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EMP Podcast 49
Establishing the Essential Practices with Kelly Starrett: EMP Podcast 49
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Establishing the Essential Practices with Kelly Starrett: EMP Podcast 49

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Episode Breakdown

  • 00:00 – Intro
  • 05:14 – Finding New Challenges
  • 09:45 – The Training Spectrum
  • 20:13 – The Essential Aspects
  • 33:54 – Overtraining
  • 45:07 – Dietary Tribalism
  • 56:40 – Outro

Our guest today on the EMP Podcast is the one and only Kelly Starrett!

Some of you will remember that Kelly and his wife Juliet were actually the very first guests on the podcast way back in 2016, so it’s great to have him join us again for this long overdue conversation.

This is the first part of a two part conversation with K-Star, and much of this chat revolves around the importance of establishing a balanced variety of practices that address essential pillars of human movement and health.

While this idea may not seem revolutionary to you, it’s likely that at some point you’ve seen what happens when a person becomes so caught up in a single sport or training methodology that they begin to ignore crucial aspects of their health that are “irrelevant” to their favorite discipline.

Our drive to excel at our passions can be so powerful and rewarding. It can also lead us down very damaging roads.

I’ve seen bodybuilders that scoff at basic mobility practices even though they couldn’t sit or stand for more than half an hour without pain.

I’ve known rock climbers, already lean, who became so driven to lose weight and climb a harder grade that they crush themselves in the gym for hours each day while eating only small meals of raw vegetables and cashews.

There’s nothing at all wrong with having a passion and diving deeply into one discipline, but without temperance that drive to excel can be a slippery slope.

At the very least we run the risk of closing ourselves off to new lessons and practices that can be hugely beneficial to us. At worst we can become blinded to our own health and function, drive ourselves into the ground and do irreparable damage.

This is one of the biggest benefits of being a generalist mover. Engaging in a wide variety of practices that cultivate your weaknesses and cover each other’s blind spots not only improves your overall health, it gives you a more sustainable pathway towards learning and growth.

Do you have a practice that allows you to build strength throughout your entire body? Do you give attention to your aerobic capacity, your mobility, your balance, focus, reflexes and coordination? How about relaxation, rest and recovery?

Do you find time for play, creativity and self expression? Time for self discipline and self care? Do you get time in nature, time to connect with friends and loved ones, and time to be alone with your movement?

The answer won’t always be yes. Life is chaotic and we are constantly going through changes both internally and externally, but the important thing is to be aware of the limitations of each practice, and how our tendencies towards tribalism can cut us off from our own health and wellness.

Through that awareness, we can take steps to create a balanced and sustainable ecology of practices that allows us to feel better, move better, and live better for years to come.

Next week we’ll be releasing part 2 of our conversation with K-Star, so if you want to be notified when that drops, make sure to hit the subscribe button on our YouTube channel.

While you’re at it, throw us a like, a share, and a comment to let us know how you’re creating an ecology of practices to build your most heroic self.

 

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