Scott McGee is a police officer and the man behind The Sisu Way podcast. We talked about one of the most important people in our lives, our fathers. Scott’s father lost the battle against cancer and he dedicates everything for him as well as his goal of becoming a great father for his own children.
Sarah Rudder is a marine corps veteran who has an unquestionable dedication and heart for service. During the 9/11 terror attacks, while nursing an injury she got from 3 days ago, she was on a ceremony to get her promoted to lance corporal when a plane hits the Pentagon. Still hurt, Sarah took off her sling and rushed to the site and literally became the first responder. While serving her wounded fellow soldiers, she broke her foot.
Prior to the incident, Sarah is already getting treatment for a chronic pain that she got after an injury during boot camp when she was going into the marine corps. The injury from 9/11 did not help with the treatment as she suffered from pain. Ultimately, Sarah decided to get an amputation as the treatments are giving her more harm than good.
On this episode, Sarah Rudders tells us the story of why she chose this path and these topics:
The moments before and after the Pentagon attack
Traumatic brain injury and PTSD
How she got the pain she suffered from
What prompted her to get her left foot amputated
How pain medications brought more surgery and pain
What’s it like to suffer no pain
Contact
To connect with Sarah Rudder, you can visit her on Twitter at @sarahjrudder
Geoff Ledford was a college student when he first found out of his condition as his friends noticed that his left leg is not properly working. Geoff had a couple of specialists diagnose his condition and they did not deliver. Finally, when he encountered Kaiser, the company put all effort and resources just to determine what was happening to him and found out that he is suffering from some kind of muscular dystrophy or muscle degeneration.
Geoff is currently working with Kaiser for an experimental treatment for his condition.
On this episode, Geoff talks about some of these episodes:
Finding out that his left leg is weak and not properly functioning
How the medical industry won’t help if you are not familiar with your condition
Importance of being a “master” of your condition
What helped Geoff to face the slow process of healing head on
The moment he found out that the experimental treatment actually works
Contact
To contact Geoff Ledford, you can email him at geoffledford@gmail.com
Alex De La Campa is a retired US Navy veteran who served at the Naval Special Warfare. Alex is born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he was stationed in Chicago, San Diego, and Coronado naval base and now he’s back in the Bay Area to study sociology at the San Jose State.
During his time in the Navy, Alex De La Campa suffered a severe injury on his inner ear and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that resulted not only in the loss of physical but mental and cognitive capabilities. Alex has undergone 14 months of slow and painful recovery to relearn some basic functions such as walking on a straight line.
On this episode, Dr. Theresa Larson is joined by Dr. Megan Graff in Iowa and some of the topics covered are:
Why Alex decided to join the Navy and almost joining the Navy Seals
How Alex got his injury and affected his plans in life
What prompted Alex to go back to college and study Sociology
The lack of support by the military on his rare injury
Alex’ advice to those also suffering with TBI
Reference to disabled thinking in this episode of Barbell Shrugged
Contact
To Contact Alex De La Campa, you can email him at delacampaalex@yahoo.com.
Dr. T from Movement Rx is here to talk about downregulation! Dr. Theresa Larson (Dr. T) is the founder and president of Movement RX, a physical therapy and wellness center based out of San Diego, CA. Her drive to inspire change has led her to help people help themselves.
She defines downregulation as,
“The biology of calm. More specifically it is a system of creating a more parasympathetic aka “rest digest state” in the body that is an aspect of the autonomic nervous system. It is a focus on helping your nervous system, specifically the sympathetic part, or “fight or flight” of the autonomic nervous system to flip to a more parasympathetic state: to relax, find calm in the mind and body, improve digestion, improve respiration, improve oxygen intake, and less mental scattering due to less tension in the body.”
At Movement Rx, we understand that those suffering from mental health issues, physical ailments, and pain do not always have the information needed to find solutions for these issues. Pain causes the body to tense up, while your mind and heart rate start to race. The source of the pain is not always where you might feel the pain occurring. According to Dr. T, “We have to heal you from the inside out.”
We do this using the following 5 steps:
Breathwork – Dr. T will guide you through proper breathing sequence as you start to breathe through your belly first and then breathe through your chest, followed by releasing your breath in the opposite direction. The target goal is a five second inhale with a five-second exhale. Instead of breathing shallow into your chest (upregulated), you should use your lung space at the diaphragm and pelvic floor, fully. This protects your lower back, making breathwork one of the most powerful tools.
Mobility – Mobility is about how your joints and soft tissue move. Dr. T shows you techniques focused on joint space and movement. She also presents tools to help relieve tension, such as the use of a ball on your shoulder while performing breathwork. Soft tissue work should be done a few hours before you train, or after. Joint work should be completed prior to your training session.
Stability – This is all about control of your body. By activating the right muscles using external rotation to gain stability before a squat, for instance, you gain controlled motion.
Retraining Movement Patterns – Stabilize your spine by bringing it to neutral, while focusing on the way you load your joints, and how you apply torque.
Sleep – A speedy way to heal mental health, fatigue, and your mood. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7- 9 hours of sleep per night. The way you sleep also matters. Dr. T shows you how to decompress the spine for proper alignment. She also suggests a cool, dark room to remove all stimulus and give yourself a cave-like environment.
Are you ready to try downregulation? Check out the video below!
Please welcome Dr. Theresa Larson to this episode of Hylete Live! Today we’re talking about her book, Warrior, which covers her story as an athlete/marine/woman who struggled with an eating disorder.
Dr. T knew that she wanted to get her story out, but writing it was a whole different animal. She was in grad school, tackling speaking engagements, and had a very busy schedule. But she was speaking at an eating disorder conference when she met a ghost writer who finally made up her mind.
The actual book writing process took Dr. T and her ghost writer a couple of years. They started writing the book in 2014, but before that Dr. T had to do interviews with publishing companies to pick up the book. A lot of the publishers wanted to bring out pieces that Dr. T didn’t want to, so she had to stand up for herself until she finally found one that just wanted to take her story for what it was: a strong woman, dealing with, and overcoming mental health issues.
While the book Warrior touches specifically on eating disorders, it’s a very relatable story. It covers addiction and how Veterans struggle with it and most importantly, how they can speak up and get help.
In our society there’s a huge stigma surrounding addiction, specifically eating disorders, and especially in the military. You’re supposed to be strong and not have struggles, but yet the book shows how you can be a strong woman and struggle internally, but also show strength by asking for help.
The process of asking for help is hard, no matter who you are. And not everything makes sense once you do ask for help. But as the book shows, if you can step outside of your comfort zone and trust the process and have hope, the despair will go away.
