Juniper is dedicated to helping plus-size individuals discover the joy and benefits of exercise beyond weight loss. After struggling with his weight for most of his life and experiencing the frustration of restrictive diets and ineffective workout routines, he found a transformative experience in a welcoming HIIT class. This shift in focus from weight loss to strength-building led to increased energy, motivation, and overall well-being. Now, Juniper is on a mission to share this approach with others through his program, Movement Munchies, where he teaches the basics of strength-building for long-term, enjoyable fitness
Join Juniper for “Movement Munchies” on Fridays September 20-October 25, 2024. For details and registration CLICK HERE.
Find out more about me at juniperjaye.com. And be sure to follow me on instagram @godisaqueerboy
Episode Summary
In this episode, Juniper shares with Caitlin how a focus shift to strength training transformed his approach to fitness and significantly improved is relationships in life and with dieting. He highlights the importance of finding supportive, community-based gym environments, which helped him shift his focus from weight loss to building strength and confidence. Juniper emphasizes the value of representation in gyms and the need for inclusive spaces where everyone feels welcome. He also discusses his upcoming class, “Movement Munchies,” aimed at making fitness accessible to plus-size individuals and others who may feel excluded from traditional gym settings. Caitlin expresses her enthusiasm for Juniper’s journey and the positive impact he’s set to make through his work.
What’s covered in this episode?
- How can switching your focus from weight loss to strength training benefit your fitness journey?
- What is the significance of community in the gym environment?
- How can finding your go to exercise change your attitude towards working out?
- How to overcome common misconceptions about gym spaces as a plus size person?
- What role does diverse representation have in gym environments?
- How might someone overcome their own insecurities in regards to health and fitness?
Episode Transcript
Caitlin: Hi everybody, welcome back to the Practice Human podcast, I’m your host Caitlin Casella. I am absolutely delighted today to be interviewing Juniper Boggs. Juniper is the operations coordinator here at Practice Human. Some of you have probably heard his name before or maybe even corresponded with Juniper over the phone or through email.
I am thrilled that Juniper has decided this summer to pursue a personal training certification and we’ll be teaching a class series starting this fall at Practice Human called Movement Munchies. Uh, this is in person. It’s a small group offering. All of our small group classes here at Practice Human are primarily strength based and they’re capped at six participants, so you get a lot of one-on -one guidance, and you also get to join us.
a totally fun and awesome social group to train with over a period of a few weeks. So, uh, Juniper’s Movement Munchies course is from September 20th through October 25th. It’s a six week course and it’s on Fridays from noon to 2 p. m. here in New York Eastern time. Movement Munchies is designed for folks who feel unwelcome in traditional gym spaces due to their size, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.
It’s appropriate for those new to lifting weights, or those disenchanted by the traditional diet and fitness industry’s approach to health and fitness. Uh, this is for you if you’re a beginner with weights, and you want to learn your way around the gym. You want to learn how to use a variety of equipment really effectively.
You’ll learn fun and challenging exercises for you to do at the gym or in the comfort of your own home. So Juniper is really trying to make this user friendly so that you have the tools to kind of train yourself for the long term. This is great for you if you’re looking for a gradual introduction into basic movement patterns for building whole body strength, or you’re looking for an exercise class that’s centered on strength and mobility instead of centered on weight loss.
It’s going to be an open, inviting, judgment free place. for you to get strong and it is always great to train with folks who have a similar experience to you and making new friends and training with new friends is super fun. So I hope you will join Juniper on Fridays at one o’clock in September, September 20th through 25th, six weeks in a row.
It’s going to be progressive. It’s going to be this group, uh, kind of all. Along on the same ride and uh, I’m really excited to have Juniper teaching in this space and I hope you enjoy our talk today. I will say before the interview begins that this chat does involve some discussion of restrictive dieting.
I hope you enjoy it.
Okay, everyone, I am really honored today to be interviewing Juniper Boggs. Juniper is the operations coordinator here at Practice Human. We work together, um, back at Gotham Physical Therapy. That’s my former boss’s clinic. Um, we met there, we worked together there. We connected over, uh, both being from Nebraska and having backgrounds in theater.
And, um, and when I started my own practice, Practice Human, I couldn’t do it without bringing Juniper with me to work as our operations coordinator. And now I’m excited to announce that Juniper is working towards a personal training certification and moving into the realm of movement. And strength coaching and personal training.
So Juniper Boggs is a plus size singer, actor turned movement enthusiast. He has spent most of his life battling with his weight, with many efforts ending in frustration and failure. While others seem to thrive on new diets, Juniper barely managed to function. He dreaded the gym. and felt out of place in an environment that never seemed welcoming to someone of his size.
Shifting his focus from weight loss to strength building transformed his life. It’s allowed him to fully enjoy all the things he loves again. He gained energy, motivation, and marked improvement to his mental health, allowing him to be fully present with his loved ones and tackle physical activities he once thought impossible.
Now, Juniper is on a mission to help others discover the joy and benefits of exercise without the emotional and physical toll of restrictive dieting. His fun and practical approach to strength training is open to all those who feel disenchanted by the standard approach to health and fitness. Whether you’re plus size, queer, or simply feeling out of place in the gym, he wants to create a fitness space where all types feel welcome to learn the basics of strength training and help you stay active for years to come.
Welcome to the podcast, Juniper!
Juniper: Hi! Long time listener, first time caller. It’s true,
Caitlin: It’s true. And Juniper also, um, is a long time editor, well, at least recently on episodes, editor of the podcast. So thank you for all you do. Now he’s like full, full circle in all aspects of the podcast here.
Juniper: Absolutely.
Absolutely full circle. And it’s been a very solid learning experience, uh, listening to all of these things and editing each episode. It’s been, it’s been, it’s been great. I’ve, I’ve loved it.
Caitlin: I’m glad you learned from it and you continue to learn so much being here in a physical therapy space. It’s also a strength training, strength and conditioning space and, um, and we can talk a little bit more as we go along just about everything that you’ve been exposed to here.
But I’d like to start with you telling our listeners a little bit about where this all began for you and some of your history with, um, you’ve mentioned restrictive fad type of diets, and you said you started with cheesy home workout videos. So I, I actually love cheesy home workout videos. So I wouldn’t mind hearing about that.
Juniper: I mean, I, I think the cheesy workout videos are fine on their own. It’s just that they promise things that they can’t deliver on based on time periods because they’re always like 10 days till the perfect butt or uh, six weeks to perfect abs. Be beach body ready in three weeks and it’s like they offer and promise these things that are just kind of designed to make you feel like you’re a failure.
You’re a failure. When you get to the end of that three week period and lo and behold, your body’s not beach body ready, whatever that actually means, but you don’t look like the person on the cover of, of the video. And, it, it feels not great.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. Lots of false promises there for sure.
Juniper: For sure, for sure. Um, but yeah, I have been, uh, overweight for the majority of my life. Um, I was kind of just a chubby kid. My weight really kind of ballooned to the size that I am now. When I was sick in high school, um, I was hospitalized with a viral infection and a lot of the medications, the steroidal medications they gave me to remedy and help my body fight off these viruses.
Uh, resulted in me gaining a substantial amount of weight in a short amount of time, and I’ve spent a large part of my adult life trying to lose that with varying degrees of success. I have been on Weight Watchers many, many times and they change their program every year. And so some years it works really, really well.
And I don’t feel like, uh, it’s super restrictive. Other years, it doesn’t work at all. And it feels like, uh, I’m, I’m not eating anything. Um, But, uh, it, it creates like a frustrating environment where you never know like what is the right thing to do, what is the right thing to, uh, to eat, where, where’s the right thing, place to go for the information that you’re trying to, to receive.
Yeah. But it’s not just Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers is fine in its own regard, but, you know, there’s, There’s a lot of fad diets. Like in 2014, I think it was like everyone was doing a juice cleanse where you drank nothing but juice for 10 days. And while, yeah, you lost 25 pounds in those 10 days, the second you started eating, you, uh, gained it all back.
So it wasn’t like a lasting, um, substantial change. And the whole while you’re doing the juice cleanse, you’re miserable. You don’t have energy because you’re not getting any energy. Any carbohydrates while you’re drinking all of this just straight green juice like you’re just getting water essentially flavored water and No protein.
No, no Nothing substantial to fuel your body and keep you going. I’ve tried them all. I’ve been on So many different diets, uh, so many different fad diets. I did slim fast for a couple, couple, um, couple years here and there. And none of it was sustainable. It all left me hungry and miserable and tired and lethargic and uninterested in any of the things that actually bring me joy in life.
And all I could focus on my whole Mindset was just entirely focused on when am I going to be able to eat next? What food can I put in my body next? When is that going to happen for me next? And it’s exhausting. The gimmicky, uh, workout videos. Like, I can remember, like, the first thing my mom got me in high school, She was trying to help.
I was trying to lose weight and she was trying to help me lose weight. So she got me a gazelle. I don’t know if you know what that is, but it’s like this, it’s kind of like an elliptical machine.
Caitlin: Oh, okay.
Juniper: And I believe the guy who created it is, I believe his name was like, Tony Spark. I don’t know if I’m confusing that with Iron Man now.
No, he’s talking, right. I mean, he made machines too, so. Right. But like I, I remember his videos explicitly. He was just this big buff guy, and he had this gazelle machine, and you had to just ride the machine as hard as you could for 45 minutes, and at the end of that, at the end of a month, you would have, you’d be able to look like him.
There’s no way on a Cardio machine, you’re going to look like a bodybuilder, if that’s all you’re doing. What the promise was, you’re going to look like him. And, and, lo and behold, a month into doing that, every single day, I didn’t look anything like him. And, also, my weight hasn’t changed. So, uh, just, uh, frustrating.
Uh, attempts after attempt after attempt to try to find the right, like, Hail Mary of, of weight loss that will actually work and be sustainable for me was always quite challenging. And, and I felt like the world was saying like, all you gotta do is this and you’ll be fine. All you gotta do is that and you’ll be fine.
And then I was like, okay, I will do this. I will do it. I’ll give it my all. And then nothing happens. And it’s like, what’s wrong with me? Why is this failing me? Yeah. And then you have to kind of just realize that, uh, oh no, it’s not me that’s failing, it’s this thing that’s failing that I’m trying. It’s not what I’m doing, it’s, it’s, it’s the thing itself.
Is it? meant to actually work.
Caitlin: Right. Yeah. I feel like the eighties and nineties were such a time of like infomercial type of quick fix gimmicky products. And hopefully, well, hopefully now things are getting a little bit better in terms of the messages out there about fitness and getting in shape.
Juniper: Yeah, late nineties, early two thousands, a beachbody.
org had my family in like a chokehold. My mom bought every one of the, one of the, the really gimmicky ones that I remember was yoga booty ballet. Um, and it was supposed to combine yoga with, uh, glute exercises and ballet. And, um, it was just very thin. ballet body ballet dancer body types doing these exercises and it’s like,
Caitlin: Yeah, that’s kind of the image I was holding in my mind when I was like, well, I think things are a little better now.
And then I was like, with a little cringe on my face, because I still see marketing for like, um, the type of sculpt classes where people wear little bracelets that are kind of supposed to be weights. They’re like weighted little wrist bracelets. Bracelets? Yes. Yeah. For strength training. I was like, this is, wait, this is a thing now.
It’s still happening. It’s still like, yeah. There’s a lot of that.
Juniper: Right. For sure. For sure. And, uh, name it. I’ve tried it and it didn’t work.
Caitlin: Yes. All right. Yeah. Well, so I know from, from our discussions and one of the things that, that I wanted to kind of talk about and hear your experience about is that you had a bit of an epiphany there.
Yeah. once you started to change up the way you were exercising, or at least your thought process on exercise. So I was wondering if you could walk us through kind of where that perspective shift happened to bring you from kind of all this trial and error and things that weren’t working for you into what kind of your current focus and philosophy is today.
Juniper: Sure, sure, sure. I, for the longest time, always really felt out of place in, in gym settings. And so, uh, like my best friend Garrett was constantly trying to get me to go to the gym, um, the gym he goes to. And I would constantly tell him no, because I don’t want to go and be in a place, in a gym, that’s filled with all of these muscly guys who, um, are, who I felt were staring at me and judging me.
My other friend, Becca, who is also a plus size person, asked me one day if I would go to this class with her because she really wanted to go, but she didn’t want to go by herself. And, it was a, uh, happy coincidence that the class we were trying to go to was also being taught by one of Becca’s very close friends.
And so I reluctantly said, yes, I’ll do this because I wasn’t doing it for me. I was doing it to be supportive of my friend. And it was a high intensity interval training class. I walked in and was uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be there. I felt out of place. There’s all these people who were runner types because the particular, um, hit class I was taking was focused on, on running cardio treadmills, and I felt very out of place.
But then the coach who just happens to be a friend of a friend, um, who is now one of my very close friends as well, um, Katie, um, she walks out of the gym, she sees us, she gives me a big hug, she gives Becca a big hug, and she’s like, I’m so happy you finally decided to come. I’ve been wanting to share this with you for so long.
And that is the attitude that she had of wanting to bring us into this world. And I could feel as palpable how much she wanted to share this with us. And I have never experienced that up until that point of having someone who is in the fitness industry be so adamant about how much they wanted me in the space.
And that was such a shocking moment for me to experience. But then we did the class and I could actually do the things that we were doing in the class. They weren’t complicated supersets of all of these different weird body position weights that you see on Instagram. Um, that it was, it was standard simple strength training, standard simple intervals on the treadmill and standard simple intervals on the rowing machines that they had and it was.
easy for me to just jump in, listen to the instruction, and do it, and be successful at it, um, in, in the moment. Because the idea of what you were doing is you needed to get your heart rate up to a certain level. And so it’s easy, I could see my heart rate on the screen, I could, was told what the interval was to do, it was simple, and I just fell in.
in love. It was so much fun. There was little competition with myself. I could see my, my, my name on the screen. I could see where I was, where I was at, at the, the, the scale of my heart rate. And it was so much fun to be able to actually do every single thing that I was being shown and told to do when it was, uh, time to do those things.
And, uh, I had never experienced anything like that before in a gym setting. I never experienced success where I felt like I was actually doing well in a physical activity. Um, it had nothing to do with hand eye coordination, which has never been my strong suit. It had nothing to do with comparing myself to anyone else.
I was literally in a competition with myself to see how I could maintain, uh, my heart rate at a certain level, and also do these very simple things. And that’s when I fell in love with the row machine, which is something I never thought I would ever say. I really loved that as a form of cardio, but mostly I just realized that like physical activity is supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to feel real rewarding.
And it’s supposed to, there’s supposed to be a goal that’s achievable and that, and that in the right environment, it can be. All of those things, it can be fun, it can be challenging, it can be hard, and it can be easy all at the same time. And I, I really, that, that, that moment, that workout, that one workout, really changed the course of my, like, exercise life in, in one hour.
That one hour class really just changed the trajectory of, of how I feel about physical activity and what I’m doing in the gym. It really was. It was just a wonderful experience.
Caitlin: So great. Yeah. I’m so glad you were able to experience that. And I, I want to just highlight one of the things you said at the very beginning of that, that like, it doesn’t, you, like, it doesn’t look like all the complicated exercises that influencers are doing on Instagram.
I think that’s so key that when you realize or have a great teacher, which sounds like you did in the beginning here, a great teacher who can show you how to do those. How simple it can be and how scalable simple can be, right? Like everybody can work hard at their own version of hard or what feels intense for them with the same simple exercises that can be repeated and like owned for a lifetime.
Right. Right.
Juniper: Right. Right. Huge. Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be these super complicated routines. It can just be simple, you’re going to speed walk at a five mile an hour pace for five minutes, and then you’re going to jump it up to seven. And then you’re going to bring it back down to five. Like it, it doesn’t have to be like, Oh, I’m going to, I’m going to sprint for three minutes.
I’m going to go down to two, two miles an hour for, for a minute. And then we’re going to go. Back up to 10, I’m going to go back to 10, go down. You don’t have to go back and forth on these crazy intervals. The, um, so many people you see on Instagram do, which they may very well work for certain people. But when you’re trying to figure out where you are.
Where you fit in in the fitness world Simple is better
Caitlin: Yeah, well, and I think a lot of it comes down to like people Trying to like optimize things in ways that will really not move the needle at all honestly for like the average person in terms of how much they’re gonna get out of a certain workout like Like the basics work and keeping it simple works works for everyone.
Let’s just do that.
Juniper: Right, right. And, and every basic exercise, every basic thing has a, has a very easy modification that you can use to get, to work the muscle in the same exact way simply, um, that, uh, work so you can, it, it opens it up to like so many different people who have, maybe have mobility issues, maybe suffer from, uh, back pain like myself.
There’s just like simple things you can, you can change and as long as you know the basics of what the exercises are, which are inherently very simple, uh, exercises.
Caitlin: Yes, I think we have a tote bag that we created here. Yes, we did. It says, Push, Pull, Carry, Hinge, Squat, Lunge. Right? Like those basics of basic human movements that you add a little weight to, do them for different, you know, amounts of sets and reps or holding for time.
And honestly, like, it really doesn’t matter very much if you do. You know, five sets of five reps or four sets of 10 reps or whatever, as long as it’s challenging. And the last couple of reps feel a little harder than the first reps. Like it really, like this, that’s what I’m saying about this, like optimizing.
Talk that’s out there, especially on social media. I think it just stops people before they start, right? You know, that feeling like with anything going into something where you feel like you have to be able to do it perfectly before you even start doing it. It’s like, no, no. Like this is where you learn it.
Right, right, right, right. And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Juniper: Right. Exactly, exactly. And now that I have it simplified, I can, like, I, I change things up all the time. Yeah. Um, I have, like, my basic routine that I, I, if, like, I am in a rush and I just have to get a workout in, I can just go to that basic routine and just get, get it done, um, in a half an hour if I, if I need to.
But I also, like, now have the ability to, to, to change it up. Which is something that I, I never thought would be, would be my life story. Um, so yeah, it’s, it’s great. Great.
Caitlin: I want to talk just a little bit more about this transition of, um, when you were still working with some restrictive dieting while also ramping up.
the intensity of your workouts. I’d love for you to just speak to the listeners about what that felt like for you. I mean, just prefacing this by saying that neither of us are dietitians, we’re not nutritionists, we’re not giving advice here on individuals nutritional needs, but just from your like experience and your felt sense of restrictive dieting while you’re exercising at a higher intensity, what did you generally feel?
feel like during the day and during your workouts and mentally? Um, how did that, how did that feel for you?
Juniper: Well, When I started doing the high intensity interval training class and fell in love with it, I liked going all in on that. I was like, wow, this is something that makes me feel good. This is, it makes me, makes me, it’s something I enjoy doing.
And as I started doing that, I very quickly, through my restrictive dieting that I was doing at the time, the calorie restrictions I was putting myself under, was very quickly depleting. to where I would do the HIIT class and then I would go home and then I would pass out for two hours because I had no energy to keep going.
I would wake up and then eat my little morsel that I was able to eat and then just feel gross the rest of the day. But while I was working out, I felt really great. Up until I was working, I felt really great, but the recovery after working out was abysmal. I felt tired. I felt, uh, irritable. I felt, uh, sluggish.
I was sore for a lot longer than I probably should have been. It would take me, I would do, two of these classes a week, and it would take me all of the days in between the classes. So I’d take one on Wednesday, and I’d take one on Sunday. It would take me from Wednesday till Sunday morning to feel okay again.
And then it would take me from Sunday until Wednesday morning to then again feel okay again to do another workout. I, it, those two workouts, they took hours. everything I had to offer because I wasn’t fueling myself enough. And I didn’t realize how much I was fueling my body until I started working out.
And my, my, my system was like, this is, is not going to work. I started becoming lightheaded. Uh, you experienced it with me in the office where I stood up from my chair and almost passed out . That, uh, happened a lot. It kept happening more and more as I continued to try to, uh, push myself in, in the, um, in the, the realm of this, this, uh, high intensity interval training class.
I finally decided that I, I, enough was enough and I, I couldn’t keep I couldn’t sustain that um, that, that feeling, the how awful I felt, and how when I wasn’t working out I was constantly thinking of food, and when I was distracting from work, it was distracting from, from my, my social life, it was distracting from, from everything that brings me joy in life.
I would work out and then the rest of the time I was distracted. Tired and hungry and irritable and, and I was not a pleasant person to be around and I just decided what, what, what should I do in this moment is, well, what, what brings me joy, what in this is actually bringing me some sort of joy.
And that was the class that I was taking. And what wasn’t bringing me joy was constantly thinking about how hungry I was all the time. And So I decided that I Would take a break from dieting. It wasn’t intended to be like a permanent break I was just going to take a few weeks off give myself a break I was talking to my therapist about it and and he thought it would be a good idea for me to take a break from dieting because it was causing me so many issues and I did And I started eating normally.
I don’t think I necessarily have a super unhealthy diet. I just probably eat more than I should. But regardless, I just started eating what I normally would eat, would want to eat. And Everything just changed. All of a sudden, I do my workout class, the next day I’d be a little sore, but then the day after that I’d be good to go again.
So then I could go from only physically being able to do two classes a week, to then being able to work out five days a week. and have the energy to actually explore other options of physical fitness. Um, yes, I had the physical, the, the, the, the one hit class. And then I decided to take another hit class.
And then, uh, I really enjoyed the strength training element of that other, uh, high intensity interval training class and really decided that, okay, now’s the time I am going to try to get a gym membership. Went for one of the budget options. It wasn’t great But I was at a place then where I was like, oh, it’s not me.
It’s this place. This gym just isn’t great because it’s not me. That’s not for the gym. It’s the gym this gym That’s not for me kind of this whole thing Just changed my perspective on how I approach these spaces and how I approach Eating and how I approach just kind of life in general and so through stopping the restrictive dieting and focusing solely on strength I was able to to really like feel better in a way that I’ve never felt before.
Yeah. Yeah So I think that answered your question. I went on a little bit of a tangent there.
Caitlin: That was great. One of the things, too, that you’ve shared with me is that since you started exercising more regularly and focusing on strength training, your low back pain that you’ve had for many years has decreased.
Could you talk a little bit about that?
Juniper: Right. Yeah. So I’ve been in physical therapy for, for years for lower back pain and sciatica pain. And I, I have had for, for years. A few years, it is relatively under control with like, fewer, few flare ups here and there. And I, I still do, today, have some flare ups with the back pain, but the more I’ve been strength training, the less frequent those, um, flare ups have become and the more manageable they are.
Because now, on top of the PT exercises that I’ve learned, I also have weightlifting exercises that I have noticed actually really help me relieve the back pain. So, Like today’s example, for example, I woke up this morning and my back, my lower back, was a little twingy. So when I went to the gym this morning, The first thing I did was deadlifts because deadlifts for whatever reason, I don’t know.
I don’t know what the reason is probably because it is like strengthening your lower back. They make my back pain feel much better. So I started my workout with some considerable lower back pain. Did my deadlifts rest for a little bit? And then the back pain was almost gone. And also with sciatic pain that usually shoots down my leg, deadlifts also help with that too.
They stretch out all those muscles when you’re bending down. And, and I don’t, it really alleviates that for me and it’s now like a go to, whereas, and the worst of it, I would pop a, uh, a muscle relaxer and just try to like make it through the day. Now I have like an active thing I can go and do that I know is going to, uh, alleviate the pain to, uh, enough of a degree where it’s tolerable and then it will pass and there’s not the, uh, reciprocal, reciprocal, Oh, what is the word I’m looking for?
Uh, It’s not like the pain starts and then you start feeling more pain and the pain just informs the more pain and it just keeps repeating in on itself. I don’t have that anymore. I’m able to break that cycle. I’m not sure what the word I’m looking for is, but when my back pain would flare up before I started really focusing on strength training and weightlifting, it would just last and last and last because I wouldn’t be able to move.
I’d be scared to move. And now I’m, I’m. I’m like, Oh, my back hurts. I better move. So it’s like really changed my life theory on how I address my back pain, uh, strength training, because now I, I mean, I know I, I, the research is that if you have lower back pain, the best thing you can do is move. Um, when you have back pain, severe back pain, the last thing you want to do is move.
Um, and now I like to have that reinforced within my body of, uh, Oh, my back’s flaring up. I have to do this movement because it, it, Will make me feel better and it always does
Caitlin: yeah And that’s um what we would like in clinical terms would say like you have pain Self efficacy or you you have an ability to cope on your own with what you’re feeling and know that you can make it better So just from a clinical perspective there’s on one side What we would call perseverating or catastrophizing which is like I’m in pain.
This is the end of the world. This is the worst thing that could happen. Oh, it’s so bad. I can’t, I can’t possibly do anything. That just is a self amplifying cycle that makes pain worse and worse and worse. But if you can feel pain and be like, Oh, it’s a little, yeah, it’s a little painful, but there’s something I can do about that.
I’m going to do it now. I’m going to take this on. And I have, I have some kind of coping strategy that can severely decrease your symptoms or your, your pain. Perception of the severity of the pain. Yeah, so what you’re describing there is exactly something we talk about clinically And you’ve now learned how to manage it.
Yeah That you can use from the gym for sure. That’s great.
Juniper: I love it.
Caitlin: I love it, too I mean, this is like this is like everything is like my favorite stuff How to do that and with deadlifts, come on, yeah, like so great
Juniper: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I never thought of it but I I never thought if you would have asked me two years ago that I’d be a Deadlifting person.
I would have been like, what’s a deadlift? Um, and, uh, and I also would have been like, absolutely not me, but now deadlifting is like my absolute favorite exercise to do. I don’t know what it is about it, but it makes me feel strong, powerful, and sexy. And I just love it. So like, even if I’m not, you know, in the mood to go to the gym or, or like, I’m feeling super self conscious.
It’s like, okay, deadlift, let’s do the deadlift. You know how it makes you feel better. And then I do it. And then I’m like, okay, let’s go. So it’s interesting how the deadlifts have been kind of like a universally beneficial exercise for me, for my lower back pain and self confidence and, and all of that.
Caitlin: I love it. That’s so great. Um, one, one of the things too, that just kind of from this clinical perspective, um, I’m, I’m mentioning is now cause it’s fresh on my mind because we had Greg layman here a couple of weekends ago for his course, um, uh, reconciling biomechanics with pain science. And one of the things that Greg’s have been talking a lot about, and I’ve heard him talk to other clinicians about is this idea that, or just, you know, it’s not, not anything that we really see from research, but, um, Um, right now it’s just kind of a theory that people who are attempting to lose weight might make some behavioral and lifestyle changes.
And there’s potential that those behavioral and lifestyle changes can have profound effects on decreasing chronic musculoskeletal pain, improving that person’s function and quality of life, improving a lot of mental health and social aspects in that person’s life. And those improvements can happen even if the number on the scale is small.
doesn’t change. And I’m just wondering if that resonates with you in some ways.
Juniper: It does. It does resonate with me. Like I, I stopped dieting. I am not actively losing weight. I am getting stronger. I am, The pain, and I’ve experienced my back pain, is, is, is greatly diminished. My, um, ability to actually do physical activity has increased.
And I feel much better than I did before. And, and no, my, the scale hasn’t changed. The scale hasn’t gone down. Not, probably not going to go down anytime soon, unless I decide, like, that’s something I want to tackle. But as of right now, I’m focused on getting strong and, and reducing pain and being able to like get to, to do all of the physical things I want to do in my life.
So yeah, I agree,
Caitlin: 100%. Let’s talk a little bit more about showing up in the gym space. This is something I talk to a lot of my female colleagues about how there’s this, I don’t know, it’s, it’s a, it’s a question. I actually just, um, just interviewed our friend Mack, Mackle Mays, and we had a little talk about this too.
I’m just interested in getting people’s take on, um, this idea of like, Yes, the gym can be an unwelcoming and intimidating space for certain groups. Does that mean we shouldn’t go to the gym or does that mean we should show up in the gym on a regular basis, take up space there and be visible to other people who want to see other people like them in the gym?
I want to get your idea on that and your thoughts on that and just kind of how, how it’s gone for you in terms of, of being in various gym spaces. I mean, it’s all here in New York City, which I know is different than in other places. I do know that here in New York, especially, we have a lot of fitness influencer types of people in the gym, making videos in the gym, like all of those, those shenanigans.
And um, and that is, can be really maybe disheartening or alienating. Right?
Juniper: Right. For sure.
Caitlin: I want to say that. Maybe that’s happening in other, like, smaller cities too. I just know we see it a ton in New York.
Juniper: Yeah, we do. We do. Um, we do. Um, yeah. I, that is a really good question. I feel that, like, my personal experience is, like, yes.
If I could have seen someone who looked like me, in the gym earlier in my life, I think that would have been greatly beneficial. So I do think that there is space at the gym for everyone. I don’t think that there is one, that is for everyone. So, uh, I, I say that, I had bad experiences in gyms until I started doing the HIIT classes.
And the difference was between like the low cost gyms was, and the, and the more expensive HIIT workout class gym was like a sense of community. Um, there was someone who really wanted me there, my friend Katie, and other people who enjoyed your presence. And. I found that that is even more so when I switched from going to a low cost, high volume gym to a community based gym where like their focus is community and they just happen to be a gym as well.
The YMCA is the one I go to currently and like they’re, they’re a nonprofit. They’re, their focus is community. And, and it feels that way. It feels like they’re there to serve the community first. And everyone walks in the doors with a sense of we’re like all in this together. At least that’s been my experience and how I feel about it.
And, and I think that the more people who. show up no matter how, like what sect they fall into, what, what demographic they fall into. I think the more people show up, it would always be to the benefit of everyone else. Um, especially me. Like I, I, I, I show up and I see. Now, I see other people who are similarly built to me, myself at the YMCA who are, uh, working out doing the same workouts I’m doing and it’s like, it’s nice to be in the same room with people who look like me.
For sure.
Caitlin: Um, any tips for people new to the gym environment or venturing into the gym for the first time?
Juniper: I would say go with a friend. Yeah. If you’re intimidated. Go with a friend and just play. The weights aren’t going to hurt you as long as you’re, you know, not like going in, lifting a 150 pound dead, uh, dumbbell right off the gate, but, you know, pick up some moderate, moderately heavy weights and, and just, you know, play.
It’s like an adult jungle gym. Like all of the equipment. Uh, it’s an adult jungle gym. You get to play. You get to climb on things. You get to put yourself upside down. In, in different positions. And just kinda just be silly. And, it should be fun. And, and, and. As hard as it is for, for, I know it was hard for me personally to, to get over this, but literally nobody cares about you.
Caitlin: They’re,
Juniper: they’re so worried that you are judging how big their pecs are and not how you look. So, if you’re being silly and you’re having fun, and, and, uh, just remember, like, nobody’s judging you. Nobody cares that you’re, that you’re there and that you may look, you may look silly doing what you’re doing because, uh, everyone’s, uh, we’re all just wrapped up in our own thing.
It’s true.
Caitlin: Totally. Totally. Thank you so much Juniper for sharing all of this. I want to share with our listeners a little bit more about your up and coming work. Uh, in particular, this fall you’re offering a small group class called Movement Munchies here at Practice Human on Fridays. And it’s a small group.
Just so what we do at Practice Human is for in person classes is we limit our classes to six people or less. So there’s a lot of, there’s community, but there’s also a lot of kind of one on one guidance. Uh, can you talk a little bit more about what your class is going to look like?
Juniper: Yeah. So movement munchies, um, is, uh, I came up with the name because I wanted to create a class that was full of like, bite sized, easy to digest exercises that at the end of it, you could put it all together and create a whole workout or a whole meal.
So the last workout will be a movement meal. Um, but just like, small bite sized pieces of, of, um, workouts that you can put together to form a whole body Workout at the end to make it like just easy to digest accessible to as many people as possible It’s focused on people who are plus size who feel like they’re not super welcome in gym spaces So it gives them the opportunity to come in Learn some basics so that when they do decide to go to the gym They’re not just like walking in lost like they have no idea what they’re going to do Um, because that is not a great feeling but um, it’s also like just I want to create a space that’s for everyone whether you’re You know gay queer trans a Person with a disability a plus size that it’s just a place where you can come learn a lot learn some basic fitness and strength training routines and, and be able to feel like you’re succeeding in, in, uh, a goal of, of living a more light, a life that is, uh, more focused on strength and not so much focused on, on weight loss.
Caitlin: Awesome. Yeah. And that class is going to be starting on September 20th on Fridays from 1 to 2 PM. And you can find out about it on the Practice Human website. This is practiced by humans. com slash events and you’ll see Juniper Boggs class movement munchies there Um, and I know Juniper you also now have your own Email list that people can get on and get updates from you Um, tell me again what your website is
Juniper: It’s www.juniperjaye.com.
Caitlin: Cool, and we’ll link that in the show notes. Um, we’ll also link Juniper’s Instagram and a link where you can go to learn more about the Movement Munchies class here in September. And then Juniper will also be available starting toward the end of the summer and into the fall for one on one training sessions here as well.
Juniper: For sure I will. And if you have any inquiries, you can just email me at juniper at juniper. com and I’ll take you through the intake process.
Caitlin: Juniper, I’m so glad you’re venturing down this path. It is like, it’s so exciting to see you sort of come full circle. And it’s also like, and it’s also like, like, of course, because you know, I mean, anybody listening to this that’s gotten involved in Like any kind of movement, teaching, movement, training, coaching, strength, coaching kind of knows how they fell into it just from being around it and catching that bug and then wanting to like kind of pay it forward to others.
And I think you’re going to do so much incredible work ushering others down this path.
Juniper: Well, thank you. And I mean, I, I have you so much to thank for, for, for this. Uh, I know you kind of, you said when I, when I told you I was, I was. Going to go kind of down this route that you said, you’re like, I’ve been waiting for you to make this decision.
I just knew it was going to happen and, and it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t working in the environment that you’ve created at Practice Human. And, and seeing the, the, particularly the strong women that you have working there. You know, you, Elizabeth Whiff, Macklin Mays, uh, Julia Pline, like, uh, those, those very strong.
women that you have created a space for. This journey for me would not, I would not be stepping into this journey if it weren’t for the environment that you’ve created.
Caitlin: Thank you. Yeah, thanks. Well, thanks for the talk. And, um, yeah, if anybody listening has any questions for us here at Practice Human or for Juniper, you can reach out at hello at Practice Human.
com and we’ll link all of Juniper’s links and everything in the show notes. Definitely get on Juniper’s email list to stay in touch.
Juniper: Yeah. Can’t wait to have you there. Thank you. Thank you.
Caitlin: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed my talk with Juniper. Juniper. I’m gonna put a link to find out more about Movement Munchies in the show notes, or you can go to PracticeHuman.com/events and scroll down to uh, Juniper’s course there to learn more.
You can always reach out to us here at Practice Human At hello@practicehuman.com. We answer all of your emails and if you learn something here today, please consider leaving us a rating and a review. It will help our conversations grow.
