Movement Upgraded Podcast

Progressive overload matters and is a necessity in making gains in strength training, but sometimes it gets treated like the only sign that your training is working. But some of the most important adaptations don't come from doing more and more. They come from doing the same thing, over and over, for longer than you'd expect. In this episode, I'm breaking down when repetition is actually the point...

Almost everyone experiences a little "snap, crackle, pop" in their body when they move, whether intentionally created when you twist to crack your back or unintentionally as you squat down. In this episode, I'm breaking down what's actually making all that noise, how I help my clients figure out when a sound is worth paying attention to versus when it's completely fine, and why the fix usually isn...

This episode is brought to you by my caffeine-fueled rage at opening Instagram and being told, once again, all the things I'm doing wrong and missing in my life. Sometimes that content is helpful; I've made it too. But I think we've kind of lost the plot. We've gotten so deep into optimization culture, so zoomed in on what we should be doing and arguing over the tiny details, that we've lost the b...

So much of mobility and corrective work is about fixing your limitations, addressing what's wrong, working on your weak spots. And that's useful until it isn't. Until movement becomes one more thing on your endless self-improvement to-do list. One more way you're "not enough". There's a slippery slope where the work meant to help you accidentally ends up like a pit of quick sand keeping you stuck...

One of the biggest misconceptions I see with flexibility training is that it should be linear, that you're always making progress, always going deeper each session. So when your stretch depth varies, you think it's not working or that you're losing progress. And that's exactly why people give up. In this episode, I'm breaking down what's actually driving these changes and how to know if your stret...

If you're anything like me, you've probably been told something along the lines of "it's hell to get old" or "just wait until you get older". And you are working hard to avoid letting those things reign true. But if you're honest, there are more moments than you'd like where you feel... old. Restricted. Fragile. Limited. I see this all the time, with clients, with people I mentor or happen to stri...

Contrary to what most of the internet will tell you, most sciatica is not caused by a "tight" piriformis. If you're stretching your piriformis, strengthening your glutes, doing all the things, but your sciatica or leg pain isn't getting better, this episode is for you. Sciatica is not usually what you think it is, and stretching your piriformis might actually be making it worse. In this episode, I...

If you're like myself and many of my clients, you've spent alot of time trying to find the right neck exercise for your constant neck and jaw tension. You've done breathwork and the stretches, but you're still feeling like you're on an uphill battle with constant tension. If you're someone who constantly reads the room, notices other people's emotions, or are a recovering "people-pleaser", your ch...

If you've been doing the mobility work, stretching, and implementing more core exercises, but your low back keeps flaring up this episode is for you. Most of my clients find me when they've tried a lot of things. They're looking for something different and feel like they need mobility work. And most do, but mobility work alone is never the full solution. When you add more exercises to manage the p...

You're listening to podcasts, following coaches you respect, consuming solid advice. And it doesn't apply to you. You can't push intensity the way they recommend. You can't do high-volume training without your body breaking down. You can't just "work harder" without consequences. And that can feel really isolating. In this episode, I'm talking about the subset of people whose bodies have different...

If you're hypermobile (or train hypermobile bodies) and cues never seem to land the way you or coaches expect, it's not because you're doing something wrong. Most cues assume you already have prerequisite skills that hypermobile bodies often don't, and when you add neurodivergence into the mix, it gets even more complicated. In this episode, I break down why standard cueing doesn't work for bendy...

One of the hardest parts about coaching is helping people stay consistent with the exercises or behaviors that will get them the results they want. Mobility work is no different, and in the past several years of mentoring coaches and movement pros, I've noticed a bigger pattern that impacts clients' consistency more than anything else. In this episode, I break down what's actually driving this pat...

One of the most common questions I get when people are learning spine CARs for the first time is "Why can't I breathe when I'm doing spine CARs?". It's a really common issue as you're trying to segment your spine and control the movement, and then suddenly you're holding your breath or feeling like you can't get air in. In this episode, I walk through why this happens and give you two practical ti...

Winged scapula gets thrown around a lot in the rehab and fitness industries. A coach or clinician points it out, you start doing corrective exercises to fix it, feeling like it's another thing wrong with your body and maybe the cause of your pain. But most of the time, it's not the problem you think it is. In this episode, I walk through what winged scapula actually means, when it matters, and wha...

Just because you're "healed" doesn't mean your body has fully recovered. In this episode, we dive into the inconspicuous changes that happen after a surgery or periods of immobility from a major injury, how that impacts your movement, how subtle this can happen, and what rehab often misses along the way. If you've ever felt off, stiff, or like something just isn't right post-surgery, this episode...

Anterior pelvic tilt is one of the most talked-about "issues" in fitness, but it's often misunderstood. In this episode, we break down what it actually is, why it shows up, and how it relates to movement, strength, and pain, without defaulting to the usual "tight hip flexors, weak glutes" or "lower crossed syndrome" narrative. If you've been trying to fix your (or your clients') pelvic tilt but no...

Tightness is a sensation, not a diagnosis. And what that sensation is communicating depends entirely on when you feel it, where you feel it, and what it actually feels like. In this episode, I'm walking you through how to interpret what your hamstrings are actually telling you, so you can address the real issue instead of stretching harder, hoping it works, and accidentally making it worse (someth...

Your best performance doesn't define your capacity. Your worst day does. In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between raising your ceiling and raising your floor in fitness, and why most people are training for the wrong one. I don't care how much you can lift on your best day. I care what you can do when you don't sleep well, life is stressful, or your body isn't cooperating. That's...

One of the most frustrating and confusing parts of dealing with nagging pain: some exercises or movements can feel totally fine in the moment, but are actually keeping you stuck in the chronic flare-up cycle. When pain shows up hours later, it's easy to blame the wrong exercise, the wrong movement, or even feel like there's something deeper wrong with your body itself. And that's where a lot of re...

It's been 8 weeks of training sessions with my mom and MIL already, so this episode is a re-cap of how it's gone, and the things that we've navigated. We've had the classic "why does this feel so heavy all of a sudden?" week, an old hamstring injury resurface, a bench press twinge, and a back twinge during deadlifts. I peel back the curtains on how I think during these moments, and exactly why I d...

In this episode, I'm exploring what happens when all the health-driven habits like movement, meditation, and "taking care of yourself" start to feel like obligations instead of choices. There's a subtle resentment that grows when your body starts to become one more "responsibility to manage". If you've been going through the motions but feeling disconnected or frustrated that your body still isn't...

Guest Speaker Allison Tenney is a strength and conditioning coach and online business mentor for women who want real, sustainable strength. A former Division I collegiate coach, she brings an athlete's mindset and a no-BS approach to fitness and business, helping women reject quick fixes, build self-trust, and feel capable in their bodies and lives. In this episode we talk about Allison's transiti...

Injury prevention is often framed as doing everything right:  better form, smarter programming, more strength, etc. And while that work matters, it leaves out a crucial piece of the picture. In this episode, I talk about the hidden message many of us absorb when we focus solely on prevention, why injuries can feel especially devastating for people who "did everything right," and what real longevit...

In this episode, I walk through the signs of focusing too hard on form, posture, and control and how that might actually be making your body more rigid, which can backfire into getting weaker, experiencing more pain or stiffness, and feeling less mobile. We explore the nuances of what it looks like when movement turns into something you have to manage, how form "rules" add up quietly and become ti...

Welcome back to the Overrated vs Underrated series, where I break down common exercises, drills, and so-called "fixes" for mobility limitations and nagging injuries. In today's episode, we're focusing on ankle mobility, one of the original mobility hot topics and most commonly searched for exercises. I'll walk through a few ankle mobility drills or approaches that tend to be recommended far more t...