Why Tech CEOs Are Walking Backwards (Science Explained) | Knees over Toes Guy DSH #960

I'm only walking like 6,000 a day right now, which is decent, but they say 10,000 is what you should be doing, right?

Something like that.

And you're doing that backwards.

I encourage people to fit some backward into the routine in any way.

Like my parents, they hold hands so one person can see where they're going and the other walks backward.

So I say like at least 200 yards each way.

Fantastic.

All right, guys, Ben Padre here, Needs Over Toes Guy.

Thanks for coming, man.

And you brought a little book here.

What's this book about?

Really appreciate being here.

The book, you can take a look at this if you want.

It looks old.

The book's from the 1960s.

People fitness program.

Yeah, JFK had this book done.

So he was actually having good results with American fitness for adults.

He had a good youth system going.

So in 60 years, we've advanced in a lot of ways.

Yeah.

We haven't advanced in our fitness, but we could.

So

that's really where my

energy pours into now.

The knees and how to have a system that like a whole family can do.

So you think we've been pretty stagnant in the fitness category the past 60 years?

I mean, the overall health has definitely gone down over these past 60 years.

Wow, down.

The average health, yeah.

Yeah, the lifespan has dropped a little bit, right?

Yeah, definitely the like the fitness of youth today is

in a whole league lower than it was 60 years ago.

And do you think technology is a big part of that?

It's definitely

very enticing.

Like entertainment technology these days is like really good.

Right.

Really

entertaining reasons not to be moving our bodies.

Yeah, we're super sedentary these days.

The more corporate lifestyle.

Yeah.

Average steps are probably down from 60 years ago tremendously, I'd assume.

Yeah.

I'm only walking like 6,000 a day right now, which is decent, but they say 10,000 is what you should be doing, right?

Yeah, something like that.

And you're doing that backwards.

I don't think I'm doing 10,000 steps a day backward, but I will say definitely increases the total step count.

Yeah.

And there's, you know, added benefits to backward in addition to forward.

Right.

And you have a backwards treadmill that you sell now, right?

Yeah.

I encourage people to fit some backward into the routine in any way, whether it's like my parents, they hold hands so one person can see where they're and the other walks backward.

So I say, like, at least 200 yards each way.

Fantastic.

Just 200 yards.

That's not too far.

You could do more if you want.

Okay.

That would be pretty good.

200 yards backward.

For kids, I encourage them to not just run forward, but run backward as well.

Like with youth

sports, I'd be doing the conditioning as much backward as forward.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then for adults,

really anyone could apply this.

The kids could apply it.

The grandparents could apply it.

But definitely, once it gets into like the strength training department, adding some resistance to backward walking, like backward walking with a sled,

fantastic exercise.

And yeah, I make only after answering thousands of times, what do I do without a sled, to get resistance?

Well, you can find a hill.

You can have a buddy in a car with the car in neutral, put your butt against the bumper.

That was one of the ways I got off painkiller for my knees with my buddy taking turns steering the car.

So there's resistance.

The car's in neutral, butt against the bumper and working hard backward.

But yeah, so after a decade of answering that question, yeah, I make a treadmill now that someone can have at home relatively affordably and get resistance backward, a backward treadmill.

Nice.

And what's the whole philosophy behind the backwards movement?

Yeah.

So

forward.

Super good.

Think walking, lots of correlation to longevity.

Think athletes sprinting.

I mean, there's few exercises better than sprinting in terms of the total benefit.

When you go backward, it adds some rehab benefits.

So if you imagine like walking forward, your heel hits the ground and then you step.

Heel hits the ground, then you step.

The moment you go to take a step backward, your toe's first.

So it's stimulating your foot differently.

It's stimulating your lower leg muscles differently.

And if you look from a side angle when you go to take a step backward, your knee is then over your toe.

So there's pressure on the muscles differently around the knee.

So when you go backward,

it is almost like a rehab for forward activities.

So it's not that forward isn't amazing, but it's really cool how you can balance and do backward work and then have less pain, more ability forward.

Right.

And doing that was a big part of your rehab, right?

I know you've had some pretty nasty injuries.

Yeah, that's how I got into this stuff.

Chronic knee pain by age 12.

12.

I was the crazy work ethic basketball kid who like worked myself to chronic knee pain by 12, like a badge of honor.

Only by 18, major knee surgery, reached my 20s, having never dunked.

Wow.

I just, no bounce.

But through that whole 12 to 18,

the knee pain was there.

So the muscles weren't forming right.

Couldn't jump well.

was never taught about knees over toes training.

In fact, was went to trainers and was always told no knees over toes.

So then in my 20s,

stumbled on the walking backward with a sled, adding resistance to it somehow.

Every step you take, your knee is over your toes.

And I've kept obsessing on that for really when I was 18 is when I first found that.

So I'm 33.

So like 15 years, I've been obsessing on knees over toes training.

So yeah, if you learn.

how to train with your knees over your toes without working through pain, it's like a cheat code for jumping jumping higher and protecting your knee rather than just completely avoiding that position.

Incredible, because I was taught that too, no knees over toes.

You start to wonder how much of the stuff we were taught growing up was incorrect.

Yeah, it was understandable.

Found in the 1970s, when your knee is over your toes, there's more pressure.

There wasn't like long-term study showing it was bad, just that it's more pressure.

So the conclusion was no knees over toes.

That goes into the college textbooks.

Exercise in the 70s was not like a university subject.

It was guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger slinging weights, using full range of motion.

They were knees over toes.

Like knees over toes was a thing.

No one even had to mention it.

Just naturally was part of lifting weights

until academia said no knees over toes without evidence, just the assumption, pressure on the knee when the knee is over the toes equals avoid it.

It was just an incorrect assumption.

Crazy.

Yeah.

But five decades of research, I've now been able to emerge teaching really basic stuff that should have been like, I shouldn't have had a job doing this.

Right.

Did you have a lot of people doubting hating at first

i'm sure throughout the process i'm sure today there's still people but the the more i can teach it in a way that someone can understand it and see that it's safe i mean i've been training my mom for six years now she's 70 she's a product of this people all over the world joe rogan in his 50s back kicking the bag so the idea is not to work through pain with your knees over your toes the idea is to find levels that are enjoyable and then improve that ability right this stuff's probably super important important with the elderly because a lot of them pass away from falls, right?

Yeah.

It's interesting.

They found that the better you can walk backward, the less chance you have of falling down the stairs for elderly.

It's like an effective screening process to not fall down the stairs is how well you can walk backward.

Wow.

Yeah.

So that just trains the muscles to just be stronger, basically.

Yeah.

I mean, if you think of falling down the stairs, just

put a video of that and then watch it on Rewind.

There's an effective rehab.

Not an end-all be-all, but yeah, some of these principles are very simple.

Crazy.

So if someone tears their meniscus or has a major injury, do you think they could recover without surgery these days?

Only a doctor can answer that.

That's where it would get unethical of me to speak medically.

Yeah.

So I'm just a trainer.

Now I save photos that people send in, thousands of medical success stories, but it was never from someone saying, I have XYZ medical condition.

No, no, no.

It's like, okay, here's the motion you can't do.

Let's reverse that motion.

Let's find a level you can do.

Not evaluating the medical condition.

Let's never work through pain.

And tons of medical stuff has happened.

And that's how I got into it.

My, the left knee had major surgery.

The right knee was then torn up.

I feel like worse than the left knee was, but by that point, I was like, I'd rather just be a

wreck the rest of my life than have another surgery.

And so I used myself as like a guinea pig.

So the left knee, super stiff from the surgery, the right knee torn up, but did not get surgery.

And 10 years without a setback, you see all the crazy stuff I do.

Wow.

That would be

physically impossible.

Yes, you didn't get surgery on the right one.

No.

So did it heal?

I've never been back to a doctor to find out.

But I'm dunking like a machine, can put crazy stimulus into my knees with no negative repercussion.

Right.

Yeah, you're dunking barefoot.

You're doing splits, weighted splits.

So something obviously must have happened.

But I still can't.

So yeah,

someone can come to their own conclusions on it.

But I'd rather sell less and just be 100% honest about what I can than try to oversell and be dishonest about it or pretend that I'm a medical expert.

Yeah, you base everything on how you feel.

We were talking before.

You don't take any tests, any blood tests or preventative tests.

Yeah, now don't let me be an influencer on that.

That's just my personal.

I try to really focus on the quality.

of my exercise, eating real foods, getting good sleep, having a purpose in life, having good relationships.

All these things are shown broadly to equate really well with staying healthy.

So I just focus on that stuff, but don't let me evaluate.

If some do all the tests you want, all the preventative tests you want, take all the supplements you want.

That's not my field.

I don't, I haven't felt a need for that yet.

But I'm also not going to say, oh, I'll never take a supplement.

I'll never.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you never took supplements before?

I tried supplements a lot.

That was part of my conclusion.

It didn't work for me until until I started making the movement good.

So I was taking tons of supplements from age 12 to 20.

Wow.

All kinds of stuff to try to fix my knees.

None of it worked.

Then found out that just how I exercised can give me like results I didn't even think were possible for my knees, my whole body.

So I just haven't found the need to go back to supplements yet.

That's interesting because a lot of people want that magic pill, that magic supplement, but if they just train differently, that maybe that could be their answer, right?

That's a good point.

I get

anything in the business world, if you make money, people are going to call you a scammer or this or that.

Trust me, if I wanted to make money, like if that was my primary goal for the last five years, I would have been selling a joint supplement.

I would be so much richer than I am now.

Even if I just made a basic, good, honest joint supplement, I would make so much more money than I do right now.

Oh, you would have crushed it, especially after Rogan.

Yeah.

So

if you want proof that helping people is my primary thing, I think you can and should master the subject of money.

I do strongly believe you'll have a better life if that is always the number two to you actually helping people and improving things around you.

That has to be the deal breaker.

That has to be the driving force.

But go ahead and be the number one master of money.

Look at Elon Musk, richest man in the world.

Do you honestly think money?

is number one for him

making a difference.

Difference.

Right.

But he's the richest man.

So I think, hey if he's the richest man i'll make plenty of money keeping helping other people as my number one and then yeah do master the subject of finances right to support that yeah you mentioned purpose earlier yeah when people have money as their number one it long term it rarely works out i've noticed i've met too many people now being a trainer it's cool you get to meet so many famous people behind the scenes met so many billionaires some of the most famous athletes in the world and yeah the strongest correlation i see with whether people are happy or not is like the purpose behind their daily work.

100%.

Keeps you up, like wakes you up invigorated.

Yeah.

Like money won't do that.

Met crazy rich, crazy successful people who then tell me they're depressed.

And I'm like, my head's starting to spin because I'm like, wait a second.

I thought I was going to be like magically happy forever if I got to your level.

Yeah.

So it definitely shaped things for me.

Wow, that's cool.

I want to talk about some of the guys you trained.

I saw you make a video with Brian Johnson.

Yeah.

You trained him.

His son was one of the early people doing my workouts.

Oh, wow.

Before Brian was on social media.

I went and trained the son.

I didn't even know what he was doing.

I didn't know his project or anything.

And

so, yeah, the son ended up training him.

And then he realized kind of where the workouts were coming from and so on.

And so we've stayed in touch.

And he does like a lot of my, I mean, he does a lot of stuff, but he uses a lot of my movements and been fortunate enough to meet them.

They were fantastic people.

I love the son.

So purposeful helping his dad.

Like, how cool is that?

Yeah.

I think overall, they're helping a lot of people just be aware of their health, which is great.

Yeah.

I think that's super important.

If someone's out there

working, if there's real problems, right?

So if people are out there working on those problems,

I think that's cool.

I have so many friends who don't disagree on stuff.

Like I disagree with all kinds of stuff, but the idea that disagreeing would then be a reason to like hate on people and this and that.

I think that's where things go wrong.

I see a lot of that in your industry, man.

It's crazy.

Yeah, you disagree with someone, therefore you now have like hatred for that person.

I think that's where we go wrong.

Like, I think that's wronger than being wrong.

Wow.

What a statement.

Yeah, people do take it personally, though.

Yeah.

I think because money's involved and they see people make money, they get jealous.

Yeah, and we don't grow up in schools.

We don't learn like a real moral code these days on how to treat people.

It's not like part of that.

Like, where do we put thousands of hours into the education?

Like, I put more hours into geometric, you know, geometry equations that I've never used in my entire life than I ever learned in school about how to treat other people.

Yeah, they don't teach you that.

You get what you put your energy on.

There's not energy on how to, how to treat people, how to treat people online.

Like that should have already been a class in school five years ago.

Yeah, they should teach that in first grade.

These days, kids have iPads and I'm Instagram and like eight years old.

Yeah.

Crazy.

You get what you put your energy on.

We don't put energy on that.

Yeah.

You've also trained a ton of professional athletes.

I saw you say on Chris Williams' show that basketball players get the most wear and tear on their knees.

If you look at the nature of the sport, right?

Like if we're matched up one-on-one right now and you have to fake me out, get around me and make a basket, you do so largely by putting a ton of force into your knees.

Like if you had to fake me that way, the better you can fake that means like the more force is going into your knee.

Like a poor fake, like a weak fake, would be a very low amount of pressure into the knee.

If you really sold it, you'd be putting a ton of force into your knee.

I'd react that way.

You'd go that way.

Now I recover to try to block the shot.

What do you have to do?

Jump higher.

Ton of force on the knee.

So it's like the nature of our sport is a ton of force on the knee.

So it's kind of a perfect experiment for me because I couldn't just be sitting in a lab.

Oh, I feel good.

Feel good?

I don't care how you feel.

Let's see.

You know, for me, it was like basketball was too much for my knee.

Let's get to where basketball is a joke for me.

Now it's like crazy.

It's still like it blows my mind.

I go play as hard as I can, dunking all this stuff.

And it's like,

where's the knee pain?

None.

No.

Wow.

But the

ability in the knee is now just so much more than the demand on it.

So it's still relative.

Like, I can also jump off high stuff and not get hurt, but don't make me keep going too high or I'm dead.

It's all, it's just relative.

Yeah.

There's no absolute protection.

There's no absolute knee protection.

Well, that's cool that you could train your body to the point where you're not getting knee pain, though, anymore.

At least for basketball, I strongly believe that someone could definitely get their ability to wear basketballs then easily

for the knee.

I'm sure.

Yeah.

When you see these outdoor ballers, they have the worst knee pain.

Yeah.

And we all just play like I play on concrete.

Oh, you do?

And I love it because I'm, you know, my body's an experiment that should be easy for my knees to handle.

I prefer playing indoors just because I feel so sore after concrete.

Yeah.

I used to feel that way, but now the concrete feels feels like grass to you.

That's what, yeah.

That's awesome, man.

Yeah.

Comparatively.

That's cool.

Maybe it's even slight.

Maybe it's 20, 30%, but whatever the difference is, it's like enough that the same thing isn't a problem now.

So how often are you training and recovering?

What's your process on a weekly basis look like?

I'd say I average like year-round, year-to-year, like I average three workouts a week.

So,

I enjoy exercising more than that

between kids and running the business and so on.

That's kind of like, I know if I get two to three, I like to train full body.

So, like, I start at the bottom, like start

down at the ankle, work my way up, and like finish with

a set of upper body exercises.

So I don't do much upper body, but I finish with the upper body.

If I get a full body session in two to three times a week, I'm good.

That's not too bad.

Yeah.

Some people train every day.

Yeah.

And I like to just because I like to exercise.

So it kind of depends on the life factors and what the kids are doing and the schedule.

And so like if my schedule is open, I just exercise.

Okay.

Like I exercise every day if the if it seems to fit the schedule.

And I like, yeah.

No, I like how you just bang it all out because a lot of people are like oh this they do back this they do chest this they do legs I'm I'm addicted to it full body that's just me it doesn't mean the other stuff doesn't work I just really love that like starting at the bottom of my body and earning my way all the way up to finishing with the upper body yeah I mean I'd honestly prefer that than to go six days a week and train a different muscle every day Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be training you this week.

So you'll have to

do a live workout with me and it'll be full body and

we won't need any equipment.

I will teach you what what kind of things I would add, but it's pretty cool that without any equipment, you can train full body from the ground up.

That's impressive.

Because some people spend thousands on equipment or gym memberships, and you could just do it without that, you're saying.

Definitely.

Nice.

I do both.

So I love the body weight training.

I also at my studio gym have

nice equipment.

Yeah.

It's all tools.

But yeah, just your body is enough of a tool.

that you can get good results.

Nice.

When you were playing basketball a lot, were you rolling your ankles often?

I had some nasty nasty rolls yeah those can linger for a while those can be really frustrating i feel like the ankle roll in basketball a lot of sports once it gets into the contact nature

they have injuries that are gonna happen to some degree in basketball it's when you land on someone else's foot right like the the ankle rolls to levels that are extreme like we were out barefoot in grass like the ankle can only roll so far right but if you're now in a shoe with like an inch and a half rubber on the heel and you land on someone else's foot with another inch and a half rubber on the heel and your ankle rolls, like these are extreme factors that you would not experience in nature on the ankle.

Right.

So yeah, it's those can be pretty extreme.

Don't beat yourself up if it happens.

Do get more ankle ability than the average person.

So yeah, I also trained the ankles to have.

a lot more ability than they had before.

So knock on wood, haven't had one in a long time.

Nice.

But if I did, it just means that the recovery process would be a little bit better.

I'd be able to still come back stronger.

Whereas unfortunately, when someone rolls an ankle, the ankle ends up on average weakened and now much more likely to sprain again.

So it can be tough to get out of that cycle.

Yeah, Steph Curry dealt with that his first year or two.

Yeah.

I've had some nasty ones.

Yeah, landing off rebounds.

Oh, man.

It's rough.

Right.

That's not preventable.

Now, how bad is the sprain?

How long does it take to recover?

How much you come back.

Those Those are things you can still influence.

Right.

And that's important.

That's not talked about enough, the recovery, right?

With athletes.

Yeah.

I mean, you have the sprain.

Statistically, that thing's not coming back to what it was before.

Ever?

Statistically.

Oh, wow.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Like, statistically, that ankle is now not going to come back quite to what it was before.

Obviously, if you're 12 when it happens, or if you're 42 when it happens, there's going to be a big difference in what it comes back to.

So, yeah, I believe strongly in full range of motion strength training for the ankle.

Wow.

I didn't know that because I've had a lot of sprains.

So I wonder if that's had a lot.

You're part of that stat.

Sorry to tell you.

Yeah.

I haven't noticed like a significant decrease, but maybe over time, just gradually.

How old are you?

27.

Yeah, 27.

And

it doesn't mean it's significant.

It just means like that's, that's the stat is like with each one, it's more likely to happen again.

So that obviously indicates if it's more likely than it was before, something's not fully back to what it was.

Wow.

That's all.

Well, with your training, now you're back to the best you've ever been.

So.

Yeah.

Like you said you're more athletic than you were in your 20s right now.

I mean, it's, I mean, I was kind of a joke, so that's not a fair comparison.

But yeah, I reached my 20s having never dunked a basketball.

And now it's like

if I get open at all in a game, like I'm throwing down two hands, which I...

at 6'1 with short arms is like that's pretty good no that is good like for my 30s i'm now like a good athlete it just happened slowly though from being a terrible athlete and then gradually being like, hey, I'm not as like un-athletic as I was to now where it's like, dang, this is cool.

Like, I might be one of the freakiest 40-year-old athletes in the world.

You might have to enter the dunk contest.

It won't get to that level.

But at 40,

based on what we're seeing with other people doing this, like, it's like that at 40, I'll be in-game dunking, which is.

Doesn't that's never existed for someone who reached their 20s, not being able to dunk whatsoever.

Yeah, that's never been been a thing.

No, that's nuts because they tell you in your 40s to stop playing full court and you're out here dunking on kids.

Yeah, we've got guys 46 and 47 dunking who couldn't dunk in their 30s.

Wow.

They could dunk in their 20s, lost it in their 30s, and now they're late 40s dunking.

That's impressive, man.

So I'm like, boy, when I get to my four, like, I'll be a freak athlete in my 40s.

Yeah, because most NBA guys peak in their late 20s, I'd say.

Yeah, and that's understandable for NBA guys because you're putting so much,

so much total trauma in there.

LeBron's a fantastic example, though.

Like, it can be done.

Like, you can

maintain much longer than it was thought.

Right.

And

more importantly, I get ex-pros reaching out.

They just want to be able to play with their kids.

They have small kids and

they can't run around and play with them.

Like, they'd have to warm up for 20 minutes.

Wow.

Like, otherwise, it's kind of a hobble.

They can't get down into deep positions.

They can't live life the way they want.

They're on painkillers just to get through the day-to-day.

Damn, it's that bad with these guys.

I didn't know that.

Yeah, it's probably worse than people realize for former athletes.

I mean, they've just used their body to such an extent.

So yeah, I'm much more passionate about helping someone have a good quality of life.

I don't care how much money they're making plenty of money, helping a player get better.

That's really cool.

Helping someone not be on painkillers, helping someone be able to play with their kids,

infinitely cooler.

Love it.

So that's your purpose right there.

That's definitely.

Yeah, I found my purpose definitely is for people to know these tools and at least be able to better take care of their bodies.

And now with kids, as I was showing you with this book, just the idea that JFK in the 1960s was making results not just for adults, but also for kids.

So there's this giant disconnect between going to the gym and kids going to the playground.

When you have kids, you're going to take them to the playground and you're going to see that they're doing cardio, strength, mobility, everything.

But yet youth fitness stats are the worst in 60 years.

So there's some disconnect.

And then people go to the gym.

So that's, yeah, my life's work now is all about taking these concepts and making it a smooth scale.

So that if you're the parent, what you're doing, your kids can naturally follow.

And then they'll know it for life.

Right.

Rather than just,

yeah, most of my work to this point has been fixing up people who are already damaged.

I love it.

RFK's new slogan is make America healthy again.

Did you see that?

Yeah, I'm stoked to see that someone's trying jfk just had sheer energy on it in the 1960s and it worked so i think that anyone who truly pours in the energy in some elite position will get results right i'm stoked too for me it's more about educating on social media one parent at a time who then figures out whether it's one piece of my routine or the whole piece of my routine that they now can have their family doing it, not just their parents doing it, their kids doing it.

So that's what we're seeing.

We're seeing like three generations now all being able to work out together.

Nice.

Alola, that's how it should be, right?

Yep.

We should get to four, if possible, four generations.

That'd be awesome.

Yeah, I think great grandmother on the treadmill.

I think that could happen.

But it has to be where each quality is so scalable that everyone can like join and learn and do it, not where it takes some whole new effort for grandma and a whole new effort for the kid.

Just a smoothly scalable system.

Right.

Yeah, it's exciting to see even politicians talk about it.

I've never seen that in my lifetime.

Talk about health.

Yeah.

I think it's needed, though, because these obesity rates and disease rates are crazy right now.

Yeah.

And now imagine if, as part of your upbringing as a kid, best case, the school system.

But that's why for me, it's like, hey, if RFK

integrates some fitness stuff I do, awesome.

That's your one in a million shot.

What I can control is actually making videos on social media, week in, week out, educating parents who then start leading by example and then the kids follow.

It's

JFK's got a quote right in here.

He says, we must live our lives in such a way that our children and their children after them will form a natural and lasting commitment to the vigorous life.

That's exactly what we're seeing.

That's exactly what I'm working on, stuff that we do.

that now my parents are winning with, but that my kids are already following.

And like, they don't even, I'm not telling them to to exercise.

They naturally want to fall it.

That's the stuff I'm looking for.

Nice.

I love that.

Yeah, I think gym class needs a reform.

It was such a joke when I went.

Yeah, lots of good can be done there.

Yeah.

I mean, they just throw you in a room and say, have fun for 30 minutes.

Yeah.

And

even what they're doing in school, gym class, whatever, I don't even think that's the problem.

I think it's more like processed food is now so delicious, affordable, accessible.

Yeah.

So like the ability to get calories is now easier.

And our day-to-day burn outside of school is now so much less because video games are so interesting and good.

And so

among other things, social media and like, like, it's all really interesting, addicting stuff.

So the day-to-day life for a kid, you have easier access to non-nutritious or less nutritious calories.

and now less daily expenditure.

So I really think it's still

saying it's the school's problem, I don't think that's going to get the job done.

That might help a little bit.

Having the parent who leads by example, that's where it's at.

That's how you can write the ship for your family.

So that's the major thing to focus on.

That's what I'm working on.

Interesting.

I don't have to, and I get messages now like every day of gym teachers out there using this stuff.

However, that's all a bonus.

What I for sure can control that we're seeing is

my game is educating the parent, that the parent knows how to take care of their exercise, but that the parent knows how to do this in a way that the kids will grow up also learning it.

Like, this is a skill, like knowing how to exercise, a very valuable skill for life.

Right.

Yeah, the parents' education is so important because they want the best for their kids.

But I look at what I ate growing up, and it was terrible.

But my mom had no idea that was bad for me at the time.

Yeah.

Or else she wouldn't have done it.

Yeah.

There's probably a ton of parents in that same exact spot, right?

For sure.

Yeah.

And it's an interesting time because while we do have all this addicting stuff now,

because of social media, you can also become a superhuman that you couldn't, like you couldn't get all this data a few decades ago.

Right.

Only because of social media now.

Like, think in your world, how much data you can get.

Think how hard that would have been able to get so far.

You would have had to manually look it up or go to the library.

Look what you can get now for free off YouTube.

Super fast.

Find different people, then do their, like.

Seems like a common theme is people will study.

You can use YouTube or free sources.

That alone may work.

But then you also know really what's working for you.

And then if you want, you can like dig deeper into certain areas that it's like already working for you.

So yeah, even when I see broad stats and it's like, oh, gosh, we're less healthy than ever.

I remind myself there's a smaller subset of us becoming superhumans compared to previous generations because we can get so much data.

Well, but if you go with the flow, yeah, stats are worse than ever.

Overall, right?

Yeah.

If you just go with the flow of what mainstream media tells you to do and pull up at the drive-through and get like, if you just go with the flow of what's easiest, then you'll have more health problems than ever.

But if you don't go with the flow, yeah, you can become a superhuman.

Yeah.

Do you see the overall trend reversing anytime soon, or do you think it'll take some time?

Hard to say.

I can definitely control

educating one parent at a time and being part of improvement.

But also, for me, if you think about value, like let's say, let's say you like really changed somebody's life, like forever, their life is now like different, better because of the work you did.

Like, that's good enough for me.

Keep repping that as part of an overall effort with a lot of people trying to improve broad stats.

So, could broad stats improve?

Definitely my goal.

Like, 10 years from now,

will more youth be able to do a pull-up than today?

I'm damn shooting for that.

I couldn't do a pull-up in high school.

Isn't that crazy?

Yeah.

That's quite common, though, these days.

Yeah.

And it's not a scalable system.

So if you can't, then you're terrified.

Then you're, it's, it's almost like the less good you naturally are at it, the more you're going to avoid it because it becomes a source of embarrassment.

Oh, yeah.

Right.

It needs to be a scalable system where everyone's having wins.

Everyone's being acknowledged for the level they can do, having wins, taking pride.

Scalability.

Like, this is what, this already worked for knees over toes like it has gone all over the world i go around i see a guy uh two days ago walking backward pull up next to him walking backwards he didn't see me i love it turns out yeah he saw it off my youtube there we go so go all the way all over the world it is happening that people are doing knees over toes like never before so

that was

crazy to think

that I could actually make an impact on that when I started out.

So it's just as crazy to think that 10 years from now, more kids will be able to do a pull-up than today, but

worth going for.

Yeah, I used to be ashamed walking backwards in public.

I'm sure people dealt with that too five years ago.

Yeah, I think you get some mental gains from doing something for yourself that you have the desire to do, even though the mainstream might look at you funny.

Yeah.

So I think I got some secondary mental gains from completely losing the social.

It's wild thinking back even through high school, how much I based my decisions and actions on what others would think of me.

Oh, everything, especially high school.

Yeah.

So if you want to break that, you don't have to walk backward, but it's a drill you can do.

I mean, you're literally drilling, doing something for yourself because you want to versus, you know, even if society's going to look at you funny.

Right.

No, they used to, I used to think they would judge me, but at the end of the day, I don't think anyone really cared about you walking backwards.

Yeah.

They were just projecting.

You start to find if you're in your own head, most people probably are too.

And so, yeah, you better pursue what you're trying to pursue in life and not let other people's thoughts about you slow you down.

Absolutely.

Your mother's sprinting at 70.

I saw you talk about that.

That's really impressive, man.

Thank you.

Probably good for people to know that she didn't just immediately start doing this stuff.

So I started a gym 10 years ago, and it took a few years for me to convince her to actually do these exercises.

Her hip was deteriorating really badly.

I visited her one time.

She had fallen down the stairs, and I was starting to go, like, this is getting real.

And so at that point, then she started exercising with me and

completely overcame the hip problems.

And yeah, I don't tell her to, but she was telling me like in recent years, like, oh, yeah, and I, you know, I like to sprint now.

And I'm like, what's going on?

So we got the cameras out and like, she looked good.

She's cooking.

She's sprinting.

but what's cool is like

she's a super grandma now.

Like,

when I need help with the kids, if we go to a playground, she can do anything, she's mobile, she can get into low positions, run after them, climb all this stuff.

Like, the joy that she's getting from being able to be active with the grandkids, unbelievable.

And they don't see her as a grandparent the way I saw my grandparents.

No offense, I love the grandparents that I had, but my kids see her differently than how I saw my grandparents as old and stiff.

She's on the ground playing with them.

Wow.

Like they see her, and it's not like I have to tell them, go give grandma a hug or something.

Like they're just running up because she's giving me a break.

I mean, grandma is like as active with the kids as my wife and I are.

Love it.

This is a modern cheat code.

Secretly, train your parents so they will be mobile athletes to help watch your kids and give you a break.

Little parenting.

No, I love that.

And that's a good point because all my fondest memories of my grandparents are them sitting down in a chair, like a rocking chair, or them barely able to walk.

Yeah.

So that shouldn't be like that, though.

Yeah, my kids are getting deeper memories with their grandkids.

Yeah, my and my kids are getting memories now with their grandparents that are different than what I had, where they're running with their grandparents.

They're playing with them.

They're down on the floor being kids with them.

That's incredible, man.

Yeah, because a lot of people really are scared of aging, but if you could provide a great lifestyle at that age, you know, that's really fulfilling.

Yeah.

That's more what I'm after.

Like, I'm not after, my game is not how long I live.

Like, I'm trying to have an awesome quality while I'm here.

We're here for a good time, not a long time.

I'd say probably both.

I'd say probably both, but my role in the game is definitely improving the quality.

And yeah, if the quality's better along the way, you'll probably last longer too.

Absolutely.

Can you still do a split?

No problem.

Easily?

Yeah.

Damn.

That's impressive, man, because you're done too many times weirdly on podcasts.

I'll just

do the B-roll for you after.

I don't.

Yeah.

How long did that take to train to that point?

Interesting to say, because I was not pursuing it at all.

Really?

I was not pursuing a split.

Oh, wow.

No.

If you see a lot of my videos, strength training and flexibility, I see these as part of a

continuum.

So a lot of the exercise I do, it would be hard for someone to pick, is that more of a stretch or more of a strength training exercise?

So, I do a lot of strength training through my flexibility.

This happens to give really good flexibility results.

So, it was just playing around maybe seven, eight years into this style of training and found out I could do a split.

And it was like, what?

Wow.

Yeah.

So, you didn't even know.

You just randomly did it.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Do you think the flexibility helps with injury prevention?

I think if you're

strong through those ranges.

Yeah.

Now, I'm still a fan of strengthening and stretching separately.

Like, I'm a fan of any kind of exercise you want to do.

But yes, I do believe there are exponentially powerful benefits to strength training through your flexibility.

What do you think about yoga?

I've been thinking about taking yoga classes.

It didn't give me those results.

Oh, it didn't.

I did the strength training.

I did the yoga.

My knees still hurt.

This is just me, but it's not against yoga.

It's not against strength training.

Getting the strength training where it's actually through my full full flexibility was absolutely exponential results for me compared to separately stretching ranges that I'm not strong or strengthening areas, but being stiff.

Good to know.

So I'll focus on your regimen then.

It's working for jumping if you want to.

That's my main goal to increase my verticals.

Yeah, I can make people springier.

If there's a few things I can do in life, on the order of like asking someone to mow a lawn, that it's like I can go get that result, making people people springier and jump higher definitely love it so crazy story i've never told you this but my mom tore her meniscus oh wow she was a tennis player oh wow um so the first time she tore she got surgery on i think it was her right knee she tore it again on her left knee i put her on your regimen i showed her youtube videos about walking backwards tibialis raises and everything she's perfectly fine now dude isn't that crazy

she never got surgery on the torn meniscus Shout out to your mom.

Yeah, she watches every episode too.

So she's lost mama.

She loves mama.

So thank you for for that, man.

That's that's incredible.

And all that information was free.

You could have charged that.

So I appreciate that.

I love that.

And I'm sure you hear stories like that all the time.

Makes my day, like, I just got like chills right now.

It never, never gets old.

Wow.

That's awesome, dude.

Yeah, because you save their ton of money, a ton of stress.

Surgery is pretty invasive sometimes.

Yeah.

That's an interesting thing.

And one that I still won't pretend to be an expert on is when you should have surgery versus when not.

I would say that many doctors now reach out and tell me, hey, I referred this person, I referred that person to do my program.

So I think that your best bet now is like doctors who learn what I do, they're now seem to be becoming really proficient at when to recommend surgery versus not.

That's that's exciting, actually.

Yeah.

Because the big pharmacists, they're under a lot of attack, but there are some good doctors out there.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, think how many people get into

some of those jobs because they want to help.

A lot of them mean well, right?

Yeah.

They just get.

Yeah, when you really dig in and get to know people, I'd say people are a lot better than we broadly assume.

Most people are really good people.

And if they even do get into some reason you dislike them, there's probably reasons for that that if you knew it would make a lot more sense.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, man, where can people buy the sleds, buy the treadmill, and keep up with you?

Yeah.

ATGONLINECOACING.com.

That's my bread and butter business.

coaching people without any equipment to do my knee ability program.

That being said, what I try to do is teach everything I know on Instagram, on YouTube.

I write threads on X, so wherever people are going to be accessing the information.

That's how I like to do it.

All the knowledge that I can put out for free.

And then if you want coaching, I have, as far as I've seen, the lowest price to be able to see the programs, send in your form video.

your questions, have it answered under 24 hours, $50 a month, no long-term contract.

And then, beyond that, some people want to get more equipment to make it user-friendly or to add further levels to things.

And so, right from ATGOnlineCoaching.com, there's the button to sign up and there's the button to check out the equipment.

And that's what I do.

Amazing.

We'll link it below.

Thanks so much for coming on, Ben.

That was awesome.

Thanks for having me on.

Yeah, look forward to getting trained by you.

Can't wait.

Let's do it.

Thanks for watching, guys.

Check out the links below.

See you next time.