The Resilient Athlete Project

Future-proof your fitness. In this solo episode, Dr. Zach Wagner explores the Centenarian Decathlon, aka the Old Folks Olympics, a practical and inspiring framework for training to thrive well into your 80s, 90s, and beyond. You’ll learn how to: Build your Longevity Pyramid: mobility, strength & power, cardiovascular endurance, community, and play. Redefine personal records (PRs) from pure num...

Hey there. I have something a little different for you this time. I've been discussing mindfulness and relaxation practices with many of my patients recently, and naturally, I've been asked for recommendations of meditation recordings. I certainly have some good recommendations, but I also thought I would record my own. This is a 10-minute basic body scan practice designed to help you re...

This episode is all about the first question I get during a concussion evaluation: "How long does it take to recover from a concussion?" The answer is very much "it depends." No two concussions are exactly alike. Symptoms can be all over the map and everyone recovers differently. So, there is no singular approach to concussion rehab. When seeking help for a concussion, many peo...

Here we are at the end of January. How are your resolutions going? Whether you're crushing it or totally off the wagon, this episode is for you! In this episode, I dive deep into how you can actually stick to your resolution this year. Spoiler alert: it's ok to switch it up and start again :) Topics covered in the episode include: How to use the discipline ladder to build momentum. What...

For this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Brian Petrie. He is a chiropractor and owner of Regenerative Medicine of Raynham. I get a lot of questions about treatments like cortisone injections, stem cells, PRP, prolotherapy, etc. so I brought Dr. Petrie on the podcast to shed some light on these topics and much more. We discuss his path to regenerative medicine, why he focuses so much on metabolic a...

For this episode, I am joined by my friend and colleague Dr. Mitchell Rasmussen. He is a functional medicine practitioner at The Facility Denver. Dr. Rasmussen is my go to guy for all things functional medicine, blood work, biomarkers, metabolic health, immunology and much more. I have worked with him personally and when a patient of mine needs further medical assessment, I refer to him and his te...

How is low back pain like the common cold? Low back pain is one of the most common things I treat so I get a lot of questions about it. In this solo episode, I share an analogy I use all the time with patients and others asking for advice about back pain. I discuss how you should think about back pain, share my own low back pain story, share some patient case examples, discuss when you should be m...

This episode is all about nutrition. I get tons of questions about nutrition so I brought in the expert for this episode! Kate Daugherty is a functional nutritionist and co-founder of The Facility Functional Medicine Clinic in Denver, Colorado. She holds a masters degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine and is a board-certified nutrition specialist. Her clinical focus is systemic dysfunc...

Runner and running shoe marketer extraordinaire Toño Tovar joins me for another great running focused episode. One of the most common questions we get from runners of all ability levels is "what shoes should I wear." As you will see (or already know), this is a complicated question. Our goal with this podcast is to equip you with more knowledge about running shoes and how they can help y...

On this episode, Dr. Wagner is joined by friend, runner and run coach Toño Tovar. Tovar is one of the coaches for our Resilient Run Club and is a very accomplished runner. He has completed races and endurance events of all distances and has been coaching runners for years. If you are a runner, you don't want to miss the wisdom he shares in this episode. We talk about his background as a runne...

Lower back pain is one of the most common things we treat as Physical Therapists. Basically everyone deals with back pain at some point and it can be very frustrating. We've had a lot of success treating low back pain so today we'll talk about how to deal with it. We'll start with general recommendations and give you some background about low back pain. Then we'll get into a ca...

This episode covers one of the frameworks we use to think about ACL rehab. This is definitely not the only way we approach ACL rehab, but it is a really useful way to conceptualize the whole process. It's based on a specific article from 2020 that you can find linked in the companion blog. In this episode, we'll talk about how long ACL rehab takes, what the 10 stages are, what we are loo...

We're back with another episode to help you become a more resilient athlete! On this episode, we discuss how to interpret imaging findings (x-ray, MRI, etc.) when arthritis and other "degenerative changes" are found. Spoiler alert: they don't matter as much as you think.  We think this is really valuable information so please share with your friends and family and reach out on...

Concussions can be a confusing topic. At Wagner PT & Performance, we specialize in working with youth athletes recovering from a concussion so in this episode Dr. Wagner covers 3 important concussion misconceptions. It is vital that youth athletes, parents, coaches, etc. understand what a concussion is, why concussions need treatment and how to return to sports safely.  Thanks for listening an...

For this episode, my friend Lenny Macrina joins me to discuss arm care programs. Lenny has extensive experience working with athletes of all levels and covers incredibly valuable information in this episode. We discuss what arm care programs are, what should be included, how to measure progress, how things change for different sports and much more.  If you play baseball, softball or any other spor...

This time of year, we get a lot of questions about in-season vs. off-season training because our youth athletes are back in school and schedules get crazy! For this episode, Dr. Wagner goes over some of the most important things that need to be different in your training in-season vs. off-season. It's so important to train year round, but that means you need to know what you are doing! Be sur...

On this episode of the podcast, I am joined by Alan Fredendall. Alan is a Physical Therapist, CrossFit athlete, owner of Health HQ in Fenton, MI and COO of the Institute of Clinical Excellence , a continuing education company for Physical Therapists.  We discuss what heart rate variability is, why it matters, how you can use it to optimize your own training, performance and recovery and much more!...

In this episode, Dr. Wagner goes through some common misconceptions about low back pain, why they are problematic and how we can do better.  Low back pain is very common and we see it all the time at Wagner PT & Performance. We believe it is so important for you as the patients and healthcare consumers out there to be getting good, evidence based information from experts who work hard to stay...

On this solo episode, I cover 3 of the most important reasons youth athletes need to be strength training.  A good strength and conditioning program is such a huge part of success as a youth athlete. Not only do we know strength training is completely safe for youth athletes, but it can be argued that not strength training is dangerous because we are not doing all we can to reduce risk of injuries...

For this episode, Matt West joins me for a deep dive into all things breathing. Matt is a trainer/coach who primarily works with athletes and runners and we are both fascinated by the role breathing and breath work plays in health and performance.  We talk about why breathing matters, sympathetic vs. parasympathetic dominance, breath work strategies for posture, mechanics, aerobic efficiency, stre...

My friends Justin Lupone and Zach Ledogar join me for this episode. They are both coaches at Seaside CrossFit in Wareham, MA. We break down the 2021 CrossFit Open and go over lessons learned.  **please be aware there is a small amount of adult language in this podcast** We talk about what you should be doing outside of CrossFit classes to get better, competition vs. training vs. practice and why t...

On this episode of the podcast, we have local yoga teacher and business owner Stephanie Schwalm. She has wide ranging experience with yoga and body work and has a lot of great wisdom to share.  We discuss her background, her unique forms of yoga and body work, how to integrate yoga into a comprehensive health and wellness routine, recommendations for self care and much more! Be sure to check out h...

On this episode, I am joined by Jason Caldas. Jason is a Crossfit coach and former very high level competitor who joined me to talk about how to prepare for the Crossfit Open. We used my recent blog post about this topic to guide the conversation so I highly recommend you check that out as well. There are some specific mobility videos and other resources we reference. Read the blog HERE  If you&ap...

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Ravi Patel about all things ACL.  Ravi specializes in rehab for athletes post ACL injury and we talk about ACL injury myths, why "traditional" PT often isn't enough for athletes to get back to their sport successfully, how to truly prepare for return to sport, the silver lining of injuries and much more. This was a great discussion for any...

On this episode, local golf professional Mark Kitchen joins me to talk about how deliberate practice can dramatically improve your golf game.  Golfers all need practice, but are you practicing and training well or just going through the motions? Listen and find out! If you're in the Lakeville, MA area and need a great place to practice in the off-season, check out Mark's virtual golf clu...