlist): www.bendyandstrong.com ********** **Disclaimer: the information in this podcast is not medical advice and is for entertain...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to become a coach when you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome? In this episode, I chat with a fellow strength coach (and Pilates instructor) Sheena Cuccia who also has EDS.  We cover: How we navigate the fitness industry with EDS The hurdles we encounter & how we try to overcome them Tips for anyone with EDS who wants to become a coach  Advice for our younger selves...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to know the secret to being consistent with exercise if you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or hypermobility? It's the ability to adjust as you go. The fitness industry tells us that consistency means following the plan as closely as possible. But with EDS, that's never possible. Have an idea of the direction you want to go in, but be flexible in how you get ther...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss some of the basic training knowledge and principles that will make an enormous difference to anyone strength training with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or hypermobility. These include: Progressive overload Program structure Strengthen don't stretch Proper warmups Conserving energy Regress in order to progress Basic strength training muscle & joint ana...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast episode we talk about some seemingly "safe" or "benign" exercises that can REALLY trigger our Ehlers-Danlos & hypermobility symptoms. Once we understand that these exercises CAN be risky, it makes us feel a lot less pressure to do them when they don't feel safe, but it also makes us feel less bleak if we acknowledge and understand why t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss why we need to look beyond stretching and find better options for managing Ehlers-Danlos and hypermobile pain, especially the feeling of extreme muscle tightness that many hypermobile people experience. (NOTE: Reuploaded because I realised how terrible the last audio was) Featuring Guest Host: Shant Rahman WHERE TO FIND SHANT: INSTAGRAM - @strength.revol...

Send us Fan Mail The Olympia is the biggest bodybuilding stage in the world. As a bodybuilder, you can't climb any higher than this. Imagine how gruelling the prep is, now imagine doing it with the added challenges of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Marie Pontini is a former chemical engineer, director, finance & insurance, and business owner. She wa...

Send us Fan Mail Today's guest is Abbey Phillipson. Abbey has Classical EDS and is a Fitness Coach, she's competed in bodybuilding, is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified Nutritionist & Personal Trainer, and received her Bachelor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Michigan (specialising in behavioural neuroscience amongst disabled populations). When Abbey was 16,...

Send us Fan Mail The sacroiliac joint is one of the most common problem areas for people with Ehlers-Danlos or even anyone with hypermobility but it’s also one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed areas. I have been working with Shant from Strength Revolution ( @strength.revolution on instagram) for the past 3 years to manage the SIJ pain caused by my Ehlers-Danlos/hypermobility. Shant’s pro...

Send us Fan Mail So you've got Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or Joint Hypermobility and you want to do strength training, but you've got no idea if you should do high reps or low reps.  Or maybe you're coaching someone with EDS/hypermobility and you need some pointers on how to approach it.  Which rep ranges should you do? And are there any you should avoid?? In this podcast, your host Ann...

Send us Fan Mail This episode explores how to approach your return to strength training after an Ehlers-Danlos flare-up, or after an extended time off because of injury (or life just getting in the way).  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is all about navigating strength training with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and/or joint hypermobility. Welcome to the first episode of Bendy & Strong! Hi, my name is Annie. I'm a strength coach, exercise scientist, competitive bodybuilder, competitive powerlifter, and I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My joint hypermobility has had a huge impact on my life and my abi...

Send us Fan Mail "I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and I get a lot of joint pain. I strength train [or want to]. Do you have any advice?" This question is one of the most common things I'm asked.  In my opinion, strength training is an incredible way to manage EDS and hypermobility. I've used it to reduce my pain, increase my quality of life, change my body shape, improve my healt...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode I talk about one of the biggest factors that's improved my training - my warmups.  I'll share the principles behind how I (a powerlifter with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) changed my warmups to significantly reduce pain, get stronger, and improve my training in general.  I apologise if this is a bit rambly - these are ideas I'm used to teaching my clients...