Podcast: The Functional Medicine Fellas | What Is It? & Who Are They?

PODCAST: Ryan Welage and Alexander Jimenez, both medical students at the National University of Health Sciences, discuss the several new approaches that they developed in order to help people continue to engage and participate in exercise from the comfort of their own homes. Using their advanced understanding of functional medicine, biomechanics, and nutrition, they undertake explaining simple methods and techniques for complex movement protocols. Moreover, Alexander Jimenez and Ryan Welage discuss how diet can be an essential element in overall health and wellness. Dr. Alex Jimenez offers additional guidelines with the Functional Fitness Fellas, among further advice. – Podcast Insight

[00:00:11] So we are live, so at this point right now, we’re discussing exactly how we’re gonna go with the approach. Guys, can you hear me OK? Yeah. Yep. OK. Hey, Ryan. Alex, how are you guys doing? [00:00:23][11.5]

[00:00:24] Pretty good, not too bad. [00:00:25][0.8]

[00:00:26] Hey, listen. Very well, hey, well, today we’re gonna discuss a little bit about what you’re doing. Specifically, we’re gonna be talking about functional fitness. And the idea is that these two young men have been performing. Now, Ryan Welage and Alexander Jimenez are medical students out there at the National University of Health. And we are going to talk about specifically functional fitness and the things that they’re doing out there. So we’re bringing us to the community and we’re going to broadcast and we’re gonna see how it’s actually going live. So right now, I do see that we’re on Facebook live and it is propagating to quite a few people. So a little bit about what functional fitness is and what you guys decided to do now. Functional means that we find the proper way of movements and dynamics. But I’d like to know a little bit about what you guys did when you guys developed this new organization called the Functional Fitness Fellows. What are the functional fitness fellows? Either one of you guys can answer so. Hey, Alex, why don’t you go ahead, knock it out and tell us what you’ve done. [00:01:30][64.0]

[00:01:32] So when we first decided to do the idea, it was more out of necessity. We came up with the idea. So during this whole epidemic in a quarantine situation, we kind of were forced to find new ways to work out. And Ryan and I came to the realization that. You know, bodyweight stuff usually wasn’t going to cut it. So what can we do to really start implementing some sort of resistance and him and I started taking a look at…� [00:01:59][27.2]

[00:02:00] Kind of weight sets and where to order them and they were overly priced, kind of supply and demand took hold and weights, they were weights that are normally 200 dollars were now a thousand dollars and vise versa. It started to get way too expensive for someone who is either in college or are on a limited budget to be able to afford it. [00:02:21][20.2]

[00:02:21] Plus, we had to lug these weights from the second floor out into the parking lot every day, which is gonna be a hassle. So we looked into the second-best option and it turned out to be resistance bands. And I had already started using resistance bands either in the gym or in the CrossFit stuff as I was growing up, but I never really implemented a way to really focus exercising and hitting each muscle group, and I kind of just hit Ryan up and I told him, hey man, why don’t we try these resistance bands and try to see how they work and we ended up really, really liking them. And then we started coming up with a protocol and then that’s where the idea flourished that we could provide the public with this information on how to do these exercises from anywhere. I mean, from the playground to a door to an anchor that’s stable in the house or outside, you can really just implement these. [00:03:07][46.3]

[00:03:08] And that’s kind of where it sprung to life from. The types of exercise you came up with. They’re really amazing. I got to see what you and Ryan were doing. Tell me a little bit before we go into that, Ryan, what is your background and tell us a little bit about? Because I did introduce you guys early on, but I didn’t tell them your background. And I know that Alex and Ryan have an NC double A background history where they are champions in their own right. Ryan, you’ve done a lot of, you know, national championship in basketball. Tell us a little bit about what you’ve done in terms of your fitness and in the sports you’ve been involved with. [00:03:45][37.9]

[00:03:46] Yeah. So I grew up, I was an athlete from a very young age. [00:03:51][4.1]

[00:03:52] I’ve been a lifelong basketball player. And in high school, I got to be a part of a really good high school team. I actually won back to back state championships. I had finished my high school career with a record that’s about one hundred and seven. I think I’m like second all-time in state history in school and in percentage I own the record for our school, most points in a season in our school history. So I got the opportunity to go play Division one basketball. And so I did three years at San Jose State University, which is in a very good conference in the Mountain West. And I had a good career there. My junior year. I started all three years. In my junior year, I averaged over eighteen points a game, shot really well from the field. I was a very efficient player. And so I actually graduated in three years with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, which I think is really served me well with what Alex and I are doing. And with chiropractic, you know, I took a lot of biomechanics classes, a lot of anatomy and so on. But sport wise, I graduated in three years with that. And then I got to kind of transfer up and do my senior year Xavier, which is a nationally renowned basketball school, very good school. And so I got to play my senior year there and pursue my master’s degree. And so after my senior year, I actually had some options to play professionally but I ended up turning that down just because even though I loved basketball and athletics, it’s always been a big part of my life. I ended up turning a couple of overseas offers and a couple of the NBA Developmental League offers down to go to the National University of Health Sciences and pursue my dual chiropractic-naturopathic doctorate degrees like Alex’s. You know, with that kind of background…� [00:05:42][110.4]

[00:05:44] You probably experienced a lot of exercise protocols that you learned in kinesiology and that probably came into effect while you were actually doing this particular protocol with Alex. Alex, tell us a little about you and what you’ve done in the past in terms of your fitness experiences and your dynamic sports. [00:06:02][18.3]

[00:06:03] So when I was younger, it was mainly football, which we kind of got introduced into wrestling. And as I wrestled throughout the years, I mean, we went to a bunch of national tournaments, did it pretty decently, won a state tournament in high school, got offered and wrestled at St. Cloud State University for a little bit. And really, I mean, we were exposed to a lot. I mean, I got to work with Danny, who pretty much invented the ideas of CrossFit before CrossFit was CrossFit. And a lot of it was a lot of resistance training and a lot of weird dynamic movements that he was preparing me for, whether it was hand-eye coordination, neurological stimulation, or other kinds of forward-thinking methods that he applied in our training methods. [00:06:47][44.0]

[00:06:48] And so I got the CrossFit background and did a lot of martial arts growing up, and wrestling. So between the flexibility and agility and strength training with bodybuilding and kind of getting the whole dynamic movement through the connective tissue and development with CrossFit, kind of got the ability to hit all these angles from different points and not only training but understanding the physiological effects on the body with different training methods. So with either wrestling and stuff like that, we got exposed, not only myself, Ryan as well, to a bunch of different training methods that not a lot of people have seen or have only done one type of those methods. [00:07:27][38.9]

[00:07:28] You know, when you look at both of you guys, you can see that there’s an enormous amount of experience and a lot of life experiences that made a big difference in terms of your fitness awareness and dynamics. [00:07:38][9.9]

[00:07:40] How’d you guys meet and what did you guys do in terms of forging this new relationship with the functional fitness fellow? How did the genesis of that begin? [00:07:49][9.3]

[00:07:51] Well, I guess in terms of our meeting, it was kind of our buddy, Pete. We just sat in the front and we had this really talkative dude that wouldn’t shut up the first day of classes and we’ve come to love him. But it was really funny because actually Pete brought us together and we kind of just ended up studying and we always sat in the front row. And Ryan was always really good with the muscles and anatomy. And I was always good with the biochemistry. I always geek out in the front. And Ryan knows I love biochemistry, huh? [00:08:21][29.8]

[00:08:22] So you guys have some biochemistry experience, right? Yeah. [00:08:24][2.3]

[00:08:25] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. [00:08:26][1.1]

[00:08:28] Alex is a big help in biochemistry classes. He’s helped me learn so much. [00:08:32][4.1]

[00:08:33] Well, I got to tell you. You know, one of the things that you guys bring together, you bring together a new world of awareness in terms of biochemistry, biomechanics, and putting it all together. [00:08:42][9.2]

[00:08:43] You guys are the new wave of understanding. I’d like you guys to tell me a little bit about and you guys can, because I’m learning about what you guys are up to. Tell me a little bit about what you guys do in functional fitness. What is it you guys do and how is it teach you guys, progress the process and go through the protocols? Because I know you got some videos because people want to know what this is about and understand what they can do in this new world order of being know enclosed. And they want to have ideas as to what they could do that actually bring about great fitness. So why don’t you go out and take it from there, guys? [00:09:15][32.2]

[00:09:18] Ryan, I know you like to talk about…exactly what the purposes of functional fitness and the guys. [00:09:24][6.2]

[00:09:25] Well, so we know there’s a lot of well-meaning fitness influencers out there, but we really wanted to bring a more scientific approach to it, a more evidence-based approach, because we felt that there really was a lack of solid movements, a solid exercise out there, especially the social media sphere. I mean, I know a lot of the stuff that, you know, we might even take for granted would really be revolutionary if, you know, the average personal social media was to hear it. So we really just wanted to bring our knowledge. And we both have really unique backgrounds. We’ve seen a lot, we’re well educated in the sciences and anatomy biomechanics as well as we’ve both gotten to work with a lot of really elite strength and conditioning coaches. So we really just wanted to bring that knowledge as well as our own unique touch to it and share it with people because we really think we have a lot to offer. [00:10:18][53.4]

[00:10:20] That is awesome. Let me ask you this. The rubber band idea. How did that meet? How did you guys begin with using rubber bands and dynamic movement poles? This new apparatus that really doesn’t cost much money, you can actually, could, you know, from what I’m seeing here, what I’ve been able to understand. You can actually convert your whole house into a fitness center with minimal expense. [00:10:39][19.9]

[00:10:40] Is that correct? Oh, yeah. I mean, the way they kind of blossomed was really…� [00:10:45][5.0]

[00:10:48] I just spent maybe about eight or nine hours sitting through YouTube videos, and it really dawned on me what Ryan and I could provide the public with. [00:10:57][8.9]

[00:10:57] When I sent him the video of this guy who has 10 million subscribers and he looks at the camera and says, the hamstrings originate at the iliac crest and then goes back to explain why we should be doing deadlifts because it originates at the iliac crest for those of you who don’t…� [00:11:15][17.9]

[00:11:15] It originates at the iliac tuberosity and I’m sorry, the ischial tuberosity. [00:11:21][5.3]

[00:11:21] And that’s like a totally different ballgame of the mechanics and movement. To those of you who understand anatomy, to those who don’t. It’s about like 10, 15 inches away from the right spot. So I looked at him and I was like dude, we could honestly take this to a whole different ballgame. I mean, this guy’s not even a licensed therapist and he’s providing millions and millions of people with the wrong information, not only of where things attach and function, but as well as the movement of certain things. I mean, I got blessed to have a father who at 40 years of bodybuilding experience. I mean, I got to work with coaches who had 30, 40 years even more if you compound the knowledge that they have for wrestling. I got to work with trainers who worked in the functional movement since the 70s and 80s when this resistance band was a thing. And I was like, you know what? Let’s give it a try. You know what? I’m the type of person that will try everything at least once. You know, if I don’t have any experience, that I’ll give it a shot. And when I got these bands and Ryan and I started working out, it was more of a, we had like a two week period where we’re like, OK, this works, this doesn’t work. This is complete B.S. This is legit. And then all of a sudden we started making up our own movements that were extremely similar to those in the gym and no one had come up with those types of movements. It was just different angles of application. And all of a sudden we started getting better and better at it. I always have my own 48-hour rule that once you spend 48 hours in something, you start getting comfortable with it. And I think that’s after around 20 or 30 workouts, we started getting really comfortable, Ryan and I, with these movements and we had solidified a set of movements that we really liked. I mean, Ryan knows, I mean, every day we’d come up with a new movement and we’d say, OK, this is what we should be doing. [00:13:10][108.5]

[00:13:10] OK, this work, this works perfectly. This doesn’t work at all. Let’s skip that. [00:13:14][3.4]

[00:13:14] So, you know, when we look at this, this is very revolutionary. And the dynamics of it, coming from people, individuals that have done high-performance training. Has this type of fitness actually kept up the part and actually made you…� [00:13:29][14.9]

[00:13:31] Is it as intense as like training, let’s say basketball or even wrestling, is it? Does it do that kind of, does it get you as hyped up and energy expending as those other exercises would do? [00:13:45][13.5]

[00:13:46] You know, I was telling Alex, I think I’m actually in better shape and I’m actually getting a little stronger now that we’ve actually been in quarantine. And it’s really interesting. And Alex actually found a few studies that were done by some physical therapists that strength training with bands, actually recruits more muscle fibers because it’s active by activating the stabilizers. And so you can feel it. I mean, me and Alex actually kind of went through a learning curve. I think anybody that goes with bands that’s only been lifting with dumbbells or barbells especially, you’re going to feel it’s going to work it a little differently. [00:14:23][37.3]

[00:14:24] It’s going to, you’re going to feel a little differently and you’re really gonna have to actively stabilize. [00:14:28][3.4]

[00:14:29] And so I think and like Alex is saying, you can really do almost everything that you would normally do in the weight room just with bands. And so you can increase and decrease the tension, but you’re adding in that stabilizer effect. And I know the word core and activating your core is kind of, gets thrown around a lot out there. But using bands really does make you stabilize your core even more. [00:14:55][26.8]

[00:14:56] And so I absolutely believe I’m in just as good a shape, if not even better, I actually just weighed myself a few days ago. And Alex has a scale at school that we were able to weigh in, I’ve actually gained I’ve actually gained a couple of pounds since quarantine. So I think so. I absolutely think that it’s not just something that you can use to just maintain. You can use it to get better. [00:15:17][20.9]

[00:15:17] And we actually, you know, get better during quarantine, just stronger. [00:15:20][2.8]

[00:15:21] You know what? One of the things I did notice when I started watching these exercises is that YouTube has totally juxtaposed body shapes, you’re an ectomorph, which is a really tall individual, tall for even tall people. How tall are you? 6′ 9″, OK. And Alex, you’re about what? How tall are you? I’m 5’8. So we got about a foot difference. And we’re gonna be watching the videos and we’re gonna see how the dynamics work on that. I don’t know, which one of you guys has the videos cued up. [00:15:49][28.4]

[00:15:50] I am right here. I can screen share those really quickly. [00:15:52][1.8]

[00:15:53] Do me a favor. Go ahead and screen share those. And talk to me as you’re doing this stuff, because I really want to understand exactly what type of procedures you’re actually doing. As you can see that you got Ryan there. I see Ryan. I see Alex in the background. You’re going to fuzz it in. But now we’re gonna go ahead and get those. Tell us a little bit about what’s actually going on. You take it from there. [00:16:12][19.2]

[00:16:12] But so here, let me download that. So kind of what’s going on here? And we’re doing just some regular rows here and we have Ryan kind of working out. [00:16:19][6.7]

[00:16:21] And we can see that we have kind of like an anchor. This was originally intended to be a dog anchor, but we use it on our own little method here. So as you can see, he’s doing the regular types of rows that he would be doing in the gym instead of a linear movement. He’s actually stabilizing not only his core or he’s using his quads to stabilize. He’s making sure that his erectors are keeping him propped up and proper so that way he can work those rhomboids in the upper parts of the trap and the posterior dealt correctly. [00:16:51][30.0]

[00:16:53] And it’s just a whole stabilization mechanism. I mean. They always say that the king of lifting is a squat and the squat is the king of lifting because it forces you to stabilize not only your legs but your core as well as your upper body. And with these banded exercises, you’re getting the same effect and stabilization in all points of movement, not only just in the muscles being worked as well as the accessory muscles. [00:17:18][24.1]

[00:17:19] Ryan, you were doing this particular exercise and you’ve done, obviously, you know, back rows. How is this different in terms of what you’re doing? Because you look like you’re locked in space and you’re holding a whole lot of muscles engaged that typically you would never even think of using when you would be doing the regular, let’s say, a pulley row. What’s going on here? Tell me a little about what you were feeling. [00:17:39][20.6]

[00:17:41] Absolutely. That this exercise is a full-body exercise. I mean, as Alex said, you can see my thighs and hamstrings are absolutely engaged. [00:17:50][9.7]

[00:17:51] And your core has to be engaged. I mean, you have to be able to stabilize and hold yourself in place. As an aside from that, the bands, they provide so much tension on the way back down that again, it forces you to recruit all the stabilizers and then also to recruit your legs, to actually support you, to keep you from being drawn back in. So that exercise right there, aside from obviously just being a regular row on which, you know, you could get on a rowing machine. But the difference is this is truly a full-body exercise. And so it really is more functional in that way. That’s a full-body exercise. It’s a natural range of motion. So this is actually one of my favorite exercises that we were able to come up with. [00:18:32][41.0]

[00:18:32] Two things I’ve noticed here. You know, when you, when we work on fitness and we require people to do a certain exercise, we always tell them that you’ve got to start from the core. It looks and it appears that you got your core engaged in this entire movement through all ranges of motion. Is that what you’re feeling? [00:18:47][14.7]

[00:18:48] Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, if you let go for a second. I mean, I would fall forward. You absolutely have to be clearly engaged. Again. Yeah. That’s something that there probably will be a learning curve for people that have just been barbell training. They probably haven’t been used to actually having to keep their core engaged with a whole range of movement. [00:19:10][21.7]

[00:19:10] But I think that they are training and even this particular exercise especially can really help them with the…You know, the level of neuromuscular reeducation. [00:19:19][8.3]

[00:19:19] I mean, that’s occurring in the body. It’s adapting, many of us when we started lifting weights for the first time. We ran into a, the first time we had neuromuscular reeducation on the squat. When you pull the squat bar off the very first time, if people can remember when they do squats, they were all over the place. It took about three or four days of learning how to grab a barbell and actually bringing both your legs together. [00:19:42][22.8]

[00:19:43] It’s the same thing that’s happening here because you’re actually training the brain to engage the entire body at the same time. Alex, what is it you’re doing here on this particular one? [00:19:52][9.0]

[00:19:53] So here we have just a different variation of shoulder press. The cool part that I really liked about these is that not only are you forcing the concentric reaction, which would be all the way up, but the eccentric has to be controlled. [00:20:08][15.1]

[00:20:09] And not only did I realize that my delts were working a lot harder, but it was really interesting because on the eccentric, on the way down my lats were actually having to engage a lot more. So I was not only working in those, but I was also having to work my lower back to keep me forward to stabilize my core towards the front that way I wouldn’t fall forward and I had to really stabilize almost every part of my body, become almost like a contraction, just to be able to do the exercise there. [00:20:33][24.1]

[00:20:34] You know what I’ve noticed, too, as you’re doing this, it seems like the rubber bands are giving a forgiving range of motion. In other words, it allows the joint to follow its normal glide. In other words, it’s not going to force you in a position that is abnormal for the joint because it appears that it gives. Is that what it’s given here, too? [00:20:55][20.9]

[00:20:56] Oh, yeah. The cool part about these is that I mean, on the bottom here, it felt maybe like. Hundred pounds or shoulder press and towards the top with all-around one eighty-five. So it’s following the natural strength curve of not only the joint but as well as the muscle. So as you go up higher, it gets heavier. As you come down lower, it gets lighter. So allowing there to be less stress on the joint and more focus on the muscle. [00:21:22][25.6]

[00:21:23] This is absolutely an amazing experience when you see this. This is not a normal range of motion. This is actually a normal rep. It is amazing, it’s progressively changing as the distance changes and it seems logical. But if you can notice, there’s only one rubber band here. Is that correct or is that two? [00:21:40][17.5]

[00:21:41] That’s what well, the cool part about this is that this is a 40-pound rubber band. So in a linear-pull, the rubber band pulls 40, but if you bend that rubber band in half, you’re actually getting 40 on each side. This is a total of 80 pounds here. [00:21:56][15.0]

[00:21:57] Wow, and by the time it was in the top, you felt the load. [00:22:00][2.1]

[00:22:00] And yeah, so around here it’s around 80 pounds. Let’s say here, felt around one hundred. This is just an obscure measuring method and we need to solidify these numbers. But it did feel around one eighty-five toward the top there. [00:22:10][9.9]

[00:22:11] Now we’ll take a look at someone, let’s say, with different body mechanics. Let me see. Here we go. [00:22:16][5.8]

[00:22:19] And we can download this. Is that, by the way, just out of curiosity, was that the same cable? Was that the same rubber band? [00:22:24][5.4]

[00:22:25] This is a 30-pound rubber band. So we could see that Ryan is a lot taller. So the farther he is away from that point of contact, the more it’s going to cause a higher load there. [00:22:36][11.0]

[00:22:37] Ryan. How did you feel about this one? Tell me a little bit about what you were experiencing on this one. [00:22:39][3.0]

[00:22:40] Yeah. So like Alex was saying, it does fall natural strength because, at the top of the movement, which is where you’re strongest, it’s actually heaviest. But where you’re weakest, which is a lot of people, you know, they get caught as they go down. They can’t get back up. But it falls a natural strength curve and actually allows you to do more weight where you’re strongest, which is something that you can’t do, obviously, with a bar bill. So as for this specific movement. Alex and I were really working on kind of the incline bench, which I think a lot of people would think of. You know that the weight room is closed like there’s no way I can do an incline bench with this, but all you need is something that you can put in the ground. And Alex and I had this thing at school here. But we also, Alex and I looked into something that we can actually buy to help tell people what to put in the ground. And so we actually found a shed tool that we can talk about at some point that we were able to link into the ground that has a hook like that so that we can hook it in the ground and then put that cable through and be able to do this exercise. [00:23:45][64.8]

[00:23:46] Now, I notice that you’re doing this outside and you used it. You show different areas. Now, I do notice that on some of these times when you do have some videos, I have some videos here of you doing things like show, actually, Ryan. [00:24:00][13.9]

[00:24:00] I have a video here. I’m going to go ahead and show my screen just a second here. [00:24:03][2.7]

[00:24:04] And what we have is Ryan doing a specific type of procedure. Show us your screen, here it goes. We’re gonna go in there and there we go. We’re going to share and we’re going to share right now. Now, this particular one, you can actually see that you’re doing this in an area that’s just any anchor. Is that correct? [00:24:24][19.4]

[00:24:25] Yeah, yeah. And the cool thing about that is that that jungle gym had a lot of different anchors. But again, we found a way that you can do this inside your home if you just have any door that you can actually put a slip through. [00:24:39][14.1]

[00:24:40] It’s got a little ball on the other side. Keep it in place. And so you can actually young hook the bands to that. And so any door you can do this. So we’ve really found a way to just do this anywhere. [00:24:49][9.6]

[00:24:50] But obviously, we wanted to train outside when we could. In this particular one right here, I actually have Alex and you’re showing and you’re talking about the bulb actually holds around the door, correct? Alex? [00:25:01][11.1]

[00:25:01] Yep. What is it, what’s going on here? [00:25:04][2.2]

[00:25:04] What are you doing here? So we’re doing pullovers, the same thing that you would do to get that serratus anterior to prevent any scapular protraction. A lot of problems with that is that some people really don’t work that serratus anterior. So they have problems with those scapulars protruding outwards and it causes a little bit of an effect to be able to be put in a range of motion that is not stable and causing scapular whinging. So by strengthening those? You can prevent that. [00:25:31][27.3]

[00:25:32] Ryan, you were doing some other exercise. I’m gonna take you to this one, this particular one. I’ve noticed that when I’ve always lifted weights, I’ve always known that there’s always the best exercise for a motion. And one of the most common ones is the incline bicep bilateral curl. When you lean back and you actually do curls. This looks very similar to it, though. You’re leaning forward. You’re actually getting a good pull on the bicep. What is it you’re doing here in terms of this one? This is not a bicep exercise. This is a what is this one? [00:26:03][30.5]

[00:26:04] So we were hitting lower. We were in the lower pecs with this exercise. So we were yeah, we were actually keeping our arms straight and got it. Makes sense. Yeah. So we weren’t hitting the bicep. We had a lower pec there. [00:26:16][12.5]

[00:26:17] So the lower pec on this one is the one that you’re doing this not for biceps I can tell you didn’t curl the arm that much. So straight. So how did that feel? [00:26:24][7.1]

[00:26:26] I mean, again, that is a great hit on the lower pectoral muscle. Yeah, I mean, those again, that’s something I never really felt before I hit bands actually isolating that lower pectorals muscle cells. Yeah, that was another great exercise. [00:26:41][15.6]

[00:26:42] This particular one I’ve noticed here. Alex, tell me a little bit about what you were doing out here. [00:26:46][3.2]

[00:26:46] Let me, if you want. Let me share my screen. Go ahead. You got it. [00:26:50][4.0]

[00:26:55] These are amazing exercises. Guys, you guys are really up to something really amazing here. [00:26:58][3.4]

[00:27:00] Here we have kind of just more of a regular chest press. So the cool part about this is that my upper torso probably weighs, let’s say, around 100 pounds roughly. And this band right here is actually a one hundred and fifty-pound resistance band. So on the bottom part, it’s around one hundred pounds and towards the top, it’s around a three hundred pound chest press. So kind of going into the movement. It actually feels like a pretty heavy. Push up. Really? And let’s say that you’re stronger than this, right? Just add another band. If you’re still stronger, just add another band. And I don’t think anyone’s gonna be doing a 500-pound push jump anytime soon. So you’re getting a pretty good amount of resistance in the proper mechanics of it all towards the top. It is heavier and towards the bottom, it is lighter. Allowing your pec to get that full range of motion while preventing possible areas of injury. [00:27:53][53.8]

[00:27:56] Wow. All right, so you got some cool. What other stuff do you got in there that you were looking at? I saw that you had a lot of others. Oh, yeah, we got tons of videos here and let me see because I think everybody wants to see what’s going on here. I’m really interested in this. And if you could tell me a little bit what you’re doing now in terms of that one. Amazing. Look at that. [00:28:16][20.1]

[00:28:19] So here we’re doing a kind of an almost like a squat press here. And we’re kind of just playing around with the ideas. But it turned out to be a really good mechanism. I mean, before Ryan had gone home, we were doing resistance bands, squats, and we’re getting around the same. I mean, probably had about 10, 15 bands on this thing while we’re doing squats, but it was still around a three to four hundred pound squat while you’re doing it right. [00:28:42][22.9]

[00:28:43] What are you feeling here? What do you feel like? That’s just amazing. I’ve never, I’ve worked out for years, I’ve come from the 80s and I have never done a squat where you’re actually doing a shoulder press. The only thing that would become close to this is a snatch or a cleaning jerk. And those kinds of things would actually bring. This is an Olympic lift. [00:28:58][15.9]

[00:29:00] Yeah, yeah. There’s another great one we came up with. [00:29:02][2.5]

[00:29:03] So we were able to load the squat more in later sessions or for this one it was a little light. It’s a little light on the squat part, but it really loads the press over the shoulders heavy because again at the top is where you get the most tension. So it’s really a great overhead shoulder exercise. And again, just the way that the band moves, it’s so much safer for the shoulders. I told Alex that my joints are actually because I was using mainly dumbbells with some barbells as well before. And so my joints actually, they really feel better than they have in a long time from using these bands just because they allow such a natural range of motion. [00:29:44][40.5]

[00:29:46] Look at this man. You guys went out there and it looks like it’s a little bit cold out there, too, huh? [00:29:50][3.8]

[00:29:52] Little bit. Brian says it’s a beauty day outside. It’s 30 degrees outside. [00:29:56][4.5]

[00:29:58] I did like to train outside. [00:29:59][0.8]

[00:30:00] You know what? That’s the beautiful thing about it. You got, this is just, it’s amazing. [00:30:03][3.4]

[00:30:04] What’s going on here? We have a variety of wrist curls to strengthen the flexors of the forms. [00:30:09][5.4]

[00:30:11] And actually, it’s pretty heavy there. I mean, even though it’s a 40-pound band, we’ve kind of not only bent the band in half but bent it almost into three different quadrants. So by the time you bring it up to the proper stabilization, it’s definitely around 50, 60 pounds of a wrist curl. [00:30:24][13.6]

[00:30:26] That is amazing. [00:30:26][0.3]

[00:30:30] And again, yes, there’s no way to do this without engaging the core. There’s no way. [00:30:34][4.0]

[00:30:37] What’s going on here with these tricep pushes, right? Yep, so tricep extensions here. Here’s another variation of it. [00:30:43][6.3]

[00:30:58] Ryan, you’re going to have another career in photography. [00:31:00][1.9]

[00:31:00] I can tell you now. Alex taught me quite a bit about photography. He had a camera but yeah I was just trying to get a good angle. [00:31:12][11.7]

[00:31:12] And we spent a lot of time filming each other, you know, trying to make these videos for people. I think I really improved. Oh, my goodness. Going to show. Alex. [00:31:23][10.3]

[00:31:23] What are you feeling here in terms of the triceps? Because you can see the angle pull changes dramatically as your body’s putting it in the, what is it? [00:31:31][7.6]

[00:31:31] So if we pause it here and take the triceps out for the movement. Let’s talk about what needs to be stabilized in order to be able to even do the movements. So not only do we have the core stabilization, the rectus abdominus from stopping you for being pulled up, but you will also have the serratus anterior and the posterior muscles preventing you from coming up, as well as preventing any movement in the shoulder area. So by locking in the shoulder, you’re forcing all these muscles in the upper body to stabilize as well as the… [00:32:03][32.0]

[00:32:06] The lateral side of the pec. I’m sorry, but be able just to do a tricep extension so you can see as I’m getting tired here. [00:32:12][6.7]

[00:32:13] You see, I’m kind of starting to come up a little bit more than I was originally keeping that stabilization form there. [00:32:18][5.6]

[00:32:23] What kind of pumps do you guys get? You know do you guys feel the same swole, I guess that you would feel if you’re lifting weights, or is it something that’s a little bit different? What do you feel like after? You’re mentioning, Ryan, that you felt really, really sore? How did you feel when you were doing these things? How does the muscle feel different? [00:32:40][16.9]

[00:32:43] Yeah, I mean, again, I feel just as good as a pump from using bands as I had ever felt from using barbells. I mean, I think it’s… [00:32:51][8.5]

[00:32:52] The way we’ve been able to assess some of these exercises up and down, again, you’re talking about recruiting the stabilizers, you’re actually recruiting more muscle fibers which need more blood flow. So you’re gonna get a great pump using bands. There’s no doubt about that. [00:33:07][14.3]

[00:33:08] Alex, you mentioned to me after you started doing this kind of workout, you noticed your body changing in a different way. What did you notice? [00:33:13][4.9]

[00:33:14] I noticed that I had more stability. That’s a good word as well as I had less body fat built onto me, too. I usually aim for about 15 to 20 reps on every exercise that we do here. The important part of these is to explode on the way down, but control on the way up. [00:33:33][18.8]

[00:33:35] And forcing that eccentric stabilization is a big key factor in a lot of these exercises. I’d say it is not in most of these exercises and you really get more of a burn with these type of things too. I noticed it, the main way that I noticed it was, let me see if…�[00:33:50][15.5]

[00:33:51] I can find the video here. Ryan, in this particular one that you’re doing, the tricep. [00:33:56][5.0]

[00:33:56] Does the lockout happen when you lockout, is there a lockout or is it under a constant load that prevents the lockout or is the lockout real difficult to attain in terms of the extension of the arm? [00:34:06][9.9]

[00:34:07] Yeah, it is very difficult to obtain because, yeah, as you said with the bands, there is constant tension and there’s a constant need to stabilize. It forces you to stabilize at all times. So we were a little all over the place when we first started using bands. And I think a lot of people when they first do it, too. They’ll kind of be a little all over the place while almost shaking a little bit faster than they do something exercise. But again, it’s amazing how fast you can adapt. And it really teaches you to contract in a new way. [00:34:38][31.0]

[00:34:39] Alex, this particular, this is the one I thought Ryan was going to do the other time. How did this feel in your biceps? [00:34:44][4.6]

[00:34:45] I felt really, really good. It’s honestly probably biceps have benefited the most from these types of workouts because it’s under a constant load and it gets heavier as it comes sorts of the top. You and I, we used to train. We always used to force a negative on everything. This is just negative in itself with everything you’re doing. It’s getting heavier on the way up and getting lighter on the way down to really allow that muscle to work in different mechanisms. [00:35:09][24.2]

[00:35:10] There really is the ability to go into the muscle and to really benefit from the concentric and the eccentric in a way that has never been done. It’s always been known. And when you lift weights, the concentric was the idea. [00:35:22][12.2]

[00:35:23] But as fitness became much more science, they found so much in the eccentric motion that was part of the training that actually developed the muscle that this is actually pulling. And this is maintaining the load on the absolutely eccentric and being kind to it on the way down, which is typically where most people get hurt on the eccentric, not on the concentric. They get hurt on the eccentric on the extension or the opening of the muscle. This actually it actually prevents a load that would reach maximal pull and actually may hurt the tissue. So this is really, really amazing in terms of its structure when you actually study it. What are you doing here? [00:36:03][40.5]

[00:36:03] You’re going to concentrations or something similar? Concentration curls here. And it’s actually really, really good for the bicep there. As you know, I tore part of my bicep when I dislocated my right arm and to be able to work in such a manner and actually break up that scar tissue and work through it. It’s really, really good. [00:36:22][19.1]

[00:36:23] Truly great. You guys, you’re offering a huge amount of diversity in this presentation just because you’re dealing with different body types and you’re watching the body adapt to it. Which ones are you doing here? These ones are flies or these are? [00:36:35][11.8]

[00:36:35] Yep. These should be flies here. [00:36:37][1.2]

[00:36:44] Nice stabilization, you’re forced to stabilize really nicely, right? [00:36:47][2.9]

[00:36:48] Yep. And you can almost see I kind of wobble a little bit at first because it caught me off guard again. It really takes a bit of getting used to because you’ve really never been forced to stabilize like that. I mean, if you just go to a machine, the you know, the cable machine at your local gym. They’re not going to force you to stabilize in the same way that these bands are going to the way we’re doing it. So is it ever really a completely different feel. And when people get a chance to do this, they’re going to be able to tell what we’re talking about. [00:37:20][31.7]

[00:37:22] What else you got in there, Alex. Some cool stuff, you know. Yeah, let me close this here and let me see. [00:37:28][5.6]

[00:37:38] I say this is probably a good one here. [00:37:40][2.5]

[00:37:41] Ryan hates these, but they’re good. Yeah, wrist extensions. [00:37:44][2.9]

[00:37:47] So I started looking into, the reason I started trying to do a lot of wrist work was I got lateral epicondylitis, otherwise known as tennis elbow. And it’s actually a weakness in the extensor carpi radialis brevis. And by being able to strengthen these you actually allow the forearm to get a really good pump. And not only that, but it pretty much works really well. The abductor pollicis longest as well as the brevis to some extent. But yeah, these are really great for wrist extensions. I really love these, I’ve fallen in love with them and I probably won’t go a day without doing some sort of wrist exercise. [00:38:22][35.1]

[00:38:23] Oh, guys, I got to tell you, this has been a very much of a learning experience for myself watching what you guys are doing from a physiological state, just from what we do with patients here at our office. [00:38:35][11.9]

[00:38:36] We’ve done a lot of exercises and rubber bands it’s really a new addition over the last I’d say last decade or so, but it’s gone from just a simple level of exercise work to very complex science. And I think that you guys are forging this new, fundamental physiology motion or kinesiology motion. And we’re learning a lot here. What do you guys take from this? And I like to hear from both of you guys because I want to understand what it is you guys are doing and what we have to look forward to with the functional fitness fellas and what you guys are going to do with this new protocol and program in the future. [00:39:16][40.1]

[00:39:18] We’re gonna do a lot of different things, I mean, Ryan has an extensive background in how to be an NC double A athlete while being vegan. I personally don’t do well with carbs, just my genetic genotype, but whether it’s from diet to exercise to, let’s say, a book of the week to discuss different contents. Gonna be going into different things. And the cool part about these bands is that I’m sure, you know, it was learning about the X and Y access as well as the Z-axis in terms of rotation and anatomy. And the cool part about these bands is that it forces muscles on every plane to be working to stabilize the movement of that one isometric contraction of that muscle. So we’re getting a lot of different movements and a lot of different implementations, a lot of different ideologies that are being worked. And once the weight room opens up again, we’re gonna be doing videos on how to use bands in the weight room, how to implement them on free weights. There are different mechanisms, different ways to tie the hands up and not only from them, but the world’s best powerlifters use resistance bands to get those heavier weights. If you can do a three hundred and fifty pound squat with two bands that equate to 250 pounds in each of them, you’re gonna be able to squat 800 pounds like it’s almost nothing. [00:40:30][71.2]

[00:40:31] Ryan I was watching some videos where you were actually doing some, you know, kind of like a hack squad. [00:40:35][4.7]

[00:40:36] I think it was a hack squad or some sort of leg press where rubber bands were attached to the machine. So this is like a hybridization process where you not only are you using standard machinery, but you’re amping it up with rubber bands and getting the double the benefit because now you get the rubber band constant eccentric load along with the concentric blast of a machine. What is it you guys were doing there in the gym? Because I don’t have that particular video, but I do remember I got that video. Let me share that to you. [00:41:04][28.3]

[00:41:06] Yeah. So we had hooked up a band on to each side. [00:41:11][4.9]

[00:41:11] And again, I think that’s part of what we can do once we come back to the gym is we’re actually going to integrate the bands with, you know, some of the barbell and dumbbell machine and some of the other stuff. But again, I really like how it tests you where you’re strongest, but it allows you to do more reps because with more weight, according to your natural strength or because it’s heaviest when it’s at the top. But it’s lightest at the bottom, which is where you’re the weakest. So that’s one of the things I really love about bands I think a lot of people can take advantage of. [00:41:46][34.2]

[00:41:46] You don’t even have to change the weights that much you actually just keep the same weight on if you want to go if you want to do more you can do more. But this is amazing how much that load increases during that period of time. Wow. Well, I’ll tell you what, I look forward to hearing from you guys and seeing exactly what’s going on, learning about the nutritional components and the things that you’re gonna do with the diverse presentations that you guys are going to have. So let me ask you this. What are we looking forward to in the next one? Because I know we’ve got one scheduled, I think, within a week. I look forward to it and we’ll go and start broadcasting that one. But I want to be able to learn different concepts and ideas from this. And I can see that the people that are watching this, they’re obviously gonna see that, you know, with a bag, with a bunch of rubber bands in it. Is it expensive to get into this? A hundred bucks. [00:42:29][42.6]

[00:42:30] Everything we bought. A hundred bucks and you just basically amped up your gym, huh? Exactly. I mean, the problem with right now is that everyone bought resistance bands so they’re a little bit out of stock for a lot of these and a lot of people are charging absurd prices. So what we’ll do is we’ll try to find you guys some credible sources to buy these resistance that we’re also gonna be putting and launching on our website within the next week or two, putting all the videos up, their description in each of these videos, a little bit about us, background and everything. Ryan is gonna be taking the vegan supplemental thing to a whole new level. I’ve learned a lot of things from him in terms of types of foods that would favor your microbiome as well as help your gut function better through him. We’ll be doing shakes, we’ll be doing books. We’re gonna hit it all. So there is no single topic, we’re gonna hit it all from a functional perspective. That’s why we are the functional fitness fellows and we’re going to be kicking ass and taking names showing you what works and what doesn’t. [00:43:25][55.0]

[00:43:26] The biochemistry, because you guys are really I mean, I’ve seen the work you guys have done in the biochemistry. Ryan, I was looking at your website. You got some good biochemical reactions and studies that are on your website. So I look forward to understanding a lot about the vegan mechanisms as a way to deal with your diet and along with your workouts. It just in a short just a little synopsis of that. What kind of things do you do, particularly what is your philosophy in terms of vegan approaches with little level of athleticism? Because it really is rare to have this level of diet. And I’m not too sure you met many people in your sport that were vegan. But tell me a little bit about your awareness of vegan and how it began. [00:44:11][44.5]

[00:44:12] Yeah. So you’re right. There are not too many high-level athletes that are vegan, although it is a growing movement. But so I really. Let me quickly tell the story of how I went into it. So my junior year of college, while I was at San Jose State, you know, I was playing almost the whole game, every game. So I had a high workload. But so I had really bad shin splints. And I obviously I was in the kinesiology program, I was researching information and all this stuff and I was looking into the biomechanics and I thought my biomechanics were pretty sound. So I’m like, OK, that’s not it. And I’m looking at the nutrition and what I was finding that some of these animal products, especially the ones that aren’t grass-fed, you know, they have a lot of hormones. All this stuff and dairy particularly, they have the potential to be more inflammatory, as I can’t talk about on my website. Part of the reason is that because they have a higher omega 6 to omega 3 ratio, and so that omega 6s, they become arachidonic…� [00:45:12][60.4]

[00:45:13] Acid on the biochemical pathway and then they become this molecule called p.g 2, which is 100 times more inflammatory than the p.g 3, which is the byproduct of omega 3s. So these omega 6s are causing a lot of inflammation. And so once I actually went to a fully plant-based diet, I found that I was having terrible shin splints and I kid you not that my shins completely went away in three or four days. It was really, it was profound. There was a profound difference. [00:45:43][30.4]

[00:45:44] And I kind of went on to learn that I wasn’t the only one that had had this type of experience and a lot of people had benefited from a plant-based diet. And I was obviously interested in nutrition and continue to study it. But that was kind of how I started, I personally tested it and I had amazing results. And, you know, I’ve found that it speeded up my recovery actually I wear a trackable one. I found that my resting heart rate actually dropped by three beats per minute when I made the switch, which I thought was pretty incredible. My heart rate variability went up. So I saw some profound physiological changes. So I just never went back. [00:46:20][36.2]

[00:46:21] I got to tell you, this is what I want to hear about that. Maybe we can do that on the next one that we talk about, specifically the vegan approach to your training. And this is an amazing thing because I know, Alex, you were doing something you were sharing with me about the days you eat, the higher proteins and eliminate the proteins or the high meats or those chickens or just the animal-based proteins. And on days that you don’t train as hard, you changed your diet plan. So I want to learn a lot about this because I think that it’s so important that people understand what you guys who are actually on the front lines of learning medicine today are doing. So I look forward to having you guys. I want to thank you guys today for taking this time. And it’s been a little bit intense, but it really has given people an insight as to what’s going on. And I hope that the individuals watching this really have learned something and can take it to another level. This is a really amazing time. It’s a time where we’ve been quarantined, so to speak, and we’ve come up with some creative ideas. Any words or thoughts from you guys before we leave guys? [00:47:24][63.2]

[00:47:27] We’re ready�for the information. [00:47:27][0.5]

[00:47:29] I appreciate you for having me on. Oh, no. We’re gonna be doing this. So you guys are scheduled for the next, it’s already broadcasted. I think it’s next week and I’ll hook up with you guys and it was a blessing. [00:47:38][9.3]

[00:47:38] I’ll have the recordings out to you guys. You guys have a great night. And thank you for sharing your time. I really appreciate you, Ryan. Alex, for taking the time to teach us these things because I want to know and I know every one of my patients want to know what’s going on here. So thank you for bringing it to us, guys. I appreciate it. Hey, have a good one, guys. Blessings, okay? Bye Bye. [00:47:38][0.0]

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Neurotransmitter Assessment Form (NTAF)

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The Neurotransmitter Assessment Form (NTAF) shown above can be filled out and presented to Dr. Alex Jimenez. The next symptoms that are listed on this form are not intended to be utilized as a diagnosis of any type of condition, disease, or syndrome, as well as any other type of health issue and complication.