[00:00:00] Ryan: Hey Everybody! What's up? This is Ryan, here with Andy and today on the Autonomy Show, we're going to be answering all of your Q's and A's with a little bit of humor, actually, a lot of bit of humor. So listen up, here we go. 

[00:00:13] Andy: Okay, so let's start answering some questions. All right.

[00:00:19] Ryan: Sounds great man. Bring ‘em.

Question #1: Muscle-up Transition

[00:00:21] Andy: All right. So, first question that we're going to get to is about muscle-ups especially on rings, but also bar. The transition is really hard. We get this question in some form, a lot, actually. This is from a guy named Ross if that's his real name, probably not. Nobody on YouTube use their real name. This is on our muscle-up transition video.

And he says he's been working on this for about a month, but just can't get the transition. "Maybe it's a false grip that's off. Not sure. I can do 12 strict pull-up. That's pretty good, but can't seem to get to the part of the transition where you press up. I can do the transition of the rings are low, like the baby muscle-up and even if I slightly jump a bit, but it gets discouraging."

So the baby muscle-up is our exercise for working on this transition. And if you don't know what that is, look for our YouTube video on it. But yeah. You can do a number of pull-ups you feel like you're strong in this, but if you're trying to get muscle-ups, the transition is tough. So what should somebody do? I mean, assuming that they are ready to be doing muscle-ups.

[00:01:30] Ryan: Yeah, and that's it right there. So assuming that they have that range of motion and the actual control. Key points when we're talking about this: it can be tough to know if you do have that range of motion and if you do have that control. So like we said, that's why we suggest starting off with the baby muscle-up, basically just lower the rings down so that you can start working on it.

Now there's two things to focus on when you are working in that. First off, can you keep your elbows close to your side while you're working on the baby muscle-up? So this is a big one. That's kind of a control thing, but it's also looking at the mobility. Thing is if you're flaring your elbows when you're working on the muscle-up, it's just going to make more difficult.

What I like to say is, imagine putting on a t-shirt. When you put it on your t-shirt, you have to keep your elbows close to your body. You can't really throw your arms out to the side. It's going to make it more difficult to get your shirt on. Yep.

[00:02:17] Andy: Hold on there because if you're listening to this, you probably put on t-shirts like 99% of the population where you stick an arm through and then you stick another arm through. Ryan apparently does both arms at the same damn time.

[00:02:30] Ryan: I do both at the same side. Yeah. That's, I'm a little different when I'm saying so. Yeah. Let me clarify what I'm talking about. Once you have both arms in your shirt, when you pull your shirt down, when you start to pull it down towards your waist that's what I'm talking about. So in that case, you want to keep your elbows in, but another--

[00:02:45] Andy: I just think it's great because you give this example all the time and I'll look around, like at a seminar, you'll be "It's like putting on a T-shirt." I'll look around and everyone's faces is like, what the --

[00:02:53] Ryan: That's hilarious.I never thought about that. I'm glad you finally brought that up after what? Like 10 years. But really the key thing that I want to talk about right now that we're after here is reversing the movement. And what I mean by this is actually starting from the top and lowering yourself.

Now, this is really what I found to be a great thing to help people in actually being able to build that strength, range of motion, as well as control in order to help them to get the muscle-up. Really that's just, it, you're going to start at the top position slowly, lower yourself to the bottom-most portion of that dip.

Okay. So it's, you're not doing the full dip. You're starting at the top and just lowering yourself, trying to get your shoulders to the rings. You're going to pause and you're going to count to 3: 1, 2, 3. From there, you can either have your feet on the floor or you can do it with your feet floating doesn't matter but in the beginning, probably best to do it with your feet on the floor for assistance. 

What you're going to do is you're going to go through that transition. You're going to let your hands come in front of you and stop. And keep the rings on your chest. So you're not under the rings at all. You're kind of holding yourself back and you're going to pause right there, keeping your elbows in 1, 2, 3, then complete the transition and you're going to work on being able to do that gradually getting to the point where you don't need to have your feet on the ground. 

Like I said before, this is going to work on that strength. It's going to work on that control as well as the flexibility and the mobility that you need in order to help you with that. Once you're able to do that, start at the top slowly lower pause at the bottom portion, sit back, keeping the rings on your chest, elbows in, pause in that position, then you can put your feet on the ground again and slowly work on that full transition going into the transition from the bottom portion, reversing the motion, like I just said. 

So really that's it. Starting at the top and doing a backwards muscle-up if you will, in order to gain that strength, flexibility, and control. That's what I've found to really help people out a lot when working on the muscle-up.

[00:04:58] Andy: Yeah, and I think it's not an uncommon technique to do negatives for muscle-ups. And of the reasons for that is just that it is a position or range of motion that is uncommon, that is unusual to be trying to put power into. So if you can reverse through that, you're going to be building that sort of sense of how that should feel but not while trying to put power into it at the same time.

[00:05:25] Ryan: Yeah, the power will come last and that's when you'll really have to have an explosive pull to be able to get your chest up to the rings but really focus on that reverse portion of it in the beginning in order to build that strength and flexibility and control. Yep.

[00:05:37] Andy: Yeah. And would you say that this is significantly different? I mean, the transition obviously is different in both the rings and bar for muscle-ups, but would you say, would you use a 

[00:05:47] Ryan: Similar, Similar. You can use the same thing. What I like about the rings is that they're a bit more forgiving in terms of, you can move your hands a little bit. If you don't have that range of motion that you really need, but it'll work the same way.

So if you can get above the bar, maybe have a box or a chair or something that allows you to get above the bar and then slowly reverse that motion, that will also help as well.

[00:06:09] Andy: Okay. And also check out the baby muscle-up video that we have on our YouTube channel because that is a good kind of training wheel exercise for being able to develop the strength in that part that you really need to get around the rings or especially around a bar. It can be a little more difficult with a bar since you can't adjust the height of it but like Ryan said, use a box or a chair.

[00:06:29] Ryan: Yeah.

[00:06:30] Andy: And it can really help out. Cool.

Question #2: Seal Walk; Wrist Mobility & Strength

[00:06:33] Andy: Okay. So next let's get to another one. This is from one of our more recent YouTube videos. We've had a wrist mobility routine, a wrist warmup routine. It was kind of handstand- focused on our YouTube channel for quite a while.

And we a couple of weeks ago added one that is a wrist strength building routine that kind of adds a few things to this. And one of the questions that we got "Is the seal walk  (which is one of the exercises in it), is it bad for weak or sensitive hands and wrists?" And it's a good question because well, it's a strength building routine so you are putting pressure on the body. So is that particular one, something that people should avoid if they are sensitive or weak?

[00:07:14] Ryan: Yeah, good question. Now the thing is in terms of bad movement or not, I don't believe there are any bad movements. I think it's just the way that they're performed. And really if you're ready for that particular movement or not. So this is another example of that. 

I think the movement itself has a phenomenal movement if you're ready for it. Now, how do you know if you're ready for it?

[00:07:34] Andy: Hold on for a second there, we would not be putting a movement.

[00:07:37] Ryan: Yeah.

[00:07:38] Andy: As a recommendation out into the world. If we did not think if we thought it was a bad movement, to be clear about that.

[00:07:44] Ryan: Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Oh, but yeah, coming back to the movement, the thing is like anything is you've really got to work up to certain movements. Now just because I say that you should work up to a particular movement doesn't necessarily mean, by the way, that this movement is advanced.

And so it could be easy for one person depending on their strength, their range of motion, as well as the control that they're bringing into whatever movement that is. And so while you might find the seal walk to be quite difficult for you, maybe be due to a wrists or maybe you're feeling it in the shoulders or maybe in the lumbar. Doesn't necessarily mean that the movement is advanced and we don't feel it's a bad movement.

Now, when working with movements like this, the main thing to take into consideration is first off, do you have any pain? And the way to really check with that is you can try out the movement, but whenever you're trying something out, always do it slowly. If you just quickly try and do a movement, then it's not going to allow you to have the necessary control that you might need in order to catch yourself before you move into a bad position for yourself.

So that's why we like to say that to slow it down. Another thing, especially with the seal walk in particular is I do give examples in this video where you can modify the movement in the beginning and slowly work up into performing the full movement where you're extending your legs and back letting your hips not fall, but bringing your hips closer to the floor. 

The way to do that is you simply kneel. And so you start in a static position. And then you try with your fingers facing towards your knees, with your palm flat on the ground. The first order of business is, can you comfortably perform this position statically? 

So that's important before you start to put anything into motion, first figure out are you able to perform this movement without pain? Do you have the necessary range of motion? Do you have the strength and the control to be able to stay in this position? Then once you start to put it into motion, then what you're going to do is you want to modify that movement. In this case, you're going to be on your knees.

So it's basically a crawl with your fingers facing towards your knees and by slowly doing that, and then slowly walking your hands out a little further, letting your knees stay behind, you can slowly move into the further range of motion, checking, assessing your body to see if it's ready for it. If at any time you start to feel pain, then don't do it, back off if you feel that it's too much. 

For example, does it feel unsafe? That's a huge thing. That means that you're not comfortable with the movement, then back off a bit, it means that you're not ready for it. Again, it doesn't mean it's a bad movement. It just means that you need a little bit more time in a previous version of that movement, getting in more volume, focusing on working on improving your strength, flexibility and your control in order to gradually work on that next variation or progression of that movement.

[00:10:45] Andy: Cool. And another thing. The routines that we post online, especially on our YouTube channel, we have a few routines and we get a lot of comments. There's usually one or two exercises that are working things that are common weaknesses for people. 

So like for our hip mobility routine, that would be the frog stretch. And that's because most people don't turn their ankles and knees out very often. So it's a movement. That's very uncomfortable for people. And so there's a range of concerns and many of them are legitimate. Some of them are kind of dumb like "this routine has sucked so bad because the frog hurt me."

No. The routine is actually excellent. You're welcome for the routine. We happily provide the service for you. The routine is actually really good, which is why so many people have gotten great results from it. But you are having problems with this movement because well, maybe it's not appropriate for you.

And here's the thing out of eight movements, out of the five movements in this wrist video, out of whatever, if one of them is something that's very challenging for you or that you find puts you in an uncomfortable position, you're welcome to just omit that one. Now, granted the routines are put together to have a synergistic effect where different ones are working from different angles and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts right?

But for example, with the wrist movements, okay. If your hands and wrists are very weak and you find you don't have the strength for one of the movements, doing the other movements in the routine will help begin to build up your strength so that you can then after a couple of weeks, maybe try again adding in the other movement that you're finding challenging.

I think that this is an approach that works for a lot of routines where you will probably find that one movement or one exercise is more difficult than the others for you because what you've done is you've identified your weakness. That's great. And you might be able to start working on it right away, but you might not be ready to start working on it right away. And what you can do is do the parts you can do, and then use that to get you ready to do the part that has been inaccessible for you. 

Question #3: Out of Shape, Where to Start 

[00:12:52] Andy: Alright. So moving on. I'm going to use words that were typed into our Facebook. But this is a question we get a lot, a ton of times, some variation on this.

So this is about Elements, I believe. And it's asking, "Is this suitable for someone who's really deconditioned and out of shape. I've had some major health struggles and have greatly impacted mobility. And I've been experiencing pain. I've been a yoga teacher (or sometimes someone will have been in a sport or been active in some different thing) since 2013, I desperately miss that relationship with my body. Even though I'm hella out of shape, could this work for me if I took it slow? Do you modify the moves down for a little fitness? I definitely want to get back into doing things and this looks really cool." 

So that's the question is, if you are out of shape, a lot of people have had this experience. They've been active before they've played sports, and then life happens. We have a more demanding job. We have families, we don't get to do those things anymore. And a couple of years down the road, we find ourselves, a lot stiffer than we used to be. And we look at things and we wonder if we can do them.

Yeah, that's the question. Is this accessible? Is someone able to do this if they are out of shape?

[00:14:00] Ryan: Yeah. Fabulous question. And again, like you just said, Andy, this is one that we get all the time. Now the answer is not going to be something maybe you want to hear, but sometimes it will be no. And the reason that I say this is because it's really gonna depend on what "out of shape" means. Okay. Let's just in fact, just simply look at the wrists here.

Our program Elements is very wrist intensive. So what this means is if you're not comfortable being on your wrists, or let's say that you don't have the experience of having been on your wrists for a long period of time recently well then, you're going to have to work up and to be able to do that. On top of that, if by being out of shape you mean, I'm just going to say it, that you're overweight.

Well, then that could be a very big problem. And the reason why is because you're going to be placing extra load onto your wrist for a longer duration of time. We don't want you to injure yourself. And so what might be best is for you to focus on easing yourself back into actually doing activities. It could be something like, for example, focusing on just simply moving your body more throughout the day by maybe walking more, not running. I'm not suggesting you go out and run, just try and lose a bunch of weight before you do Elements. It's not that. It's really getting yourself back to a point where you're comfortable being able to move your body again.

Yes. There are modifications that you can do in Elements that can help you to be able to ease back into things. But I just want to be clear that if you do have issues in being really out of shape and you're not comfortable being on your wrist, then let's ease into this program rather than jumping in and thinking that this is going to be the answer to everything as you move forward in getting back to feeling comfortable like you did when you were in yoga.

[00:15:47] Andy: Yeah. And I think that it's really important to understand that if you are out of shape and you want to get back into shape, again this really does depend on what in-shape means to you.

[00:16:00] Ryan: Right. Yeah.

[00:16:01] Andy: But one of the things is that people worry that they have to be in shape before they can do the things that get them in shape.

[00:16:10] Ryan: Right,

[00:16:10] Andy: Right. We'll get people saying, "Oh, well I can't stretch because I'm not flexible." Well, brother,

[00:16:16] Ryan: That's why you got stretch. Yeah.

[00:16:19] Andy: This makes you a prime damn candidate right there. And this is the thing. Ryan rightly said that in some cases it might not be for you if you are so out of shape or if you are the specific flavor of out of shape that makes trying to support your weight on your hands dangerous like if you work in a cubicle all day and your wrists already sore from that and if you are overweight and haven't done this kind of movement before, you're putting a lot of stress on those joints, which is why in Elements especially, we definitely recommend for people starting out to do the shortest 15 minute sessions--

[00:16:54] Ryan: Right, right.

[00:16:54] Andy: To begin. We had a client not too long ago who emailed us and said, she's been doing two 45 minute sessions a day for several weeks, and now her wrists are hurting. And yes, that is true. That is too long to be spending putting weight on your wrist for most people. And so you have to start out modulating this. But a lot of people too, it isn't to say that you shouldn't try things.

[00:17:18] Ryan: Exactly. Exactly.

[00:17:20] Andy: When we talk about like maybe walking, it's not, that's not a cop out. We love walking. Ryan and I both take long walks. Walking is a staple of GMB. So don't think that's "Oh, I have to walk instead of exercising." Walking is great for you. Please do more of it.

[00:17:35] Ryan: Yes, exactly. And so to come back to what Andy was just saying. And this is good, if this is also the case where like Andy said, " I'm not flexible, therefore I can't do..." No, this is going to help. Definitely. It's just a matter of really easing into things. 

And so the example that Andy gave of one of our clients doing a 45 minute session, over the course of a month, that's a lot. So if you are coming into this and you're just getting back into the swing of things, I really suggest, like Andy said, to start off with that 15 minute session, ease into it, doing it every single day is probably not going to be the best for you.

First off, look at doing it two, maybe three times a week. See how things go. Make sure, aware of how you're feeling when you're doing it, take care of your wrists and just go easy and work yourself back into it nice and slowly.

[00:18:23] Andy: Yeah, definitely. I've made recommendations to a lot of people to do a 15 minute session one day then take walks the next two days, then another 15 minute session. Really the great thing about these programs, I mean I'm completely just shilling our stuff here, but the great thing about our particular programs that we are geniuses for making, and you should absolutely buy all of them. The thing that makes them such a killer ultimate best program in the world is that they're so flexible.

[00:18:49] Ryan: Right. Yeah.

[00:18:50] Andy: It's not an accident, guys. We've done this on purpose because we've had contact with hundreds of thousands of people over the last decade plus and so they're made to be flexible for people in a wide variety of situations.

So you can ramp up gradually at a way that's right for you and then get into moving more and you can cycle them back through. So you don't have to worry that you're missing out on the exercise. We have people that have done the Elements more than 10 times.

[00:19:15] Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:17] Andy: And they're still getting more out of it. So, anyway buy Elements is best. It's the best program ever made by a human. 

All right. Next question. Okay. So the next one is something that we hear in different forms from time to time. And we also get this in our in our membership community, from our clients in Alpha Posse when people wonder when should they, or should they at all push through pain? And pain can mean different things in different contexts here, but should they be pushing through discomfort or pain in different situations? Or how do they know when they need to back off a little bit, e.g. slow it down or reduce the volume some or stop completely?

And I think that's a really big question when you are working on a program and you're seeing some results and you're feeling like you're doing stuff. But you do have something that's starting to give you some discomfort or pain and you don't want to derail the progress you've made so far. You don't want to lose your gains, but you're worried. So what's the right approach on looking at this and figuring this out?

[00:20:26] Ryan: Yeah. This can be a really tough one because we all have a different feeling as to what we think pain and discomfort is. And I just want to say first off, if you are recovering from an actual injury, first of all, really make sure that your doctor or your physical therapist or whoever's looking at your body says that you're cleared for training. I think that's really the first thing to do. 

And then the other thing is when performing whatever exercise you're doing, should there be pain? And the reason that I bring this up is that when I came back from, either my shoulder, I blew my shoulder out or blew my ankle out, there was a little bit of pain, residual pain from that. Now that was only to be expected. But the thing is it wasn't working to the point where I was creating more harm, where I was working to the point where, "Oh, I'm just going to keep going even though I know that the shooting pain going up my leg is going to be fine." No.

Generally pain, if it's something that is shooting, if it's sharp, if it's acute, then it's probably best to back off. Okay. So that's really what it is. 

Discomfort however, discomfort can be where let's say that you're sitting in a squat, your legs are shaking. You're starting to get that pump. Okay. That's a discomfort, you can work through that, if that's really what you're after. Okay. But anytime that you start to feel something that is acute, then that can be a problem.

Now, I do want to say though, you can actually get to the point where there's so much discomfort over the course of days a week, that could possibly be leading to injury. And so there is that differentiation between looking at am I actually doing too much without giving myself the proper recovery that could lead to possible injury versus, "Oh, my workout or session right now is pretty tough, but I'm still safe. I can keep going" versus pain, which is acute, which typically we know.

And an example could be, for example, you might not think anything's going on and you go to the dentist, talking about your teeth, go to your dentist and you think everything's cool. And they take out that stupid pick thing to check your gums and you think everything's cool and they touch one of your gums and you light up and you almost want to jump out of your seat. 

[00:22:42] Andy: It's like tap tap.

[00:22:43] Ryan: You're like, oh my God, like that's pain. Okay. And that's not a good thing. And so what they're basically doing though, is they're assessing the situation. This is why I think the assessment and really taking a look at the AAA framework that we have where we start off our sessions and say, "Okay, what's going on in my body?"

Being able to do that and bring awareness to your body and say, "Oh, I kind of have a little bit of discomfort here in my body today. Is this painful or is it just a matter of, oh, that's right, I did X amount of squats yesterday. And I have some Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or something like that."

So I think really just being really aware of your body and what's going on and understanding that again, it's not going to be this 100% of the time, but generally pain is something that is sharp, stay away from that pain. And just being smart about things, to be honest.

[00:23:36] Andy: Yeah. And I do want to say that we've talked about this on the show before you mentioned DOMS, we have a full episode talking about muscle soreness. We've also talked about how to return to exercise after injuries and how to slowly ramp up and assess your progress as you go and make sure that you're doing the right things and not overdoing it, but also that you're making progress.

So if you find yourself in that position, please look for that episode because it's a full long discussion with just copious knowledge bombs, and valuable wisdom that you can't get anywhere else. I'm sorry, this is just the mood I'm in today. 

But the other thing is, even acute pain, if at a small degree of acute pain is sometimes fine if it's signaling something that you can fix in the moment. So another thing that might happen is maybe you're doing a bridge or something and you push up into you're like, "Ooh, that doesn't feel good." But then you remember to adjust your form and you are in a better position and the pain goes away. 

Well, in that case, you don't need to stop because you did feel pain at that point. You need to use that as a cue to do it correctly so that you don't feel more of that pain. So, it just needs to be said that, pain at any point doesn't mean every way you could do that exercise is wrong. It might just mean that you're doing it a little wrong. You need to look again at those form cues and think of how you can pull it into a position that is not painful for you.

So you can use it as a benefit sometimes too if it's at a low degree. If you're getting like Ryan said, a surge of massive discomfort, then that's a completely different situation. But pain is really individual. Look into those other resources.

We've talked about pain a lot. We have a very detailed article on the science of pain. We have a lot of stuff on this. If you're worried about not making progress because you are taking a break from a specific movement because of pain, please look around at some of the things that are going to be on the notes for this show, because we have a ton of ways that you can stay productive and also know if you are doing the right things for you. All right. 

Question #4: Kip Up

[00:25:48] Andy: Okay. So the next question is about another recent video that we did on YouTube about the kip up. This is if you want to get your Bruce Lee or your Jean-Claude van Damme on. Right. Another, in our famous series of Ryan doing semi- gymnastic movements in jeans.

So mind blowing.

[00:26:06] Ryan: Yes. How do you do that? 

[00:26:08] Andy: Who knew that Lycra was not necessary?

[00:26:11] Ryan: I've got my Lycra pants on underneath my jeans, but you know, that's

[00:26:16] Andy: I mean, Superman wore his underwear on the outside. You wear them on the inside, that's fine. 

[00:26:20] Ryan: I just hide it. 

[00:26:21] Andy: Cool. So, when you do the kip up move, yeah, you do at least in the beginning stages, you do need to push off with your hands and you're pushing sort of back and up behind your head with them. And I don't know about you, but this is not a movement that I do too often.

And in fact, it is not a movement that I have trained. You don't go into your local 24 hour Fitness and see people like face down on a bench trying to push a barbell backwards behind their heads. So if you don't have a lot of strength in this position, you will be excused, but how do you develop the push part of the kip up?

[00:27:02] Ryan: Yeah, that's another great question as well. You know what? One thing that actually does help out with this are bridge pushups. And bridge pushups in themself can obviously be very difficult. But the reason I bring up that bridge pushup is because it's not only going to help with the kip up, it's going to help overall just range of motion in your lower back. It's going to help with mobility as well as strengthen your shoulders. 

We tend to be tight in that position anyway. Most people are going to be very good, very familiar at pushing in the frontal plane, but actually thinking about the rear chain and pushing behind. Cause that's really what it is. Again, like Andy said, you don't see those too often.

When you're looking at that floor kip, if you are having trouble, there's generally going to be two things. It's going to be that lack of strength in pushing in that position, as well as the mobility in your lower back to actually get in a comfortable position to help you. Working on your bridge is just that one thing that's going to help with all of that. So that's what I suggested working on.

[00:28:05] Andy: Yeah. This is another case of us saying, oh, you can't do the skills we're showing. Well, that means you don't the foundation. By the way, we literally created programs for specifically this, no, we don't have a program about the kip up. We do have a program that includes building the strength for it called Integral Strength that specifically is building this bridging pressing ability. 

So again, these things are not accident. And if you don't have the strength or the flexibility you need for some of this stuff buy our programs, they are amazing. It'll change your life. Or don't buy our programs. At the end of the day, I really don't care. If you just are anti- us, if you hate us and you're still listening to this, you deserve what you get. 

But if you don't hate us, buy our damn programs. They're great and we made them for you so you can learn how to do all this cool shit you want to do. Like that's the whole point. That's why we exist.

[00:28:57] Ryan: That is literally the only reason I exist. That's it. 

[00:29:02] Andy: I think it might've had something to do with like when a mommy and daddy love each other very much or something, they hire a stork.

[00:29:08] Ryan: Yeah, they did that. Yeah. Yeah. They couldn't hire a very good one though unfortunately, that's why I turned out the way I am. Yeah. So. Alright. 

[00:29:16] Andy: Budget stork you get a Ryan Hurst. Sorry, last question.

Question #5: Walk to Squat

[00:29:19] Andy: So this is, all right: "This is going well for an old fart feeling more movement coming in already. The walk to squat, still struggles for me. But not so much in the last few sessions. Any transition move to help me get this?" Well, it is a transition move, so you don't need another transition move for the transition.

So this is the walk into squat is one of the one the movements you practice in Elements. So this is something it's also one that a lot of people seem to have a hard time with. So, which is why we selected it to discuss in this episode of the Autonomy podcast. All right. So what is it? Well, it's literally walking into a squat, but not walking with your feet.

It's sitting down on your butt and walking your hands up into a squatting position. And if you just imagine this right now, I'm betting that a lot of people listening to this will think that actually sounds not very easy. And hey it's not, which is why we put it in the program so you can practice it. 

That's why it's there. It's not easy for people to do on the first time. And it does take practice. It does take some strength. So what do people need to be doing on this? How can you work on this walk into squat or other transitional kind of movements where you have a sticking point in there? Because that's what it is most people it's that they don't have the mobility to push through the position to get their sort of butt above their heels to balance right.

[00:30:50] Ryan: So this is interesting. Like you said, like with pretty much any movement. I think a key point here is what you just said in terms of people trying to push through to get into a particular position. A lot of the times, again, not very sexy, but it's simply a matter of continuing to work and practice up to that sticking point.

The more you can do that gradually, slowly working into that position, you're going to increase that range of motion. But key point though is to make sure you're doing it safely. Now, one thing that can help though is you can use props and, in this case, a lot of the times that people have trouble is that they don't have a very deep squat.

And so by modifying that, by raising yourself up a little higher off the ground is what is going to allow you to be able to transition into the squat that is good for you. And that's the key point here. 

Many different ways you can do this. You can use like yoga blocks. You could even, for example set yourself up higher so that your hips are actually higher.

And what I mean by this is for example sitting up on that yoga block to start, so your hips are higher than your feet. By starting with your hips higher, you're already going to be in a better position to allow you to maneuver into that position. So many different ways to do this. 

I think a good thing though is really to think creatively. And just think about the concept of what's going on here. And I just told you, and the concept is allowing yourself to be in a position so that you can move back and forth. That means raising your hips higher than your feet. Really that's what it's about. And so the way to do that, you can either have yoga blocks on the side by placing your hands and pushing into it. Or like I mentioned, you can start where you're sitting on a low stool, a low chair or something. Pushing yourself up so that you can get into it.

A lot of different ways to do that. Yes. Direct mobility supplemental sort of thing, do this and this, but I really think that being able to look at that movement, practicing that movement more in a way that's going to allow you to practice it is going to help with the strength with the mobility, as well as the control so that you're gradually getting lower to the ground and being able to perform the full movement.

[00:33:10] Andy: Right. So this is, I think this is important to understand it because we know this is not a very easy movement for people. So why did we put it in the program? Not because we are ignorant or stupid or assholes, right. You might think, "Well, if I'm having a mobility limitation, it's causing me to not be able to do this movement. Well, then I need to stop and fix my mobility limitation." 

And in fact, that's what many very want-to-be technical trainers on Instagram will tell you, "Ah, you have to take six months off and focus on dedicated ankle mobility while you do nothing else." Apparently. I think that's a really bad approach.

What happens is you just get stuck, you get stuck. Let's say you're starting a program. Let's say you're doing a program that is made by an inferior company that is not GMB. First I pity you. But secondly, aside from wasting your money and making poor life decisions, you have chosen incorrectly and you are doing another company's program that is aimed at, I don't know, whatever. And there is a movement in there that you want to learn but you don't have the ankle mobility for it. Okay. So just outside of GMB, it's someone else's crappy program and you don't have the ankle mobility. Now so you might think, "Ah, wow. Ankle mobility is what's screw me up. But I really want to get this double backhand spring that's in this program from not GMB that I bought because I trust not-GMB more than I trust GMB," but here's GMB telling you don't stop doing this inferior program. 

Keep up with the inferior program. Don't let your ankle mobility limit you from your stupid goal with your inferior program. If you take time off of the inferior program to fix your ankle mobility for your stupid goal, what's going to happen is you're going to lose momentum towards your stupid goal. And you're going to forget why you bought the inferior program in the first place. And that becomes like a hundred dollars, $200 or I see some of these things for like $300 sometimes I'm like, how the hell is anyone buying this? You're just wasting it because you instead realize that you need to be spending all your time on ankle mobility, which is wrong.

You should really be using a program you have, even if it's by an inferior company, that's not GMB. Even if you are the poor, sorry person who has made such a bad decision, and you're in this position, I'm going to stop now. But.

You could stop and only work on that mobility thing. But what happens is you, then you stop all your progress. You stop all the other things that you're training in this program, you stop working on the skill building. You stop building strength, you stop getting daily movement in. You stopped doing all these other things too. And you're just doing this one thing. And man, I'll tell you if it's ankle mobility, it takes a long time.

You've got a very thick tendon there, if you haven't noticed, called the Achilles. All right. You've also got a ton of bones and you've got things that are exacerbated by bad footwear and bad habits and stuff like that. It's a very sturdy joint because it bears your weight all day. You are not going to just quickly fix your ankle mobility.

Okay. So if you're pausing to work on that, you've taken the wrong approach. You're stopping everything, what you really need to do is you need to work the movement where you notice you have the restriction. 

You can work it from both sides. Like Ryan said, you can use props, you need to practice it. And that's why the movement is included in the superior GMB program. You're welcome. So, but that's the thing don't stop because you find a restriction unless it's causing you pain. 

Find a way to do the degree that you can. Don't wait until you have the perfect body to learn how to move it, learn to move your crappy out of shape body as it is now, as well as you can. Get comfortable with your clunky ass moves, love them. Feel them, be in them.

[00:37:15] Ryan: As I like to say, embrace the suck. And what I mean by that is understand that the stuff that you're doing is not going to be great, right in the beginning. It's going to suck. The faster that you can appreciate that and say, "Hey, listen, I suck at this right now," but you've got to be bad at something before you get good. And this is the opportunity to do that. 

And so what Andy saying is just do that. Use that movement. If you put things to the side then, and think that you should just focus on that ankle mobility forever, like Andy said, you're going to forget the reason that you started doing this program and that's sad.

So that's why we want you to just continue working on things, doing it in a way that's going to be good for you and try and enjoy the process even though you might suck at it. That's really what it's about.

[00:38:00] Andy: And that's the thing is don't hold yourself to the standard that everything has to be perfect before you're allowed to go to the next step.

[00:38:06] Ryan: Right.

[00:38:07] Andy: Don't try to compare yourself to someone like Ryan who yes despite having some really serious injuries a couple of times and coming back from that has, it's because he's put himself in situations that are, outside of what normal people do, very high level sports is when he got hurt mostly. 

But he's also been doing this stuff for 40 damn years. And so you can't really compare yourself to that or some other person who you see on the Instagram, "Oh, this person moves so beautifully and she's never had an injury. And she does it just like this. And I can't do it the same way that she shows."

Of course you can't, it's not your job to, and that's fine. Don't get stuck because of that. Keep going.

[00:38:47] Ryan: Right.

[00:38:49] Andy: So we've talked about a lot of things. We've answered some questions. We've referenced a few other videos and articles and things that we'll have links to in all of the notes for this. If you have other questions that you want to ask us, throw them up on our YouTube, Instagram, you can email us if you're one of our clients and we'll always happily answer you. But yeah. Ask questions anywhere. Get in touch. We are happy to oblige often sarcastically. 

[00:39:16] Ryan: Keep those questions coming and yeah, we'll make fun of those questions while we answer them.

[00:39:22] Andy: And what could be better than that, right? You get to be the catalyst for a humorous exchange. You get to bring smiles and laughs to people all across the world and you get your question answered.

[00:39:35] Ryan: There you go. There you go.

[00:39:37] Andy: I don't think we've actually roasted any of these people so you have nothing to worry.

All right. So thanks for sticking around. Thanks for listening to me shill the hell out of our programs. They're good though. You should totally buy them. All right. Thanks. Bye.

[00:39:52] Ryan: Thanks everybody. Bye bye.