Podcast Episode 23: Movement Advice for Total Health (with Transcription)
Nov 08, 2022
Welcome to the 23th episode of the True Health Solutions Podcast with Dr. Lonnie Bagwell and Brigitte Spurgeon. Everything from your muscles right down to the cells in your body need movement to stay healthy. In this episode, we discuss movement, pre and post exercise movement, and just movement for everyone, at all times. We also discuss what kinds of movements to do, when they are best to be done, and what they can help with.
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Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:00):
There's not a system in our body, there's not a process in our body or none of our biochemistry that happens in the absence of oxygen. And we need to keep things moving for the purpose of drawing oxygen into our body effectively. At the same time, if something stops moving, it's dead. Welcome to the True Health Solutions Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, stress, inflammation, and functional health
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:22):
Clinician. And I'm your co-host Bridget Spurgeon Metabolism and nutrition expert.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:26):
This podcast is where we bring hope, truth, and inspiration for your holistic health journey
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:31):
Because the world needs the best version of you.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:36):
Hello and welcome to True Health Solutions podcast. I am your host, Dr. Lonnie Bagwell here with
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:42):
Brigitte Spurgeon.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:43):
The Brigitte Spurgeon. And before we go any further, Brigitte, check in with everybody. Let 'em know where you're at.
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:49):
That's
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:49):
Part of story here.
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:50):
Yes. <laugh> in Ma Portugal. So that is the southern coast of Portugal. It is the Elgar area.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (01:01):
Awesome, awesome. So now everybody will get their phone out and they'll Google Map looking for where that is, especially in the us we're known for not knowing our geography very well. Actually. I've had to look up a couple places where you've been. I'm just confession time. That's cool. So that's right. I'm learning it.
Brigitte Spurgeon (01:19):
Me too. I've had to look it up to Yeah,
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (01:21):
Exactly right. So that's awesome. All right. And for our listeners today, we're gonna be talking about something that is relevant for absolutely everybody. In fact, it'll be under the heading of an essential of health, an essential of being truly healthy. It's something that both Bridget and I in our very different and respective backgrounds have intimate relationship with. And what we're talking about today is movement is really, if I was gonna have one umbrella as it pertains to exercise pre-post exercise, and really just movement for everybody at all times. That was kind of, I guess the umbrella of today, right? We're gonna talk anything that, and everything to do with movement. And so Bridget obviously has a background in endurance sports and a big umbrella of all the things that fall under that. And then mine is more the opposite energy systems. It's more based on power and definitely not endurance.
(02:18):
That's not part of my background. I participated in a couple of endurance things in my life but you can count those on one hand. So we have a pretty good working knowledge of exercise, exercise, physiology, fitness, those types of things from education and experience. And so we're just gonna walk and talk through some of those aspects today that are relevant to absolutely everybody that's listening. Cuz the bottom line is that our, there's not a system in our body, there's not a process in our body or none of our biochemistry that happens in the absence of oxygen. And we need to keep things moving for the purpose of drawing oxygen into our body effectively. At the same time, if something stops moving, it's dead. And that sounds obvious to a human, but also even our cells need to be healthy. And if they stop vibrating at their specific frequency, it's a podcast for a different topic.
(03:12):
But each of our cells vibrate at different frequencies. And so if they stop vibrating or slow down, then it becomes a diseased state of that cell. And if it continues to degrade and move less, then eventually that cell dies and that cell makes up organ cells, tissues and glands. And obviously that's our body as a whole. And so movement is necessary at a microscopic level and a macroscopic level. So with that said, Bridget kind of lead us in this discussion today cuz this was, I know a lot of some thoughts that were bouncing around your mind and as you're working with different clients, you're kind of tackling different phases of their life, different activity levels different busyness levels, all that stuff. All the stuff we deal with every day. So talk to us a little bit more about what you were thinking when it comes to movement.
Brigitte Spurgeon (03:57):
So traveling, being outside of the US for the last several months, I've become keenly aware of the sedentary lifestyle that perpetuates corporate America and really just an American or western lifestyle. So a lot of my patients are talking about sitting at a desk for eight to 12 hours a day and then what do you, you get in your car and you commute and then you're at home and you're tired. So you're sitting on the couch talking to a spouse or watching a TV show. And so it's our day very easily doesn't lend itself to a lot of movement. And as I've been traveling, I've just noticed that it's very different in other countries because a lot, I know Sandy and I, we don't have a car traveling, so we walk everywhere. So there's a lot of walking and movement and if we're staying on the fifth floor, walking up and down stairs all day long.
(05:00):
So I've been keenly aware of the differences in different cultures, but also for me personally, coming from a background of endurance training where I have objectives that each week I'm training for and certainly have times in my past where I may have exercise two to three hours a day of organized AC activity. And now when I'm not training for something, what is my focus and how do I keep healthy and how do I focus on what's important for my health and longevity when I don't have a marathon or a triathlon or a mountain to climb or something. So I had, and I love having these conversations with Dr. Bagwell and well, what are the good things for me to focus on a daily basis? Is it spinal mobility, stretching, strength, cardiovascular? And what does that look like on a daily basis? So I thought this would be a great conversation for us to have publicly.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (06:04):
And it's one that we don't talk about as much when there's way, I guess disease based, pathology based discussions that we're having or the sexy conversations around caffeine and coffee and addictions and such, right? Hormones. And this is almost like it's so foundational that we almost miss it. And I'll tell just a really just very brief kind of perspective from me on this is that I did, because I was so much in organized sports when that was done for me and I was no longer on a competitive team or whatever I really was lost for a long time. I mean, I went back in the gym, I kind of did what I remember doing. But even as I was doing it, I remember being, this is many years ago before the big functional fitness movement and high intensity interval training came about and I was pretty lost.
(06:58):
I was just doing things and I was like, I don't really need to do hack squats anymore because that doesn't serve me. That was specifically for being an offensive lineman and I had to find my way. So I became a trainer for the purpose, just like I became a doctor for the purpose of helping my family be sick, stop being sick and be healthy and live to see my parents be able to see my grandkids and all that. I became a trainer because I was like, I want to exercise and I've done a lot of exercising but I have no idea what to do. So I went and got certified, then I would know what to do. And then I started, I did too, same thing. And so it was selfish and then I ended up becoming a trainer for other people and had to take a bunch of them through it.
(07:37):
So that was my foundation for what I would say is the most applicable training type principles that I would apply to patients not necessarily athletes cuz athletes maybe a little bit different. But anyway, so the foundation, like I said in the opening is all about movement and you hit on spinal mobility and I think that's just a good place to start. So our movement happens from the smallest level and centrally above down inside out. As we would say and this is the bonus of specifically spinal mobility is one, when you have your spine moving properly, now you have a chance for everything that articulates with the spine to move properly. If your spine is not, that's central to the cor. If your biomechanics, that's essential to everything, all of your movement, if that's moving the way it's supposed to, then your collarbone can articulate out to your shoulder.
(08:33):
Then your shoulder has a chance and your elbow has a chance and your wrist has a chance to be able to move properly. But if I went in there and I fused right the vertebra in my spine, that collarbone for example, articulates with that scap ends up articulating with there's no way that you can have a hundred percent proper motion of your shoulder. And then people might say, Yeah, but I have fusions and my shoulder's been fine. Your body may have adapted to that lack of motion. Your body may have found ways to compensate for the imbalance in motion. And for now it might be okay, but at some point we can predict with pretty high certainty that there's gonna be a biomechanical breakdown of movement at the periphery, the joints that come off of that area. And then now the other side of that is that, and this isn't a neurological discussion exclusively for sure, that's a different podcast, but the number one fuel for your nervous system is movement of the spine.
(09:29):
So that's been documented. Recent years has been big research come out on that where if your spine's moving the way that it's supposed to, then it's giving life to your nervous system. And of course on this podcast and this office nervous system, rere controls every cell tissue, organ and gland on the body. So that's the bonus of moving your spine first is you're actually getting the recruitment of a healthy nervous system. And whenever we talk about movement that's happening through the musculoskeletal system which is how I like to say it every time because people forget the neuro part. Everybody wants to focus on working on a muscle, working on a ligament healing, a muscle healing ligament moving a joint. But they forget and that's all musculoskeletal, but they forget about it being the neuro musculoskeletal. And if you're missing the neurological piece, then again that's where you see things like I remember as a trainer we had whatever we had hitches in our giddy up and butt winks and they have names for every kind of improper movement.
(10:21):
Someone will do a squat and you see their hip kick out to the side or even just to do an exam with a patient one hour ago it was just simple movement of his head forward and backward and you could actually see a deviation in his head, his head could not go in a straight line. And so there's something neuro musculoskeletal happening even at the small level of just those couple of joints that were damaged and ultimately right on the x-ray. We could identify that quickly. But anyway, so number one thing is focus on core movement out. I would say that's the most foundational principle of movement for me.
Brigitte Spurgeon (10:55):
Well I would agree
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (10:56):
Work working on that nervous system.
Brigitte Spurgeon (10:58):
I think it has to be foundational. And it's so interesting that you say that because my husband being a physical therapist, he insisted he travels with spinal care equipment. Like we're limited to what we can fit in a suitcase traveling around the world. And what does he have on there? He has a wobble cushion <laugh>. We did shed our head weights, we were struggling getting head weights through security. So we did leave out, we donated our head weights to someone in Mexico, but we travel with spinal molds. But I would say for spinal mobility having a wobble cushion because those are more intentionally designed for spinal mobility versus a Swiss like an exercise ball. But we have used exercise balls before and really you can even do it on the side of your hotel room bed. But just getting those lateral movements in so side to side, front and back and then getting Getting a twisting rotation. Yeah, getting some rotation. So good. I feel so good about that because we can check that box. Cause that is something that we have, we are focused on, we're intentional about it. And I agree it all starts there because if you don't have that proper alignment and you don't have the neurological piece, then literally the other things you do can injure you.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (12:24):
Right? That's exactly right. So number one thing for injury prevention, people will get more injured because of neurological interference than they do from muscle imbalances. But the whole world focuses on the muscle musculoskeletal, but they're missing the neuro, right? And so you can see from the explanation we just gave that you're feeding all of that at once when you're focusing on that central mobility. And I was even at, so speaking of physical therapist is ru, you've heard the story before. But I was at a certification for mobility and that was in a room of a hundred people at least a hundred people. And they were all trainers, CrossFit instructors, therapists, all that stuff. And I was the only chiropractor that I knew of in the whole room. And I recognize at that time several years ago. But I only know what I know and I don't know everything.
(13:09):
That's why I was there to learn mobility. But he starts off with a quiz for the whole crowd and he shows two videos of one of a female, one of a male. He said they both had the same problem and the squat they were doing were very different looking, very rigid male, very hyper mobile female. And he said, What's the problem? Why aren't they doing the squat properly? And he went around the whole room almost to the end out of 105 people, he went to 102 and stopped right before me in the back corner of the room. And everybody got it wrong. There were like tight heel cords and shoulder mobility and they had every other reason and he stopped right before me. And at that point I was getting nervous cuz they said so many answers I didn't even know. I was like, I don't know, could be, I don't even know anything about that.
(13:50):
And I said, Well if he asked me I'm just gonna say spinal mobility Cause that's the only thing I know that I can say for sure would be a issue. And exact he stopped before he got to me and then he said everybody got it wrong. The answer is spinal mobility. And I couldn't believe it. I literally stood up in my chair, I stood up and I was like, yes, I would've got that right after everybody got it wrong. But it was really the only answer I knew. So but anyway, so the point is is that even top physical therapists certifying hundreds of people every weekend and and mobility as a whole starts off the whole seminar by saying spinal mobility is a key. So if you don't believe us, he can believe him. And he's been on Good Morning America and all the news channels and all the special shows with Dr.
(14:34):
Oz and all that good stuff. So anyway, spinal mobility number one most important thing and some other quick things you mentioned like foam roller certainly is one way that you can help get some spinal mobility and throughout the entire spine really if you have spinal home care and specific spinal rehab that's been prescribed for you, of course that's the best way. If you have your molds and things that you're laying on that would definitely be it. And then something you can YouTube this, it's called six-way stretching. If you wanna get specific to the neck and shoulder area and it's just simply, it's actually holding your head one way. It's rotating your head towards that direction and doing a stretch. It's rotating your head away from that direction and doing the same stretch and, and then you do the opposite side and what it does, it just addresses the anterior, middle and posterior portions of the neck.
(15:22):
So by the time you're done doing all six, you've got around the whole neck area, take that along with your disc cause you're moving that and all three planes forward, backward, side to side and in rotation. And these are just great things to do anytime, especially if you sit a lot, which is just about everybody nowadays we do 'em a lot around here cuz even for the, we sit less than most, what am I trying to say? We sit less than most careers I guess we're up here and around and run around a lot, but we still do it. The other thing that I think is important related to this is when do you do it? So timing, so what to do and then when to do it. And this is something that I learned years ago and it's only continued to reinforce itself over and over again because we talk about how injury prevention and having core mobility is really important and neurological control the muscles.
(16:13):
But the other thing is when you do it, do you do it before or after workout? And when I grew up and even actually I was getting certified as a trainer, they were barely starting to change this. So even in my lifetime this has changed dramatically. But we would always stretch before and after and that's what I was you stretched before and after workout. And most people don't stretch at all. First of all, let's just say that most average person just, they run in, they do their workout and they run out. They do not spend quality time stretching. And so hopefully that changes after this podcast today for everybody listening. But pre-workout a lot of stretching, pre-workout actually being recommended against more and more nowadays. Because if you really get too much mobility of your body and you're doing a lot of stretching, then depending on what movement you're about to go do, it can actually set you up for more injuries.
(17:07):
And that's what the research has shown is that if you do too much stretching, just regular, like random stretching, whole body stretching, even before workout now, it creates too much mobility where you actually needed things to be a little bit tighter in order to prevent injury in that workout. So they actually are recommending that before workout you only do warmups within the movement that you're going to do. So if I'm gonna go for a run, I might start by walking obviously similar motion and then work my way up to my running you know, could speak more on this but more of my technique. And then into staying in that good technique. Now I'm warm and everything like that. If I'm gonna go lift weights, for example, if I'm gonna bench press, I don't need to do hamstring stretching, I don't need cold stretching, I don't need hamstring stretching.
(17:52):
I need to work on shoulder mobility before the workout to make sure that my shoulder can handle the load. Elbow, wrist, definitely cervical neck, mid and upper back. That's the stuff I'm gonna get moving properly. And then I'm gonna go under the weight. Right now once you've exhausted those muscles and now you have maximum blood flow to the area, if it's, and it running might be more so on the lower half. But in the case of the bench press now I have maximum oxygenation of the tissue. I have maximum, I have inflammation going to the area, bringing all these healthy cells, there's healing that's happening now and I already have that blood flow that's gonna give me more mobility. Now I take advantage of all of that work I just did and I get my mobility gains now I can get the extra two inches of movement in or stretch into my packs right into my shoulders. And then after I'm done that mobility, I've effectively recovered from the workout, I've helped mobilize all that fluid into the right areas to create more healing of that tissue that I just damaged with my workout. And now I can go into full recovery. We'd get into the conversation around hydration, nutrition, et cetera. So what, any comments about pre-post workout movement mobility there?
Brigitte Spurgeon (19:12):
No, I think that's fantastic. So then would you say that I would use the term more dynamic stretching, Would that be, so I know before running I would do things like high knees but kicks hip openers, the absolutely drill types of things. And I think intuitively I do like to do the deeper stretching post exercise or post workout. So would you say that your spinal care for falls then pre pre-workout as part of your prep because you're priming your nervous system and your discs?
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (20:00):
Yeah. And as you're talking there, I'm realizing we kind of missed one explanation that's gonna tie all this together and be specific to your answer. So you're already kind of asking questions past it cuz we already know all this stuff. But the difference between mobility and flexibility, that would be the, that's the key there. So when we're talking, I keep saying the word mobility over and again and I, I'm just realizing that maybe our listeners and watchers maybe don't know what the difference is. So mobility is speaking to movement of the joint. Flexibility is speaking to the elasticity of the soft tissue, your muscles, the range that's critical. That's understanding. So now this'll make more sense for everybody. So before the workouts you were just saying you're working on, you're, when you're doing butt kicks and all that kind of stuff, right? Movement prior to you're not getting extra stretch into your hamstrings and quads, you're getting maybe a little bit of stretch, you kick your butt at first it might be a little tight then that quad might loosen up a little bit.
(20:56):
But really what you're doing more important than anything, your hips moving in the joint properly. So you're getting mobility of the hip joint, you're getting mobility of the knee joint, the ankle joint, all the little joints of the feet. You're getting tons of good active motion lubrication of those joints. That's the critical part. Without stretching too much of the soft tissue so that those joints go beyond their normal range when you're running. Cuz then that will cause damage. Whereas post workout, you want to maintain mobility but shift to flexibility. Now you're gonna do your hamstring stretching and those bad boys are gonna go two inches further, right? Yeah. Cause they're so warm. All that fluids there, all that stuff. And same thing in my example beforehand I'm getting shoulder mobility, elbow mobility, wrist mobility, spinal mobility. I'm gonna get on a foam roller I'm gonna stretch over a Swiss ball, that kind of thing. I'm gonna hang from a bar maybe before I get under the bench. But then afterwards I'm getting full stretch. Now I'm gonna get all that fluid moving in and out nicely and I'm gonna get my gains and my flexibility through those muscles. So that the net difference, because anytime we're working out we're gonna get shortening of the muscles is gonna be the net effect. Cause that's just gonna be a natural result of that run. You're going to get tight afterwards unless you work on some flexibility.
Brigitte Spurgeon (22:17):
And another word too that I would focus on pre-workout is activation. So for me, I want to activate my core and my glutes are normally my main focus, but depending on the workout, it could be hamstring or something. But very, very, because I think we underuse our glutes, but our glutes are designed to be a large strong muscle. And so if we underuse 'em, then we're going to strain overwork other muscles and that's gonna set us up for injury. So for me I learned this through precision fitness. And so my husband and I both are intentional about activating our glutes even before a long hike or before a run so that we can engage them when we're doing the movement.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (23:06):
That's perfect activate. And the best way to activate so and so it's mobility and then it's activation. And the best way to activate is to do whatever movement you're about to do. So if I'm gonna squat as I'm gonna do lunges or whatever, then I'm gonna do some air squats before I do squats with weight, I might do quarter lunges to get ready for lunges, that kind of thing. Yep, absolutely. That's really good. And so when it comes to just a quick synopsis to catch us up to speed here. So pre-workout mobility activation, do the activity and then in your cool down you're gonna get your loose hamstrings and your loose shoulders and all that good stuff so that they don't tighten down too much. And so now the net stress to your body has been minimized while the net gain has been maximized through the activity and because there's less stress, there's less injuries, better recovery, quicker recovery, et cetera, et cetera.
Brigitte Spurgeon (24:02):
So what about, go ahead. What about the person who says, Well I don't really engage in an organized working out or activities, I'm not a runner or swimmer or I don't lift weights, but I want to be healthy. I don't really have a lot of time. So on a daily basis I believe in incorporating, even if it's micro habits daily <affirmative>, because those will have long term gains. And so if someone is focused on health and longevity, they want the benefits of the mobility and fitness. If there maybe two or three things that someone could focus on a daily basis that took no longer than 20 minute, 15, 20 minutes, watch. So we've identified spinal spinal care, spinal mobility, that would be a focus. What would you group into those things that we should be incorporating daily? But if we're not going out running or we're not going to the German lifting weights.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (25:04):
So I'm gonna say some things and I'll give explanation real quick for, let me, I'm say something about mindset. We've already talked about hydration or alluded to hydration to maintain supple tissue cuz dehydration will, even with the best mobility routine, you you'll lose that battle eventually if you stay dehydrated and oxygenation. So let's talk about those things a little bit. But the mindset thing is it as you said that, I'm sitting here remembering that just in the last two weeks I had a conversation about someone who's big into gardening. They don't work out, they work at a school setting, so kind of stressful environment running all over the place. But their stress relief is, and they do not work out in any capacity, but their stress relief is gardening. And so the explanation that I gave her is that, what I'll tell everybody in response to that is first of all then it's like you have to think of yourself as a garden gardening athlete.
(25:54):
Or if it's corporate America and I don't have time to work out, you're a corporate athlete, you don't get a chance where you don't have to focus on movement mobility if you're not doing it to some degree, no matter what it stay at home mom, you're the homeschool athlete like you, teacher athlete. You just have to completely change the mindset that you like. Mobility is not an option because everybody that comes in this office that did not focus on mobility, did not work out exercise to some degree in their lifetime. All they do is spend the next however many years fighting for freedom cuz you lose your freedom to move. And if you lose your freedom to move, it is, it's almost like this all of a sudden people get this phobias, I'm not gonna get to go out, I'm not gonna get to move.
(26:36):
You don't win that battle when everything's authored, degenerated, dehydrated, desiccated, all the bad words when that spine comes in and there's just nothing left of it. Now we're just managing pain all the time and hoping to God that we can go on the two hour trip without having to lay down in my car and I can still walk when I get there. That sounds extreme, but I'm not talking about 60 and 70 year olds. We see that in 40 year olds. It just depends on how much damage you've sustained and how much you know, haven't focused on maintaining your mobility and frame anyway. So that's the mindset is it's not. It's for everybody. Whether you do it or not, it's still for you. And then we change the mindset and then it's always the same conversation though. It's the same rules apply that we already talked about.
(27:19):
So gardening, what are you gonna do? Well when you garden, you're going to squat down, get on your knees, you're gonna be elongating your torso maybe to reach and that kind of thing. You're gonna be lifting things up that are greater than 15 pounds a lot of times. So you have to think ahead and say that's your workout. And now I'm going to do mobility in the areas that I'm gonna, which is probably total body in that sense because you're gonna, So what am I gonna do? I'm gonna do some lunges, I'm gonna do some squats. Are you, you're kidding me? You're telling 65 year old women to do squats before they garden. I'm a hu. I've said that for 15 years. I've been telling 65 year old women to do squats before they go out and garden all day long. That's exactly what you do.
(27:59):
And then what do you do? You do core, you do activation, you definitely need core activation because, and the thing is that if I have a controlled environment where I work out, it's actually more protective of me because literally the bar changes the dynamics to in my favor of protecting me. So now if I only activate core and spine, I'm not gonna hurt myself doing a squat with a bar. However, if I'm gardening and I squat down, it's almost always, rarely is it ever linear. It's almost always dynamic. So I never squat down perfectly to get in the garden. I do one knee down, I have a twist and a bend, I reach over, I put one arm down and then I have to reach. So it's a extremely complicated movement that's actually happened there mechanically, right? And so it's more important that you would do your movement and activation, your mobility and activation prior to gardening.
(28:53):
As an example at the office, you look sit sitting like this for eight hours or six and a half outta eight hours is an endurance sport. You are demanding endurance out of all your core stabilizers. And so it's the same thing. So how you would approach some type of endurance activity, those muscles, you're putting a great demand on them for extended periods of time. That's an endurance sport. So mindset, understanding, all those things. And then it's hydration again it doesn't do any good to we've done, I think we've done whole podcasts on hydration maybe, right? So go back and listen to that podcast so you can understand how to more effectively. But you have to have hydration focus. So if you're not hydrating the tissues, then the joints aren't gonna be lubricated, the muscles cannot be restored properly if you drive all that fluid out and it needs that fluid to come back in to create healing and get you the gains that you're looking for with your workout.
(29:46):
Or if we're talking about the corporate athlete or the teacher that's not working out, it's just gonna cause the aches and pains I tell all the time. And in that episode I'll summarize it by saying, I've seen as much as a 50% reduction in fibromyalgia symptoms when they just hydrate the muscles feel better when they're hydrated. So just lots of pain reduction right there. Better than Tylenol would work in that scenario or whatever. And then breathing. So part of that conversation around hydration is oxygenation. And so we want to make sure that we're perfusing. Perfusing is actually when you breathe the oxygen in, but then can you perfuse it? Can you get it to the tissue? How good of lung function and pushing oxygen to your blood and blood transporting its tissue, How good is that process? And so we can actually do things to practice to improve perfusion, I guess is the idea there.
(30:40):
And we of course in this office teach us 4, 7, 8 breathing because which really takes into bonus content here when it comes to exercise, the focus for our elite athletes, Olympic athletes which looks like we're gonna be working with more here soon. We got some cool announcements there coming around the corner. And then professional athletes their focus has gone from their sport to recovery. And so the more that they stimulate their parasympathetic nervous system, the better they rest, digest and recover, then the better they are when they're stimulating their sympathetic nervous system, which is the dominant performance I'm gonna tackle my day, I'm gonna tackle my sports side of the nervous system. And so when we hydrate oxygenate properly, and then that actually drives us actually more so into parasympathetic, which is recovery. So we go into our sport, we go into corporate athlete world, we go into endurance sports, whatever it is with a recovery mindset so that I can continue to do this for the decades to come. And the bonus is that you get better digestion and all that stuff out of it. So kinda a long explanation of how I tell patients every single day to approach it. That is my, If they say, how do I, I'm tight, what do I do? I say, Well what are your activities? And then we get into this exact discussion.
Brigitte Spurgeon (32:03):
Yeah, I would say if you wanted to get the benefits of exercise without exercise breathing techniques. And so yeah, we teach the 4, 7, 8 I, I've done one half breathing and really enjoyed it Sandy. And I did that for three months leading up to climbing Kilimanjaro for prep for the altitude, but also it also actually helps in the cold. And so I've done it in prep for polar plunges and I think that's a really, really good, and it's actually nice to measure your gains with that because you, your time, how long you can hold your breath. And then box breathing is a simple one too. So those would be the three breathing techniques that I would suggest for pick one. I guess they have different purposes. So for 4, 7, 8 is really good for priming the nervous system. Whereas WM H is really good pre-activity. If you wanna go and knock out some pushups after doing some WM hop breathing, actually you're gonna see the gains in your strength or in for a run or something like that. And then box breathing that was actually, was that created by Navy Seals maybe? And so that that's
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (33:31):
Designed, I think a lot of people use that stress. Yeah, that's more, more focus, mental focus and clarity I think is, they all do a little bit of all of it. But yeah, that's definitely, cuz nobody would be able to say that WEM health isn't giving you laser beam focused. Cause it most definitely does, right? But yes, so you have different kinds that do kind of focus on different things. Yeah. Now that's awesome. And I was at a continued education thing this weekend. It had nothing to do with oxygen. And yet we spent the whole weekend talking about oxygen. I mean, it just wove its way into every discussion. It was a mastering functional blood chemistry. So it was talking about running blood work and how to interpret it from a functional level. And you just kept talking about oxygen all weekend to the point where I was just sharing with Bridget beforehand, before this episode actually bought a new device to be able to measure continuous O two saturation while you're sleeping because it's that important.
(34:21):
And there isn't a process in the human body that doesn't require oxygen, but especially when you're putting higher demand on it through exercise, through stress of any kind, not just exercise. And if you want proper, again, prep before the workout and recovery afterwards, again, there's a high demand for proper oxygenation and perfusion. Awesome. Yeah. Well I think that's gonna wrap us up for today with this episode on movement mobility for everybody. I mean honestly, really, we talked more today about movement, mobility, exercise at the most foundational level for every single human. And then maybe in future episodes, if people wanted to, we can get into more performance. And obviously you could teach hours and hours on endurance. I'd be happy to talk about other energy systems. But if you have any requests, if you have any questions as it relates to exercise, movement, mobility, oxygenation to tissue, anything we talked about today, make sure that you reach out to us, ask us through Facebook or you can contact us directly with any of the links that are associated with this podcast. So thank you very much for tuning in and we look forward to checking in with you next time. We'll see you soon. Thanks for joining us today on True Health Solutions Podcast. Make sure that you click to subscribe. Also go to our website, www.truehealthcharlotte.com, where you can download any resources related to today's show or any future shows. And lastly, if you search for True Health Center Group on Facebook, you'll be able to join our free health community. We look forward to seeing you there.
