Dr. Leah Humphries is a Physical Health and Performance Coach passionate about empowering individuals to navigate their health journey through movement. Growing up on the bayou of Louisiana, Leah developed a deep-rooted connection to physical activity, exploring various sports, and immersing herself in the natural world. Her journey led her to a prep school in Lake Placid, NY, where she honed her athletic skills and gained a broader perspective on health and fitness.
With a background in Exercise Science and Chiropractic, Leah brings a unique blend of knowledge and experience to her coaching practice. She specializes in helping clients navigate pain, injury, and performance goals, guiding them towards sustainable and effective movement strategies. Leah’s commitment to personalized care and her ability to connect with individuals on a personal level make her a valuable resource for those seeking to improve their overall health and quality of life
If you’d like to learn more about Leahs work and movement philosophies, follow her on instagram @dr.leahhumphries. You can also reach her via email at lhumphries27@gmail.com
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Practice Human podcast, host Caitlin Casella interviews Leah Humphries, a physical health and performance coach with a rich background in exercise science and chiropractic care. Leah shares her journey from chiropractic care to fitness coaching, emphasizing the importance of sustainable fitness and movement-based therapy. They discuss Leah’s approach to tailoring fitness programs to individual needs, managing exercise intensity, and ensuring long-term health and fitness. Leah also talks about her personal interests, including long-distance running and gardening, and the importance of integrating fitness into everyday life.
Topics covered in this episode:
- What is sustainable fitness and how can we, as coaches, help our clients shift their mindset in this direction?
- How does mindset and behavior change come into play when building a fitness program for overall health and longevity?
- What lifestyle factors influence ideal exercise intensity and frequency?
- How can people more appropriately train for the phase or “season” of life they’re in?
- How being flexible in our approach to various exercise modalities can benefit one’s ability to make movement a way of life.
- How can we challenge our biases towards specific movement philosophies?
- How utilizing your immediate environment for movement can provide a more accessible, well rounded, and embodied approach to exercise.
Episode Transcript
Caitlin: Welcome back to the Practice Human podcast. I’m your host, Caitlin Casella. Before we get started with my interview today with Leah, I want to let you know about a few programming elements coming up at Practice Human in the new year. We are, yes, I can’t believe it, but we are rounding out 2024. And as we move into 2025, I am thrilled with the group cohort strength.
Stuff that we have coming up both in person and online at practice human Thrilled to have my colleague elizabeth whips here again for another Season of true strength academy Elizabeth takes a small group of six lucky people women ages 70s and up through a course on strength training, what it means to strength train, what our motivation is for strength training, for our lives and for independence and for longevity and, um, It’s a phenomenal course and I have the pleasure of sitting here in my studio space every Wednesday afternoon when Elizabeth is here with her group and just stand in awe of everything that all of these women get up to in this space.
So if you want to find out a little bit more about that, we’re going to put some information on our events page at practicehuman. com slash events. for True Strength Academy with Elizabeth Wipf. And you can click through from there to her website. Everything goes through her to register for True Strength Academy.
That’s in person here at Practice Human. Uh, I’m also going to be co teaching a class with my good friend, Macklen Mays. We’re going to alternate weeks in a class that we call Navigating Strength. It’s going to be on Tuesday nights. Again, just a small group of six people here. And that’s, we found that’s really the sweet spot for my little studio here in Nomad.
neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan and, and same kind of deal, right? It’s our wheelhouse here at Practice Human. We work with women, uh, perimenopausal, postmenopausal, looking to build strength, maintain and build muscle mass, increase bone density, stay really strong and functional with their fitness for the long haul.
I’m super passionate about it. Macklen and Elizabeth are just. Amazing, uh, collaborators with me here in this space. And, um, and then the other thing I wanted to let you know about along those lines is I am currently taking a small group of people through a virtual group cohort called the slow cooker.
The slow cooker is a 12 week program right now, but in 2025, the slow cooker will be in. Even slower, I’m moving it into a 20 week format. And the reason it’s called the slow cooker is because we get realistic about how long it takes to make gains in strength and conditioning. The slow cooker is designed for women ages 40 and up, and you’ll gain all the tools you need to to train yourself for a lifetime of healthy aging and sustainable fitness.
So what makes the slow cooker unique and valuable is also what makes it challenging rather than having led group classes or a personal trainer. Who takes you through everything, every step of the way in real time. The slow cooker teaches you the principles and rationale and ways to discriminate for yourself, how to train yourself for the long haul.
So it is programming week by week, along with tutorials and really all of the knowledge and tools that you need to understand so that If you took the Slow Cooker Basics course for 20 weeks, you would have pretty much everything you need to create strength and cardio conditioning workouts for yourself for always, right?
These are like tools that we have, um, for the rest of the week. So, uh, I really built it to teach strategies for getting stronger, building and maintaining muscle mass and bone density. I’m also looking at improving metabolic health, right? So cardio conditioning that, uh, from the clinical space, from my clinical perspective can really help decrease pain and just make us feel like a better person.
Badass for the long haul, right? So if you’re interested in finding out more about the slow cooker, we’re going to start another cohort in January and you can go to practicehuman. com look under the services tab, you’ll see a tab for online courses and the slow cooker is there. You could also just type in practicehuman.com. Slash slow dash cooker and you’ll find all the details for our next cohort that will start up in January if you have any questions for me about any of this stuff going on Or if you just like I don’t quite know where I fit. I know I want to strength train. I’m concerned about muscle mass. I want to maintain osteopenia osteoporosis As you make your way through menopause myself and the people who I collaborate here You In this space are the people for you and we have stuff going on in person and online So you can always reach out to us at hello At practice human.
com. You can also go to my website practice human. com You can schedule a 15 minute discovery call with me. Those calls are great for like, I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what course is right for me for where I’m at my experience level and when I’m looking for the qualities that I want to train you in.
So if you want to just get on a quick call with me, um, you could schedule a 15 minute call You can do that right through my website and I would love to chat with you So I am going to leave it at that lots of things coming up All of those things can be found on our website as we move into 2025 I have a goal to start making some shorter solo podcast episodes, so I wanna teach you some things that I’ve learned in the clinical space and in the strength and conditioning space about women in particular as we go through menopause and the changes that take place and ways that we can really drive some adaptation for the positive and keep pace with some of the changes, um, that occur during this period of life.
So I’m excited about that. Look out for some shorter ones. Solo episodes soon. I’m saying that now to just hold myself accountable, publicly accountable, because this is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. So I think next time you hear from me here on the podcast, it’ll probably just be me talking to you for 15 or 20 minutes.
So I would also welcome requests for future episodes, questions. Do you have things that you want to know more about? Uh, again, you can email us at hello at practice human. com and that’s all from me for now. Let’s get to my interview with Leah Humphries.
I am excited to sit down and have a talk today with Leah Humphries. Leah is a physical health and performance coach, passionate about empowering individuals to navigate their health journey through movement. Growing up on the Bayou of Louisiana, Leah developed a deep rooted connection to physical activity, exploring various sports, and immersing herself in the natural world.
Her journey led her to prep school in Lake Placid, New York, where she honed her athletic skill and gained a broader perspective on health with a background in exercise science and chiropractic. Uh, Leah brings a unique blend of knowledge and experience or coaching practice. She specializes in helping clients navigate pain, injury and performance goals, guiding them towards sustainable and effective movement strategies.
Leah’s commitment to personalized care and her ability to connect with individuals on a personal level make her a valuable resource, resource for those seeking improvement. for their overall health and their quality of life. Leah, I’m really excited to chat with you today. Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Leah: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here as well.
Caitlin: Yeah, I, I would love to just have you start by sharing a little bit about your background. Um, we were chatting offline right before I hit record and I’ve, Lee, I’ve followed your work on Instagram for quite a while. I’m really inspired by the message that you present there and I did not know that you have a background in chiropractic and I was, I was just saying how I’ve met quite a lot of people these days who have a background as chiropractors and have moved much more into the strength and conditioning world or into more kind of sustainable fitness type of work and I would love to hear a little bit more about your background in general with fitness and athletics But also your transition from chiropractic care into what you do now.
Leah: Well, I got my chiropractic degree probably about almost ten years ago But in the last two years, um, just kind of over the journey and how I’ve grown as a doctor and how I wanted to provide care, um, I think a lot of your listeners are probably pretty familiar with not being like insurance based, being more movement based, and I found like calling myself a chiropractor almost like got in the way.
Where it was more to get people’s expectations of when they were coming in, they weren’t going to be expecting a lot of hands on work, that they were looking towards me to build a sustainable routine and movement routine in their life, or, um, not looking for me for like quick fixes, but this was going to be more of a movement, more of a journey that we were going to go on and not like a more of a transactional.
The model you see in most, like, status quo healthcare practices, whether it’s physical therapy or chiropractic, where you’re just kind of going in, getting something done to you really quickly. And you’re on your way. I Transitioned to just be calling myself a coach um, and yeah, I think that it just kind of helps attract the type of client that I want to Help and in the way that I want to help them through movement behavior change but How I grew up I grew up in southern louisiana actually and Uh grew up on the bayou And how it came from a varied background of like a lot of movement diversity playing soccer and just getting into trouble basically on the, on the bayou getting into canoes and doing crazy stuff, you know, but it’s like, it’s something that I look back on now and I’m so grateful for it just because it’s like, I moved my body in so many various ways and as we know, as we You Having that amount of like movement variety, that diet, really goes a long way and having like that longevity over a lifetime of moving your body in various ways is, is really important.
But yeah, somehow I got into ice hockey, and that got me out of the deep south and into Lake Placid, New York, which is an Olympic town, mountain town. And that really kind of opened my eyes in a lot of ways. Our whole school schedule was around our training schedule. And so we trained at the Olympic training center, which was a lot of fun.
Um, but just generally seeing people train for pleasure and for health, that was like something that I didn’t really see a lot growing up in the South. People exercising for fitness back in the early 2000s, you know, it’s like what people are running in the snow. You got to be kidding, you know, right.
Yeah, like wild to me. But yeah, and so movement had always been a really important part of me growing up and just feeling like, yeah, I don’t know. It was like a place where I could express myself and discover who I was and discover who I was in the world. And it was always so important. I think like a lot of my educating years of getting my bachelor’s and getting my doctorate and just kind of figuring out then having the doctorate and being like, what am I actually trying to do with people?
Like, what am I, you know, cause you go through the, uh, a lot of healthcare today is just like plug and play like, Oh, you have back pain. Let’s just do these three exercises and you’ll be totally clear, you know, it’s like a point and shoot and it was just kind of sitting, sitting with a degree and all the education that I had gathered and I was like, well, what am I really like trying to do with people?
What’s been important to me in my life? And I think that’s what I’ve been trying to really like at home and focus on for the last like three or four years.
Caitlin: Hmm.
Leah: Yeah. And so that’s kind of like with the transition of calling myself a coach more than, um, a chiropractor. I’m like, I don’t really need to like to die on this hill.
I’ll just call myself something different and go down that road for a while.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. And it’s a really interesting breed of coaches. I have to say that I’ve met people that have started as chiros and then moved into some other form of. I like sustainable fitness. Because you have such a strong background in the science of the body, right?
Having a doctor of chiropractic degree. I feel like you must draw from that in certain ways or I don’t know Can you speak to sort of how that might be your lens still in some ways? I mean, I don’t know that program in that degree like I do Physical therapy, right? Because I’ve been through the doctor of physical therapy, but I can imagine you apply that a lot.
Leah: Yeah, for sure I mean, I think that like education on that kind of level, um, in any respect, it’s just, it’s going to provide a great foundation. But I think the, a lot of the ways in which, uh, I don’t think that I, I draw it on a lot in that, like it built the foundation of like my understanding of the basics of the human body that I’ve just continued to build off of like reaching to, you know, I have a strength and conditioning background myself from like whenever I was in prep school, we had a strength and conditioning coach that we were working with.
You know, by the time I was 15, but I guess kind of as I’ve gone, just continuing to build off that foundation, like I’m more interested in athletic development and developing. how to develop movement qualities or skills rather than just so it’s taking that taking that knowledge and just trying to apply it in a different way whereas I think like you kind of get shot out of chiropractic school and you’re very hands on based and like the exercise component is kind of like a Basically like a weekend class almost.
You know, I think it’s
Caitlin: Like one. It is, and PT school too, believe it or not.
Leah: Yeah, and so, you know, there’s, it doesn’t prepare you great in some, in some ways and it prepares you well in other ways. But I think that’s just kind of part of the journey is, you know, I’ve, I’ve, Never stop learning where it’s like just if anything I’ve been in like a big unlearning period of like, what are all these biases?
Like what is strength? Um, how do I actually like to measure strength with people? You know and just kind of like looking at all these like foundational questions Yeah, like things that I’m taking for granted and really kind of like trying to understand that on a deeper level
Caitlin: Yeah, that’s that’s interesting.
It’s interesting to you to bring up just kind of the, like, working definitions of things for us and, and like our practices or with our populations that we serve too. I think that’s, that’s such a big piece of like, educating people on a deeper level of, Like what, what you are doing when you’re doing exercise and why, I mean, maybe for some people, like it’s kind of a motivating factor, um, to have a deeper understanding of, of why and what are the tools and what are the like really specific strategies that we use to like develop different qualities in athleticism or in, in general health with fitness.
So yeah, that’s really cool. Um, that you’re, I don’t know, chewing on that, I guess.
Leah: Yeah. Yeah, I think like, well, I think something that’s interesting is, you know, like an interesting arc of kind of the chiropractic jump to coach and then just kind of building off of the education that I had and questioning these things like strength like not only for Helping clients understand but also for helping me to be a bit more agile And like being able to meet people better where they are, if that makes sense.
Like, and for example, like in 2020, you know, like I think with a lot of the rest of the fitness world, I got like gung ho into kettlebells and then I was like shoving kettlebells down, like everyone’s throat, um, the only way
Caitlin: to build strength is
Leah: with kettlebells and, and you know, and I remember like talking to my mentor at the time and.
He was like, is the only way to get that person’s overhead, like whatever it was that I was working on with like, uh, with the overhead press, I was like, yeah, like, how else would you, you know, and just like so narrow minded of like, How to like, what is strength and how can you, you know, something I think I’m starting to appreciate more is like from reading John Kiley of, I think something that you hear a lot is like, Oh, you can’t measure what you don’t track.
And it’s like, yeah, but just because you can measure it doesn’t mean it’s useful. You know what I think that’s where it gets into like the topic of strength where, you know, if you were a doctor that lifted a barbell or like got your clients lift a barbell, you are all so far ahead of the pack, but then like, Now I’m like, yeah, but it’s more than just getting people strong as fuck, you know, and learning how to use like, for instance, like body weight circuits and how to get somebody.
strong, like my 70 year olds doing fall prevention. They’re like, I don’t want to fucking pick up a barbell, you know, but I go to their, I go to their house and teach them some different like body weight things and how they’re negotiating the ground that they’re like at their actual house and things that they feel like they can reach for anywhere.
And it’s like, it just seems more accessible. And so I guess that’s kind of like where, like thinking about these things on a deeper level is allowing me to like help. Meet people better where they actually are and not where I want them to be
Caitlin: Totally, that’s key because like it has to be relevant for them and their lives and their goals, right?
Yeah totally and also I’m finding like in a lot of my work with people that I’m kind of bridging this gap between physical therapy treatment and then and then getting them toward a little bit more robust, sustainable fitness on their own afterwards and talking about what that looks like. So much of it has to do with equipment and what’s available to them and what’s not.
And like, I just finished a session with somebody who travels a lot. Like her work is actually in travel. She’s a travel writer to far flung locations where she has no access to anything, gyms and stuff. And, um, And what a
Leah: Little problem to help solve, you know? Yeah. It’s
Caitlin: Like, I’m. Yeah, I’m not going to build out a kettlebell program for you.
You’re not going to ever have access to kettlebells. And like, if you have a hotel gym, I know you’re going to have a rack of dumbbells and a weight bench. And so I’m going to give you a two dumbbell and bench workout that you can get it all done in like a short amount of time when you’re jet lagged, you know?
So it’s like, yeah, it’s all about being really flexible to what, what somebody has access to. Um, I think that’s so key. I mean, especially if we’re going to help them build a habit. That’s something that’s sustainable over time, right? Yeah, for
Leah: Sure. And like what they’re excited to, what they’ll like, not just like have access to, but I think like something that I’ve grown and just like how I’ve structured my practice recently is getting clients to like, look at their, immediate environment differently of like, okay, there’s like a large curb.
I know how to get a leg workout in or like seeing clients at parks and it’s like, okay, it’s just, uh, yeah, here’s a bench and an open field, what are you going to do? Yeah. And so just giving them ways like maneuvering their body and yeah. So it’s like, and it just seems like a bit more accessible to reach for instead of like, oh shit.
They’re like, go over here and do, you know, uh, whereas inactivity is already so, so high. Trying to give people better, better, uh, ease. Right.
Caitlin: Yeah. Less barriers for entry if like slots right into their day in their environment with the equipment they have. Quick. Yeah. Simple. That’s great. It looks like in your own training, you mentioned kind of a field, like if we have a bench in a field, what do we do?
It looks like you’ve been doing a lot of plyometric and sprint drill type of work and things like Just movement, movement in space, explosive movement, stuff like that. From what I’ve seen on your Instagram, um, and I love that. I mean, speaking of falls prevention and working with people who are older, working on power, working on a little bit more dynamic, responsive balance.
I think it’s so, so key. Um, I’d love to hear a little bit more about what you’re doing in that department in your own training, right? Like for yourself and what you feel you’re getting from that stimulus. And how you can make that kind of work accessible to people who haven’t really done something like that in a while.
Or might be a little bit more fearful of a more explosive type of work.
Leah: Yeah. Well, that’s where I think, well, stuff that I’m doing is, I mean, all the stuff that we’re talking about or like trying to find ways, like right now I’m generally contracting a house that I’m, that I’m redoing. And it’s like, my schedule’s just all over the damn place.
Yeah, um, you know, like contacting this person contacting this person. I like my typical schedule of how I hold my physical routine. It’s kind of been like well You can get it in like every 30 minutes you can that you have free you can kind of sneak it in here Sneak it in there.
So it’s really made me like it a bit more because you know, I mean, I’m a fitness professional so it’s hard to You know gauge, like clients, they’ll, they’ll look at me and judge and it’s like, well, this is like what I do for a living. So I’m tinkering, I’m always doing stuff.
Caitlin: Um,
Leah: But the season that I found myself in, it’s like, man, you have to just integrate it as much as you can.
And so I think it just made me a little bit more playful and exploratory. And that’s kind of transitioned into How I’m working with clients of, I don’t have a, I don’t have an office. I just go to people’s, I go to people’s houses or parks quite a bit. Awesome. And so it’s like really just by kind of like having that constraint of I’m not carrying a bunch of equipment with me.
Sometimes I have a medicine ball or like a hockey stick. Cause I have a lot laying around, a lot of those laying around and it’s just like a towel rod, but I just get creative. What they’re, what their goals are, what they’re, what they’re wanting help with. And, trying to create an experience that it’s like, it’s uh, getting what they’re after.
But like in a, in a less like sets and reps almost scheme. You know where we’re showing up and doing this like diligent work. Um, a lot of what you see on Instagram of me at the park is like, I’ll be throwing the ball for my dog so she can get her exercise in and swim. And I’m just like using those three minutes to, okay, what am I going to, what do, how do I feel today?
Like I have a high intensity on the, uh, what I’m supposed to do, but I’ve kind of felt like shit. So I’m just going to do some lunges and some step ups. And so I just kind of get creative of how, uh, do I want to do some strength or some coordination or some, you know, and just kind of seeing all these different, these different levers to pull.
Caitlin: Yeah, based on how I’m
Leah: feeling that day. That’s really
Caitlin: Great. I find that too that sometimes just get moving a little bit and then your body kind of tells you what you’re capable of that day or you know or you get kind of get going with a little something as a way in or like an on ramp and then other things come that might feel a little more robust than you thought you would be dealing with that day initially once you get more kind of revved up activated and get moving.
Yeah.
Leah: But I’m actually doing like a lot of, uh, I’m getting into a lot of long distance running, so I want to run, uh, yeah, I want to run an ultra at the end of the year and sound like I’m doing, yeah, I’m just doing like, I haven’t run one yet, but I’ve been just trying to spend the year like base building and running as much as possible, but, um, doing a lot of like power and speed work, um, to, to accompany all the, all the time on my feet.
In strength, obviously, as well, um, just building all that lower extremity infrastructure to, to handle those miles, you know, and not be running myself into the ground.
Caitlin: Yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s awesome. Leo, where are you located right now? I don’t even know. I’m
Leah: in, uh, I’m in southern Louisiana. Oh, okay. So south of, south of I 10, uh, and a, I’m outside of Lafayette, Uhhuh, in a little city called Broussard.
Caitlin: Cool. Okay. Yeah, I wasn’t sure. I, ’cause I, again, I, I see all your work all, all on Instagram and I see you running. It looks like you’re in a pretty hot climate, but everywhere in the US is really hot this summer, so I didn’t know. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Didn’t know where you’re located. Yeah,
Leah: It’s uh, it’s hot and humid, but yeah.
Uh, pretty much everywhere has been. Pretty hot. Yeah. Yeah, but I’m somehow like I don’t know growing up here. I’ve actually lived in the north for like 17 years right and coming back home I’ve adapted to the heat like I’ve actually I actually enjoy I’m actually one of those weirdos that enjoys running in the heat.
Mm hmm
Caitlin: Yeah, people get adapted to it yeah, I feel really good
Leah: Yeah.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I like people that do track and field and go to warmer climates to be able to do that, you know, year round, like the heat’s so much better for their bodies they’re running fast. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I get it. I’ve gotten a little bit acclimated to what’s going on in New York right now, but
Leah: Oh yeah.
I love,
Caitlin: I love a 38 degree run.
Leah: Oh yeah. I know. Well, yeah. They’re so different for sure. Like running, running really cold and running really hot are like two very different experiences. Yeah.
Caitlin: Totally. But that’s the cool thing about running, right? We get the, I find it exciting and refreshing the way you get exposed to the elements and the change of seasons and the way your physiology responds, you know, to like.
The change, the seasonal changes, that’s something that I’ve really fallen in love with running in New York. It’s just the gradual shift in season in parallel with the gradual physiological like shifts that I can feel in my body based on how those temperatures are changing and, and then like the trees are changing and the environment looks different and like it’s, it’s a, I think it’s just a beautiful connection of like, like there’s nature around us and we are nature
Leah: and it all
Caitlin: connects in a really cool way.
Leah: Yeah. Yeah, I mean that’s what actually, you know, like, um, I was working out in a gym a bit at the beginning of the year, but really for the last like five years majority of my workouts I do outside. And, uh, and it’s just like, I think it was with the kettlebells kind of when it really started, cause you didn’t really need to be inside.
Caitlin: But
Leah: yeah, spending so much time being active outside as, like, I’ve learned how much I really enjoy that.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. I started doing like a workout in the pandemic over at the peers. Cause I live kind of close to the Hudson river in Manhattan. And during the pandemic, I would go over there and do it. Like we were just saying like a bench workout, like I would use one of the nice flat benches at the piers and do step ups and pushups on it and do a little sprints on the pier.
And like, I’d like to just jump around in all kinds of ways, just be outside and move. And it felt so good and refreshing to get near the water and fresh air in the pandemic. It was great. And I didn’t need any equipment at all.
Leah: Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s what’s uh, that’s what’s cool being able to feel like you can get a good workout in without having.
without needing much.
Caitlin: Yeah. Yeah. Let’s shift gears a little bit and talk about fitness programming, specifically fitness, maybe kind of the arc of fitness programming weekly or monthly, or how you help your clients fine tune intensity. Throughout a program one of the things that I saw you post recently on Instagram You wrote fitness is sold as having to go hard and push every single day I teach my clients when to push and how often How to balance their training with their life so they can keep showing up and I I think this is really key because I see a lot of Type A New Yorker.
This is like such a New Yorker stereotype, but these people exist in New York. It’s a stereotype for a reason. People just push, push, push, push, push high intensity all the time. Like, I just want you to work out. I just want to feel like I’m dead after each workout. And these are usually people with other high levels of stress in their lives, like a really high demand job and working long hours and commuting.
And like, so it’s like the type of person that thinks that. You know, their fitness is maybe their outlet for stress relief, but it’s just so much stress internally and externally all the time. They’re just getting run down. So, um, I’d love to hear some of your thoughts just on, on fine tuning intensity with exercise.
Leah: Yeah. That one can be, that can be challenging. I mean, I find myself there too, where I feel like I’m always having to pull myself back from the edge. It’s like, but I mean, sometimes I don’t know. It’s, it’s challenging to say, but like, you know, sometimes you just have to experience like, like clients experience that failure.
Um, but I’m always trying to help broaden it. You know, it can be, it can be hard with that type of client because they have such a high tolerance for high levels of stress and it can be hard for them to really be, to ask them to slow down. And so finding ways to, you know, I think Craig Liebenson says this, but like hiding the skill in the drill.
So, like, for them, trying to figure out a way to get them to, like, maybe experience their body in a slower way, um, so doing some more, like, um, exercises with the intent of, like, feeling and slowing down to maybe start planting seeds. And, I mean, it’s tough to say, you know, because it’s, like, I would think, like, this would be, these aren’t behaviors that you’re necessarily going to change in two months.
Um, so just kind of, like, keeping that in mind and thinking of, like, ways of, you know, Trying to get them to slow down and then starting to see like, okay, these, you see how you had this stressful week, whatever, like say you’re a writer that’s like, you flew to Japan and then to Germany and then to here and then to there and you see how, you know, and kind of putting it in perspective for them.
And that’s where I come back around trying to teach them how to use their movement practice as self care. So in conjunction with like, how is your sleep and how is your stress levels and trying to get them to understand that fuller picture. Um, but yeah, I mean, it can be tough with people that just want to push and push and push, but I mean, otherwise people just have a misunderstanding of when they are exercising.
They think that in order to, I mean, it’s a few different things. Like when they’re exercising, they think that in order to reach their goals, they just have to be going as hard as a mother, you know, ham kind of deal. Or they just don’t really know what to do to get the stimulus that they’re after, to get the adaptation that they’re after.
And so that’s all just being able to spend time with people and being able to see where their understanding levels are at. But as far as people that like to go, I think like, Trying to give them an opportunity to like slow down and tune in and just trying to continue to like drip feed that and try And build it out into more robust blocks, you know, where it’s like, oh, maybe it’s now a I don’t know elliptical routine That there can watch like trash TV You know, where they’re like, okay, I’m going to be stationary, whatever it looks like for that, that individual personality.
What do you think about that?
Caitlin: It’s a tricky one for me too. I mean, because I do see a lot of people show up in the PT clinic, people who are just kind of chronically injured a little bit in a lot of parts of their body that are not, it’s not stopping them from doing anything.
Leah: Right.
Caitlin: And I think there are things that hang around and get a little worse.
And, you know, Yeah, sorry, go ahead.
Leah: Well, I think sometimes too, like I know at times I’ve been nervous about doing it, but just having like a straight up conversation, you know, like there was one time it really scared the hell out of me because I had a, she was like a pretty nervous, I would say like high anxiety, female client that I kind of had, I was nervous to go to be a bit more direct with, um, cause I was like, man, I might just lose this person.
Like, I’m not really sure, you know, but I was just like, Hey, Like, this is what we’re, this is what we’re trying to address right here. Like, this is what we’re working and just trying to get clear of like, you doing this and going over and over and over again, we’re going to keep ending up right back here, you know?
And so, being able to have more direct conversations and things like, this is the very behavior that we’re trying to change. And it’s like, this is going to be scary. This is going to be something new, but being able to have more direct communication, I think sometimes people snap it out of people where they’re like, Oh.
Okay. Shit. Yeah. I’ve just been stuck in this cycle , you know? Yeah.
Caitlin: And
Leah: It’s hard to really kind of see past it. They’re like, everything’s fine. Like I can just keep busting through. Um, yeah. And just kind of continuing to go on autopilot,
Caitlin: Right? Yeah. And I feel like, um, just, I kind of intuitively know, and I’m sure you get this too, that there’s certain clients that’ll come to you or will come to me.
Because they know, they actually know that something needs to change, right? Like, why, why did you come to me? Cause maybe cause you think something needs to change. So what are all the things that we can have on the table here? To have a discussion about what, which elements we’re going to go after, right?
So yeah, I think, I think people do when they come to us and look to us as experts, they know that something needs to shift and they want help shifting it. But then those, those behavior changes, those transitions can be really hard. Yeah.
Leah: Yeah. For sure. Because what they think is the problem might not be the problem.
Yeah. Yeah. So like being able to, being able to navigate that with them. And helping them to like understand that, um, but also just getting to understand the, like, getting to understand them better, you know, um, and building that trust to where, you know, I think Ryan Chao talks about it all the time of like really building, putting trust in the bank, building that bank, building that bank.
Because you are like, You’re going to take them to the bank one day and you’re going to mess up. You’re going to, you know, overdo it. They’re going to blame you or like whatever, but just like, you need to be able to have that trust that you’re building with them, that you’re in their corner to where you, you have that, that capacity to, to mess up and, and keep going with them
Caitlin: and trying to
Leah: find what’s right.
Caitlin: Yeah. I think sometimes too, people do start to identify that the really high intensity all the time isn’t really getting them results anymore at a certain point. You know, like they just start to feel a little bit run down and like, don’t feel like they have energy or that they’re strong or that they can perform at a high level.
And like, they feel like they’re plateauing And even though they’re like working so hard and like such a high intensity that, um, and, and the, I think the really challenging thing is that when we do make the shift to something that’s more, sustainable, long term progressive for them to really see results in different performance areas.
Again, it takes so long, it’s really hard for people to stick with that. It’s like a really tricky, tricky thing to navigate.
Leah: Yeah. Well, it’s like, it’s almost like a leap of faith, you know, but it’s. Because it, it does take time and people, and there’s like so many, there’s so many people screaming and misinformation saying like, you know, just do this one exercise and everything’s going to go away or like try out this, like what this modality or whatever new, new thing is on the market that’s being sold.
And like, you know, reducing down people’s experience to just fix, you know, I mean, we can, we can insert any, all kinds of stuff here. Yeah. I think like, you know, especially just to like, kind of circle back to that, like type a I think what I’m starting to appreciate too, cause like I see myself asking them to like walk it back a little bit where they’re just so used to like going full throttle.
I’ve, I’ve had like three or four clients recently just kind of expressed to me. I’ve been working with them all around. We started at the same time about three months ago and they’re like, you know, I’ve just made so much progress and it just doesn’t seem like, like how have I made so much progress? It hasn’t, like, I haven’t killed myself, you know, like going so hard.
And they’re like, it’s so it’s, that’s just been, you know, doing enough and to, to be able to have that time with someone for them to like, look back and be like, wow, like a lot has changed and I don’t feel like I’ve had to like really push so hard now that’s not always the case, but, but trying to get like type a people to, to understand that there’s almost like this fear of like, like there’s no way it can be that easy.
You know, it can’t be that easy. And so it’s really, I think it goes back to building that trust of like, give me like three months of your time. And, you know, like almost like where you’re, you’re bargaining with people of like, where we back it way off, uh, of the intensity, just trying to help them understand what that means to like, that’s different in like strength training versus running versus, you know, kind of putting it all together.
Okay.
Caitlin: Right as well
Leah: or just and yeah I mean I think just getting people to like feel all of that of like because people think that they’re going hard but trying to go hard All week, they’re really kind of in this that middle intensity. This is like something that I kind of teach Clients where you’re just you’re burning so much You’re just creating so much fatigue and you could be getting the same amount of benefit with a lot less effort
Caitlin: You know,
Leah: and then be able to go actually high on high days.
And so really kind of getting people to, I don’t, I don’t know how good that I actually like to really communicate that, um, or how important that is to necessarily communicate in the beginning to people, but yeah, I think it just depends.
Caitlin: Yeah, I mean, I think, well, one of the really fun things about working with beginners who are really in the beginning of, like, starting a fitness program is you can instill that early on.
Yeah, right. You can kind of ease them over time to feel what hard actually feels like. And then right out of the gate have the conversation of like, This isn’t going to be as good. All of your training all week feeling like this, it’s going to be like a little piece of it. So that you can push hard when you’re really pushing hard and perform at a very high level and then have time to rest and recover from that so that the next time you can actually perform at that high level again.
Um, yeah, yeah. It’s really cool to be able to instill that early on with people, but that’s a struggle too, right? So the opposite end of the spectrum is the people who haven’t pushed themselves hard and don’t understand that by how they feel. Don’t have that kind of like, haven’t gotten into that kind of like revved up, amped up, more like sympathetic central nervous system response kind of text size before that feels like threatening or like, it doesn’t feel like, that’s not me.
Like I don’t, you know, I just feel so. foreign to people never pushed hard before. And that’s, that’s a, that’s a tricky thing too, to help people who are new to that navigate what that feels like to actually feel a higher intensity experience.
Leah: Yeah. Oh, for sure. I mean, I think in general, like, I mean, even still, sometimes the type A people, you know, you give them a certain thing and they’re just like, they’re not used to working that hard.
They’re used to working in their, like, in their own way that they’ve figured out how to tire themselves out and fatigue. But it’s like, I think just in general, trying to get people to, you know, you talk about like RPE or reps in reserve and trying to gauge how, how hard a strength exercise is and.
I don’t know, trying to get someone up to like a six to eight there like when’s the last time you were at it like a six to eight out of ten effort and it’s like it’s been a, been a few fucking years,
Caitlin: you know, where it’s just like holy
Leah: shit I haven’t, uh, I haven’t done anything off the couch or outside of like walking to my car and going to work.
Um, that, um, so yeah, like trying to figure out a way to scale that intensity. But I think like, I don’t know, I, I still, you know, I, I have like a, I have fairly deconditioned people still like hopping around. But in a safe way, you know, but yeah, it can be interesting at the opposite end of the spectrum, like having a more like you’re using like sympathetic and then having more of a, almost like a dorsal vagal, like almost where someone’s almost in like this stuck or like free state and I feel like.
You have to get people more, almost like, like a longer on ramp. I’ve kind of learned that just, you know, I’m having a, going through a lot of, uh, grief this year and just kind of like ways in which I approach that with myself on days where it’s just like, really having more of a longer on ramp to kind of like ease into something and then build into okay, am I gonna do high intensity day?
Like, am I going to kind of touch it and then come off of it? Or I’m just going to kind of like long on ramp and then kind of be in a, okay, I’m in more of a normal, normal state now.
Caitlin: Yeah. That
Leah: makes, if that makes sense, just a more gentle way of approaching like what I’m carrying that day.
Caitlin: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s something I think, I think it comes with experience, but I think it’s also something that we could potentially. expect even people newer to exercise to have some sense of that, you know, like, and then kind of instilled that early on too, like people to be able to make choices for themselves based on whatever’s going on in their life.
That day or like whatever shit they’re dealing with, walking in with. Yeah, right. Yeah. But it’s surprising sometimes too. Like I, I definitely have experienced like, even just like last week or the week before I went in to just do some basic lifts that I typically do when I go to the gym, just normal part of my program.
And I felt really run down and I thought I just, I was like, I’m just going to go kind of light today. And I ended up upping the weight on every single exercise. I was like, at the end of that workout, I was like, what just happened? I think it was like, I don’t know. I just, I didn’t put pressure on myself.
So then I felt like, I was like, Oh, Hey, look at that. Look what just happened. I surprised myself. And that’s kind of cool too. I mean, there’s room for all of that.
Leah: Yeah. Yeah, that’s what, I mean, same, like days I’ve gone out on the run and I’m like, Oh God, do I even want to do this today? I don’t know. And then it’s like 10 miles and I’m like, Oh hell yeah, you know?
It feels good, yeah. And it’s like 8am and you’re like, Okay, everyone else is barely up. Uh, you know, but, but, um. Totally,
Caitlin: I’ve been running there too, yeah.
Leah: Yeah. You just don’t know what you’re gonna
Caitlin: get until you’re in it.
Leah: Yeah, you don’t know what you’re gonna get into. But it’s like, but that’s kind of the whole thing of like, Yeah.
We live in a world where inactivity is a crisis and there’s so many barriers to being active and there’s so many people that gatekeep being active and so it’s just trying to figure out like how to, uh, like going from being a chiropractor that was like, Oh, you have back pain? Like I have the correct side posture adjustment for you.
You know, and then like three visits or less, I’ll have you pain free too. Okay. You know, that’s a bit like, that’s kind of how healthcare goes. Um, of like, just like this transactional approach to more of this transformation. So like walking people on this journey of behavior change, but really fundamentally teaching them how to take care of their body in the way that’s meaningful to them.
You know, whether they’re like, um, You know, chronic ankle injuries and they want to get back to running or whether they just want, you know, whatever that may look like for them, but really teaching them and then like everything that carries like, you know, you might be a single mom or you might be a, um, I don’t know, it’s a 70 year old grandmother, or so just bringing their life stage into it as well.
And what they’re. What they’re looking to get out of it, but um, but yeah And just trying to help them to see the bigger picture because it’s like we definitely live in a world where it’s like full of Misinformation so I think the education part is just it’s so pivotal because it allows them to make better Decisions about their health like throughout their lifetime
Caitlin: Yeah, yeah, and I think that’s really key what you said about the gatekeeping or the Optimizing like people get so stuck and frozen before they even get started thinking it needs to be perfect or optimal Or whatever.
It’s like no just get started However, you can get started Yeah, yeah There’s only, I mean, and a lot of that kind of optimal, whatever, is just so negligible, actually, I think, in terms of the real difference that a lot of it’s going to make for most people, the general population. It’s like, no, just get started, get moving, and
Leah: Yeah, learn how to keep showing up.
Caitlin: Yeah, and then, and then sustain it. Yeah, right. That’s it. Right. Consistency is key over everything else.
Leah: Right. Yeah. And just what you were talking about like, You know, having those experiences of, man, I really felt like shit today and then I PR’d on all my lifts. You know, like, but like having those experiences of like, yeah, just because you’re having a shit day doesn’t mean you have to like throw in the towel, like maybe, maybe shift gears, maybe not, but like being able to have a practice to like build that, build that relationship with yourself.
Caitlin: Yeah, yeah, or just be able to kind of show up, check the box, and be like, yep, there, that’s it. That was it today. Yeah, exactly. I got it in. You did it. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, it’s really important.
Leah: Yeah, for sure.
Caitlin: I like to wrap up all of these interviews by asking you a bit about what lights you up besides your coaching work, or your professional work.
I know as professionals we get so into all of this in our own personal training, our own exercise and working with our clients that sometimes there’s very little distinction between life and work. Um, but I always like wrapping up these interviews by asking you about anything you do that you feel like is just for you or something that kind of lights you up that you do for fun or personal interest.
Leah: Yeah. You know, those, uh, those lines do bleed often. Um, but I mean, I really enjoy it. Being out in nature, um, I’ve really learned, I’ve really started, I’ve really fallen in love with running this last year. Um, which, which obviously, obviously bleeds over to what I do, but it’s been such a, it’s such a deeply personal exploration running and being outside in nature.
But gardening, I really like spending a lot of time in the garden or planting different flowers and then reading.
Caitlin: But
Leah: That’s, um, reading differently. Um, like magical realism. Oh, cool. Books. Yeah. I’d say lately it’s been building a house. Oh, right. Right. Like this last year, uh, that’s been kind of all of my hobby time.
Yeah. That’s pretty all consuming. Learning how to, yeah, but, but otherwise, you know, like traveling, I’m such a foodie. I love to cook. I’d say that being outside and cooking are two big ones in gardening. Cool.
Caitlin: If you could be magically transported today to have dinner in any. country or place or city where, where, what would you eat and where?
Leah: Oh, probably somewhere in Japan, like some, like some small town village in Japan, like some, like grandmother’s cooking. That would be pretty cool.
Caitlin: That sounds awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Just like some
Leah: coastal. Yeah. Just like a really simple breakfast. That would be amazing.
Caitlin: Hmm. Oh, a Japanese breakfast.
Leah: Yeah.
Caitlin: Yeah, nice. Have you spent time in Japan?
Leah: No, I haven’t. No? Oh. Um, no, I never have, but uh, but yeah, but I do, I will, one day. Maybe I’ll run, maybe I’ll run a race in Japan.
Caitlin: That’d be so cool. Yeah. They get really into running there. I spent a bit of time there and like during the years that I was spending time there, like in Tokyo running was huge, huge.
There were runner shops everywhere, everybody’s running, uh, everybody’s training for marathons in Tokyo when I was there and I was teaching yoga. So like a lot of my yoga students were also runners and also training for marathons and it was a big, big thing, at least for a little while there in like From like 2010 to 2018 or so when I was going.
Yeah. Oh wow,
Leah: Cool.
Caitlin: I don’t know if it’s still as popular, but
Leah: Yeah, you know, I’ve always, uh, I’ve heard about, so I lived in Alaska before this and that’s like a bit closer to, and it’s like similar, like, there’s like, I think whenever I was there I was reading about these like crazy wasps that are in Japan, I would just like imagine running around these, like, Mountains and then these like walls the size of your hand that come out.
I’m like, Oh my God, the way I would like to hit the floor. So like large flying, stinging insects. That’s like a no for me. For sure.
Caitlin: And you’re in Louisiana, you grew up violent.
Leah: Yeah, no, it’s wild. Like you should see me running through the trail, especially like lately, the. Like, it’s not just like any old spiderwebs.
If you’re, I don’t know if your listeners will know what banana spiders are, but like, oh my gosh, I’ve become a pro of like running into those and like backing out and rolling around. Yeah, like got like, there’s a, there’s a lot of critters. So you get kind of lost time wise running in the woods here.
You’re like, I’ve been going for 40 minutes somehow already. Just trying to survive ,
Caitlin: just running through spiderwebs and Yeah. Hoping not to get trapped in one . Yeah. Yep. Amazing. Oh, well, good luck with all your running and your Ultra. Have you run a marathon before?
Leah: No, I haven’t. Okay. I’ve run, I think I ran a, uh, let’s see, a half marathon in like 2009.
Okay. But no, I’ve never been like a long distance athlete. Yeah, I was ice hockey. So it was like a short sprint stop short sprint stop. Yeah, but it’s been great I’ve really over the years really gotten into it more and more
Caitlin: Same here. Oh, it’s cool to hear about that. Thanks for sharing all that Leah Let’s end with how people can reach you.
I’ll put some links in the show notes I think you sent me on your Instagram. I mean, I follow you on Instagram. That’s how I know you. A lot of people I have on this podcast I know from Instagram. Um, you’re at Dr. Leah Humphries, Dr. Period, Leah Humphries on Instagram and we’ll link that in the show notes. Um, are you also comfortable with us putting your email so people can contact you in the show notes?
Uh, yeah.
Leah: Yeah. That’s cool.
Caitlin: Okay. Uh,
Leah: Instagram and email. Those are the best ways to contact me. Um, and send me a direct message, um, or shoot me an email.
Caitlin: All right. Well, thanks so much, Leah. It was great chatting with you.
Leah: Yeah. Likewise. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
Caitlin: Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Leah. Bye bye. Bye bye. If you have any questions for us here at practice human, you can email us at hello at practice human. com. And if you learn something here or enjoy listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it. If you’d leave us a reading and a review, it’ll help our conversations grow.
