A Closer Look at Women's Wellness with Meghan Barrington

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 69. Today I'm sitting down with Megan Barrington and we're talking all about taking a closer look at women's wellness. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast. What's up coach?

Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson and today I'm sitting down with Megan Barrington, who is currently pursuing her doctorate of physical therapy at Baylor University. And we are discussing, discussing taking a look at women's wellness through a different lens, a more expansive lens, if you will. Because oftentimes when we're talking about women's health, which you'll discover when you listen to this episode is you often hear things like perimenopause and we talk about things like pre postnatal. But there's a whole scope of practice from when a woman enters puberty all the way through menopause. And depending on your life experience, you're there going to be lots of transitions when it comes to women's health. So if you're working with women, this is going to be awesome episode to dive into. She's also a certified athletic trainer, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and level one precision nutrition coach. And she's on a mission to instill confidence and self efficiency in others through movement and to encourage and enable them to take a proactive role in their own well being. And we talk a lot about that today in this episode. So without further ado, roll that interview. What's up, Megan? Thank you so much for joining me on the show today. How are you doing?

Yeah, it's absolutely my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I am great. It's sunny here and I'm in Washington state so hopefully that means it's going to stay sunny for a while.

That's so nice. I love that we're here. I'm in New York and it's now getting in that season where the sun stays out just a little bit longer and it feels like, oh, summer is coming.

Mm.

Okay, let's just dive right in to sharing with us a little bit about who you are, who you serve and how you got there?

Yeah, so it's kind of a long story. I mean, I'm 30, so it can't be that long. But so I am currently getting my doctorate in physical therapy at Baylor University. And prior to that, I. Well, I still am a certified athletic trainer and a strength and conditioning coach. I got my master's in athletic training from the University of Arkansas woopic. And prior to that, I was. I did my undergrad in physiology. I'm a science geek, which is really fitting for, I guess, a future physical therapist. But, yeah, so currently, what I'm. I mean, I'm full time in school, so I am, you know, doing some, like, personal training on the side. But predominantly my time right now is spent during school because it's. My program is actually. It's a hybrid program, so it's only two years instead of three, and so it is drinking from a fire hose. But I've so far been so impressed with how Baylor has really just pivoted with, like, the current circumstances that we're in and just how they handle our education. Obviously, it's my only experience, but it's been pretty. Pretty cool. And I think my background just kind of helped me with the learning curve a little bit. But there's definitely new things that I'm learning from a different lens. But, yeah, that's. That's me kind of in a nutshell. I guess we can go from there. That.

I definitely want to talk about the lens that you're learning from and what caused you to, you know, go there. But before that, just real quick, have you always been an athlete, like, from a. From young age?

Yeah, I mean, I was always. My family, like, growing up, my family's really acted, like, always hiking, you know, doing all sorts of outdoorsy stuff. Our family will typically, like, work out or cook together. So it's a pretty good mix. It's kind of like what I like to do now, but I played volleyball pretty much year around growing up, and then I played tennis and did a little bit of track also, but predominantly volleyball. And I just. I think, like, you know, sports are kind of like art, the way the body moves and all the different things that you can kind of apply through movement, which is actually more what I'm getting into now with my training. We can talk about that a little bit. But I also have a background in bodybuilding, so when I first got into, like, strength training or conditioning, all those kinds of things, it was. I was just in high school. As a high school athlete, we're required to take you know, a zero period weights class. And I was actually one of the few girls that actually really liked it and like, you know, it actually work hard, like actually wanted to come to class and it was, you know, 5:30 in the morning. Um, so that's kind of where I fell in love with exercise, to be honest. And then when I was in grad school, I think I really, I think it was just because I was in a gym where there were a lot of, you know, competitive bodybuilders that were at my gym and I got into compet, um, which is, it's so weird cause like when you live something it's like, doesn't seem that weird but then you realize like how few people do it and you realize how strange it is for like the rest of society to see someone like dieting hardcore for, you know, I mean, up to 20 weeks sometimes for people's preps and just like, you know, just, it just, everything is planned to a T. You know, I, there's parts about I'm not currently competing, it's not like off the table, but there's parts about it that I just, I will always apply the discipline that I learned through that to, to like all facets of my life. But what's interesting is like most bodybuilders, you know, it's very like segmental based with, you know, you're, you're targeting specific muscle groups. Obviously, you know, your hypertrophy is pretty simple in that regard. But I mean it's not simple, but it's more straightforward than like, you know, training for a sport, I guess, where you're gonna have to perform a certain way. And. But what is interesting is like I've always just liked more like quote unquote, functional training, which I just made air quotes. I know nobody can see my fingers, but I just made air quotes. Um, just because it's, it's like if you think about it like the human body, a bodybuilding physique is a symmetrical body, which is, you know, I mean, I would say if you're moving the way that the body was made to move, then you're going to probably grow the way the body was supposed to grow. Um, obviously there's like different proportions and things like that that you're looking for. But I've just always enjoyed like functional training. I'm not talking like CrossFit, I'm talking like actually like, you know, bipedal alternating movements, those kinds of things. Um, not like there's anything wrong with CrossFit. Sometimes people think I do CrossFit and I really like wads, so. But yeah, so I feel like my, my style of training is a little bit different. Um, and then of course, like I'm, I'm about like, you know, getting, getting stronger, not just like looking a certain way. So I don't know. I honestly don't feel like I fit in really any kind of a camp. Like, I'm kind of weird to the bodybuilding crowd. I'm most definitely weird to like the rehab crowd because, like, I don't know, I feel like to a lot of physical therapists, I, I'm like too strength coachy. Like, I'm too like hardcore. But then to a lot of like strength coaches, I'm like too fluffy. Like, you know, rehabby. Like, this is too corrective. But to me it's the same, you know, and there's things that you can do, like even within one training session that can just, they can really add to each other. And I think with, I guess my entire point to this huge tangent is I started bodybuilding. I guess that was kind of where I like really truly fell in love with like physique and just movement in general and then kind of branched off. Like, I know you probably know Katie St. Clair and I've had several mentors prior to her who like, I've done my strong first SFG certification, so just really just mixing different modalities, you know. And I think that there's so much that you can gain from learning from multiple different sources rather than like going down one rabbit hole and like feeling like that's just, you know, you know, the epitome of everything. So it's very humbling to like learn from different people because you're like, nobody really knows anything. All these people are saying the same thing but with different words and like trying to sound smart by making it like newer or like more neurological based or whatever. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know, that's, that's kind of just me in a nutshell. I'm really excited once I get my doctorate, you know, knock on wood, that I passed my boards and everything in, you know, over a year. So I got, I got some time. But I would love to just kind of meld all these different things in addition to what I'm learning now. Like the anatomy we're learning right now is like. I mean, it's insane. It's so intricate. We are so intricately made, it's. It's ridiculous.

Oh, I'd love for you to share on that. I'd love for you to share on that. Like, you don't have to go into, like, lecture us or teach us in that way. But what I guess I'm also really curious about is how do you plan, as you move forward to blend what you know, blend your camps and your skill level and what you hope to bring to who. Right. And the other thing is interesting, you said two things when you were telling us about your bodybuilding world, because I think there's something really specific in there that a lot of people miss. I feel like a lot of people think of bodybuilding as, oh, they just want to look good. But it's more than that. It's more about press. It's. It's the mental discipline. The mental and the physical discipline. You guys, like, push boundaries that most people can't do. I mean, y' all are, like, regulating water intake before you get on the stage, which is.

Yeah, it's not fun. Yeah. I mean, I think only people that have done it could really appreciate that statement. But it is the furthest thing from glamorous. The furthest. Even. Even on stage, when you're, like, in a sparkly thong bikini and, like, you look glamorous, if you get closer, it's really, like, not glamorous. It's like Oompa Loompa tan, like, you know, crazy stage makeup. So, yeah, I mean, I have the utmost respect for anyone at any level that competes, just because I know how much it takes. It takes guts, it takes grit, it takes, you know, mental fortitude, especially because your brain cells are, like, gone by that point in prep. But, yeah, so what I. What I was going to say was, so when I graduate, I don't want to, like, pigeonhole myself. I want to leave my mind kind of open to different opportunities. But if I could have my way. Right now, I'm really interested in women's health, just in general. Like, you know, not even just like, anatomical biomechanical stuff or, like, anything pelvic floor related, which that is definitely a part of it, but just, like, educating women on their own body and, like, what we should understand if we're, like, planning on having children someday or have had children or have a vagina, you know, like you have, and the hormones that we have, like, all those things are going to affect, like, you know, our athletics, our mind, our daily life, you know, So I would love to have, like, a collaborative practice where I worked with, you know, an MD or an ND and then dietitians, things, people who are specializing in different components of the healthcare system. But then melding, you know, women's health, physical therapy with like, strength and conditioning. Because I feel like there's not a ton of, like, guidance for women or there's honestly not a lot of, like, physical therapy is really hard to do research in because it's like, obviously there's ethical. Ethical things with like, okay, well, this person's gonna get placebo and this person's not gonna get anything or is gonna get like a certain care or whatever. And then there's so much subjectivity to it. So it's difficult to know, like, outcomes wise, like, what is the most helpful. But I do know at little experience that I have is just like, educating and if you can relate something that someone is going through to, like, something that they understand, like if they have a certain amount of pain somewhere or dysfunction, and then you can kind of like just create a picture in their mind that works. You don't have to use like big science y fancy words. But yeah. And even just, I mean, just women throughout the lifespan. But I don't necessarily only want to work with women, but I feel like that is the audience that I. Obviously, I'm a woman, so I connect most and I'm very passionate about it because I feel like there were things that I wish I would have known when I was younger that I've just learned now. And like, just, you know, seeing a lot of my friends are having kids now. Like, you have kids, obviously. I mean, anyone who has children. I don't have children yet. It's just crazy, like, what our bodies can do. Like, we grow humans. That's nuts. And I don't feel like we're educated on it.

Yes. I mean, I've shared before multiple times people have heard me say that. I, you know, I had a. My eldest was born in 2015. That's not that long ago. And I knew absolutely zero. I mean, when I say I knew absolutely zero, I'm telling you, my sister called me right before I was going to give birth and said, hey, just so you know, you're still going to look pregnant when the baby comes out. And I was like, baby's out. Be fine.

And she's.

Do you have any idea what's about to happen to you? Like, no, it's going to be fine.

It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, it's just. And then even just like, I have a client who, like, I have clients that are going through menopause. And that affects your body in a completely different way too. Like, it's just. It's kind of like, it's cool, but it's also kind of unfair, like, how our body is like, never the same body. Like, you know, you go through puberty and then all this weird stuff happens. Then you have kids and all this weird stuff happens, and then you finally start to feel normal again, and then all this weird stuff happens. Like, I just, It's. You have to be super adaptive, like, mentally as a female, I feel like, not to say that men don't go through things as well. Plus they have to deal with us and they don't like what we're going through. So I can only imagine how hard that is. But yeah, so I'm very passionate about that. But I also, because I'm an athletic trainer and I've worked in like, secondary school setting, I've never, I, I decided not to do the college route. So I've been working just secondary school for the last four years. And so I'm also really passionate about working with kids because I feel like they're so, like, they're so malleable. And like, we have a huge problem with, like, kids specializing too early in sports and like, just they're going like, you know, couch potato to like, playing in a sport, which obviously activity is good. But I just think there's so much that can be added to like, developing skills and understanding of their body that they can take with them past high school. Because there's so many high school athletes that like, what, like, 2% go to college and then after that, how many go to pro? Like, none of these kids are necessarily going to be athletes their whole life, at least not in the sporting setting. But if we can give them the habits that they, that they should have when they're in high school and even middle school or even elementary school, I mean, you can do tons of stuff with young kids too. Like, actually those are really fun because you get to play games with them. But just I really want to meld physical therapy with like, more strength and conditioning and preventative stuff. Like, you don't have to be an athlete to do strength and conditioning.

Right.

You have to be a human being with a body, in my opinion.

Okay, so you've said so many things, I feel like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. We can go down in like 300 million different ways. Because I think it, it speaks to a little bit of what you were saying when you were talking about your story. Because you. Because I feel like that was. It's similar to me when I was up and coming in strength and conditioning back in the day, I mean, two years ago, but when I was training is that we get into these camps, right? We get into a dogmatic lens of how we view fitness. And I even hear you talk about it when I hear you say that, you know, teenage kids are specializing in sports way too soon, and that what essentially is also happening is that they're getting into a very dogmatic approach into their training, and their context lens becomes very narrow, and then we are not building resilient humans. And so the fact that so many people. And by. And I. I want to say so many people, because I feel like it. The industry is shifting, but I feel like we got a long way to go. Especially as a former. I was SFG as well. I just feel like my. My friends have now, and the people that I associate with have now changed. So I feel like there's a lot of room for the industry to really just bust through some of their dogmatic approaches. And I get that it's human nature, but I think that it would serve us to fight against it.

Yeah, it really is human nature. Like, with anything, we just want to, like, belong to a club. Like, I mean, way beyond exercise, like, other things that have gone on in the past year. But, yeah, I mean, I don't. I don't know. I think. I mean, America in general just needs to move more. Um, but if we were to, like, you know, start educating people earlier and not take away PE from school, like, I can't believe that's even happening. But, yeah, it's funny because obviously, like, I will. We both kind of live in a bubble where we, like, love the body and think it's so cool. And, like, we're constantly. Or at least I'm constantly thinking about it and, like, thinking about movement and, like, wanting to take care of this, like, meat sack that I live in. But I know that's not everyone's reality. And so it's, like, hard to, like, want to, like, impose your passion on someone else who. Maybe they're just in pain and they don't want to be in pain, or maybe they just want to, like, like how they look more, which I don't know. I feel like anyone who, like, wants to, like, how they look, I feel like I could get them and, like, help them have, like, a better connection with themselves and just, like, a better relationship with, like, their body, rather than just, like, wanting to look a certain way. Like, if you can just understand or, like, get stronger, that's a little easier person to connect with. But the people that just have you know, no interest in it. It's. It's hard to like connect with them. And I don't really know how I'm going to help future clients in that way, but I guess I'll figure it out.

You know, it's interesting, right, Because I'm. I'll tell, you know, I'll share and I'll be transparent. I've talked about it a little bit in my social is that, you know, you've heard the phrase, you know, sleep beget sleep. Right. The more you, you end up, every time you don't get sleep, you end up waking up later and your insomnia stays, you know, longer and it starts to get worse right. Outside, you know, and I'm speaking about this generally. I know that there's like lots of. This is a nuanced conversation, but I'll say that I notice with my children, oh no, if we go to bed late, they're going to be up early tomorrow. Always happens that way. Right. So I feel like that has happened with my own habit, my own habits in terms of working out. Like, it's almost. The less, the more busy I get and stop working out, the more I have no time to do it.

Yeah.

You know, and what ends up happening, which I think happens to so many people, is that we think that we're okay, but we're really just in self deception and we don't really have a full understanding of what it would be like to be running like an optimal human. We think that we're running like an optimal human, but we just don't know what that would feel like. And then therefore start thinking it's not possible for us. Oh, that's only for athletes or. Oh, that's only for the. You know, I have to. It has to be hard to live there.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what I really like about what I'm, I'm learning in school or like some of the curriculum that we're covering is, you know, we have like a health promotion class which, um, I'm glad that at least my program is going that direction. Like the very like, you know, kind of preventative type side rather than just like whole person side rather than just like, okay, this bone and this joint isn't moving properly. Let's like massage it and whatever. But anyway, so they, I mean, we've touched on a lot of like sleep and nutrition. Like we actually. One of our professors, which I'm just going to put a little plug for Baylor. It's pretty cool that they can have their faculty from literally all over the country, they can literally get the best people from all different realms of PT and have them, you know, add to our education, which I think is pretty cool. But Anyway, we have Dr. Berner. He is a dietitian and a physical therapist, which is a pretty cool mix. Like, honestly, because I feel like so many clients and patients, I mean, their sleep hygiene and their nutrition are probably two massive things that are impacting, you know, their, their injury or their condition or their, even their perception of their condition. But yeah, so I mean, our health performance class, or health promotion class rather, you know, we're talking about sleep hygiene. And what I think is really funny is I'm super snobby with my sleep. Like, I think that's, that is I think one of the most important things that I just keep in like my sleep and my, my training, whether it's in whatever capacity, like even if it's like a 20 minute workout, I feel like those two things really help fill my cup. And so I feel like I can do more for other people when I keep those things in check. Which I know that's not always everyone's reality, but that's what my reality can be right now. So I'm going to just keep doing it. But anyway, so I've noticed like, a lot of my classmates, they like, say their sleep hygiene isn't really that great. And like, I forget how like in undergrad I would be so inconsistent with my sleep and how I don't know how I functioned, to be quite honest. But maybe I'm just older now and so I'm more of a wuss. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's just like I can feel like if I get two days of like crappy sleep, like, I can, I can feel my mental state. I'm just like, really not with it. I'm physically obviously more tired. I have more cravings. Like, you feel like puffier. I mean, it's just we could fix so many things with just like sleeping better and then just improving nutrition just a little bit. Like, we don't have to like overhaul, we can just improve it a little bit, you know, And I love that.

You go there because I think that's also another thing is that I think that our industry, you know, teaches people that, oh, it has to be hard.

You have to overhaul, you have to.

Go and grind yourself into the floor, do peloton, do things.

Oh, God, don't get me started.

So people are taught that they need to grind themselves into the ground in an already in A society that's already grinding. Like, we're all grinding.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

Actually worked less, but just more efficiently. Like, it can be hard, but just not hard in the way that we're taught.

It's hard. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the other thing, too, is, like, I mean, I. I do a pretty good job. I think maybe this is. The athletic trainer in me is with, like, acute stress. I'm, like, pretty good at, like, just staying calm and managing things. But it's the kind of like, oh, slow cooking. Overwhelm. Because, Megan, you put too much stuff on your plate again, you know? But if we could just teach, like, as physical therapists, as personal trainers, as whoever. Working with other human beings that are struggling and wanting to create new habits. Like, if we were just able to somehow communicate with them. Like, hey, your perception. Like, the. Literally the only things that we can control are our perception and, like, our effort. You know, like, if we are. If we're interpreting something as a lion running at us, like, obviously we're going to get stressed out if we can just, like, sit back, stay calm, and just, like, be, you know, I don't want to say mechanical but methodical with, like, the things that we need to get done. Which is just how I try to run with my school. Because, I mean, obviously in this, my program is accelerated, so there's constantly, like, all this stuff. They're like, oh, we don't want to overwhelm you, but overwhelmed. Like, oh, we know you have other classes, but, okay, let's just like, load everything on at once. Like, I'm.

It's.

It's a mile a minute for sure. But if we just stay organized and just realize, like, okay, they know we're not superhuman. I know I'm not superhuman. I'm just going to do what I can with what I have where I am, and it'll all be okay. Like, I'm going to live. I'm going to live. I'm going to pass. Like, it'll be fine. So if we could just be able to kind of arrest ourselves when that anxiety is kind of welling up, which easier said than done. And especially, like, if you, like, anxiety begets anxiety also. So, like, if you are a person who panics because you're panicking, like, of course you're gonna keep panicking, you know, and it's just you feed those neurological circuits in your brain, and so if you can just, you know, look outside yourself and catch yourself, like, oh, that's what I do think every single time, this exact same scenario Comes up, like, maybe if I just start training my brain to, like, think of it a different way or just be like, okay, hey, I lived last time. Like, I will live again this time. Like, let's just like, take this as an opportunity to exercise, staying mellow and calm in a situation where I could otherwise freak the hell out. Which that's not going to help anybody. So.

Yeah, so. Oh, totally.

I totally get that. So I definitely.

There's two things I do want to touch on real quick based on something you've said. We've opened that loop and I'd love to close it it. Because I am curious. You were talking about women's health and how you want to focus on women's health, but not. But not necessarily specifically pelvic floor, which is what I think a lot of people go to, and they're like, oh, women's health, pelvic floor. And I know that that's something I used to go to or. But it was only introduced to me when we were talking about pregnancy. Pregnant, you know, pre postpartum days. But there's so much more components, like you were saying to women's health, like puberty, like, you know, you were talking about kids getting, you know, building resilient bodies from the young age. Then you've got menopause and perimenopause. So I'm, you know, we talk a lot about. And by a lot, I mean, it's not a lot. It's just the main focus. I mean, women's health needs a lot of attention, in my opinion. But I'd love to hear more about, like, some of the other lenses that you are looking at when you're talking about and thinking about women's health.

Yeah, well, it'll be just in general, like, you don't have to have kids or any kind of like, known issue to get like, tightness or dysfunction in your pelvic floor. And if you have tightness or dysfunction or pelvic floor, you can bet your bottom dollar that that's going to affect the way that you brace the rest of your core. Because obviously, like, it's. If you think about the core is like, you know, a can of soup or whatever. The round outside of the can of soup is like your abdominal muscles, you know, your TVA especially. And then you have like your diaphragm, your thoracic diaphragm on top, and then the pelvic floor is the bottom. So if one of those things is like, not quite doing its job when it should be, um, which I Don't know if you. I mean, you know this, but do you want me to, like, explain? So you inhale. When you take a deep breath in your diaphragm, in your. In your rib cage or the bottom of your rib cage should go down and your pelvic floor should go down with it. So everything should kind of move downwards. The diaphragm is moving down because you're creating kind of like a vacuum for air to go into your lungs. And when it does that, it basically squishes all your abdominal contents. And so you kind of get that, like. I don't want to say belly breathing, because you shouldn't be breathing just in your belly. You should be breathing kind of like external out to the sides, out to the front a little bit, and then also like a little bit in the back as well. You'll get expansion kind of 360 degrees. And then your pelvic floor is at the very bottom. So it kind of has to, like, eccentrically absorb, like, lengthen a little bit, absorb all that, the pressure that's coming down. And then when you exhale, you don't, like, exhale with your pelvic floor, but you kind of do in a way. So when you exhale, you basically just, you know, at rest, you're basically just relaxing the diaphragm, so you just kind of stop contracting it, and then it, like, rebounds up and then the air goes out of your lungs, and then your, you know, your abdominals don't expand as much, and your pelvic floor kind of like, it can. It rises up a little bit because obviously you don't have as much pressure bearing down into it with a forced exhale, like, you know, a Valsalva maneuver, or if you're, like, coughing or sneezing or, you know, doing anything that's, like, really forceful, getting lungs or getting lungs out of your. Getting air out of your lungs, then you're going to have more of, like, an abdominal assistance with that contraction. And your pelvic floor has to be able to, like, handle that, right? Because when you're increasing the abdominal pressure really quickly, your pelvic floor, like, so, for example, if you have a pelvic floor that's like, always on, which a lot of us do, whether it's because, I mean, there's a ton of reasons that you could, you know, if people have had a baby in their. In their abdomen for, you know, nine months, they probably have a pelvic floor that's, like, tired of holding on, and they're just like, you know, clenching because they don't want a baby to come out. I mean, obviously that's really like crude terms for saying it, but that can cause tightness, just like, you know, tension in general. Like, I mean, I've had pelvic floor tightness from just like being stressed out and just like ab gripping. You know, you kind of all your muscles in the abdomen area and your pelvic floor kind of respond to each other right there. I don't know exactly, you know, if things are like neurologically linked, but it's almost like things kind of activate when other things activate because they should be. Because when you, you know, sneeze and your abs contract, your pelvic floor should contract, otherwise you're going to pee. So if it's always on, it's kind of like a muscle. If it's always on, just like, you know, your upper traps or any other muscle, if it's chronically on, then you're going to have, you're more likely to like leak or have, you know, pelvic floor problems when you need that muscle to like respond and contract. Because if it's already contracting and it's tired as hell and then you ask it to contract more, it's probably going to give up. So that's like, I mean, there's a lot of women that have, you know, in incontinence just with like, you know, heavy rate weight training or jump rope or things like that. Jump rope I think is more just because the nature of that, that movement, you're very like extended. So your core is kind of like open canister, you know, you can't really manage pressure properly. And then there's the impact, obviously. Um, but not only like, you know, not even talking about like leaking, but like just in general, like hip tightness. Like you have a muscle, your obturator internist, which is like, I've learned a lot about this muscle in the last, you know, six months or whatever. So it's basically, it acts like a, it goes from your leg bone, so your femur, the top of your femur, and then it wraps into your pelvis and it's kind of on the, on the inside front of your pelvis. And then all your pelvic floor muscles attach to it through fascia. And so when that muscle is tight for whatever reason, you know, if your hips, if your hips are tight a lot of the time, it's because that muscle is like just holding on for dear life, trying to. It's basically like a rotator cuff muscle for Your hip, if that's tight, then the pelvic floor gets tight as well. So you can get, like, weird symptoms with that. So. And it's going to affect, you know, athletes, athletes with hip tightness, athletes with back pain, athletes with. I mean, it's just like, it's a part of the body that, like, we're so obsessed with, like, talking about the shoulder, talking about, you know, the low back or whatever. But, like, we don't talk about the pelvic floor because it's in the area that, like, is private, which is true. And it's hard for people to, like, picture or it's awkward to talk about, but it's like, it's literally just another part of the body and it can have such a huge impact on the way that you move as well as the way that you move impacting the pelvic floor too, which obviously is important for, you know, just function. Life functions, to be honest, and get.

That they have one too. They have a pressure leakage that they necessarily have to worry about in the ways that we do, but they still have one and it still functions in the same way for. And pressure management. You know, it's so interesting listening to, talking about this stuff. It always takes me back to singing because you know that I have the background in singing, right?

Yeah.

This is the stuff I wish we talked about, like, in our strength training. We should have been talking about this stuff. Like, our training should have been around this, not just, like, doing our skills.

Yeah, I agree. Or just like even just, I mean, getting a little bit away from the pelvic floor. Even though it's a big part of it, like, breathing, like. I mean, I know breathing is like a super, like, fad buzzword right now, but, like, it is something that we should be teaching or at least kind of almost like a screening thing. You know, when we're looking at, like, kids or athletes or clients, you know, look at how they breathe. That's their strategy. Why are they breathing like that? Like, that's going to affect. It's going to affect a lot of things. Obviously it'll affect, you know, their ability to, like, work out, I guess, like, you know, breathe heavier and get their heart rate up and things like that, but also just like, mechanically and then physically, like, how it's going to affect how they can stabilize and what their strategy is going to be because that's going to affect their extremities and how their extremities move as well.

Yeah, I mean, it was just interesting because as I moved into from. You know, as a former singer, when someone said, take a diaphragmatic breath, I know what that means. And I could drop into that really easily. And like I told you know, when I hear belly breathing, I never. I'm always like, yeah, the lungs don't have. The lungs aren't in the belly. But I know, okay, it's easy for me to access that because I'm a singer, but it was surprising to me how many people don't know that. Like, it's not easy for them to act. Like, it's not easy for them to access that.

Right. And then we're putting them in positions that they can't access it because the way that, like, typical people are strength training, which, I mean, there's a time and a place, but, like, for the general client that just wants to feel better.

I know it's. It's insane. It's amazing. But it's funny, I guess. Not funny, but, you know, I trained a long time without. Before I. You know, without associating the two. Like, I didn't. I thought they were separate. I never even thought that what I learned, singing was going to translate into how I move.

I actually had a client once who was. He was like, oh, he was a singer. I want to say he did, like, opera or something. But when I learned that, it was awesome because I could just be like, okay, so we're going to apply this to, like, things that you already understand. And it just rocked his world. Like, he actually got better because someone had compared to what I was trying to tell him, which was like, crazy. Like, strength coach, athletic trainer, talk to, like, things that he actually cared about.

But what's interesting to me is this is total side note and word. I'm sorry, but you guys love me. They're my. My podcast people. You already know that I do this, but it's interesting because, you know, singers are taught, like, they're only. We're only. It's. I feel like we're only taught one compartment, like, one portion of it. They're, like, taught to inhale and then keep expanding, keep expanding, keep expanding, keep the container open so they don't. We don't learn the reverse. And the importance of the relaxing of the pelvic floor and the relaxing of the contraction.

Why it has to come in so interesting. Yeah, I don't know anything about that. Not going to lie.

Learn, like, one part of it. And I'm like, why? Why? But at least we're in the right direction, right? Yeah, we're starting to like pressure management. But the reason why I bring that up is I think it also relates to sports in the sense that, you know, we. We. We don't train to be resilient. We train to be competitive in our sport, in. In our. In our. In our, you know, whatever it is. Singing, sport, field, whatever it is. And I think that that's a big difference that a lot of people forget.

Yeah. They don't care about it until, like, it's already threatened.

Until you get to come in. Right. Like, okay, and I got hurt. Right. And it's also. I'm curious to hear how your school and how your, you know, your context of how you're going to really integrate preventative care. Because. Lack of a better word for lack of. For. I don't know why, but for some reason, preventative care is the hardest to sell, and it's the hardest to get people on board with. Because people just move away from pain faster than they move towards pleasure.

Yeah. No, 100%. Um, well, what I've done in the past and what I would love to do, obviously, like, being a PT will be. It'll be different. Um, but, like, as an athletic trainer and strength coach, I've had, you know, done, like, strength and conditioning camps. But, like, you know, you have, like, strength and conditioning camps that are just, you know, everybody kind of. Or not everybody, but most people are kind of familiar with, you know, kind of how they go. But if there was more of, like, a obviously advertised, like, educational standpoint, like, this is why we do this, and this is what can happen, like, if you don't do this, and this is what can happen if you do do this, like, from a performance standpoint. Because if you link it to, like, okay, this is, you know, what. What happens when you, like, run this way or jump this way or whatever. And then if you jump this way and we teach you and we strengthen it through all these other, like, just modalities that we can use as training tools. Not only like, this. That's how I got interested in physical therapy was I had a cool PT athletic trainer who, like, basically did these, like, ACL injury prevention clinics, and we got to lift weights, but he also got to, like, do really fun activities that were actually. He was, like, tricking us into, like, injury prevention and strengthening. It was really cool. But, yeah, I mean, if you could just relate it to people, what people like to do in their life, because obviously the point is to help them with their life. It's not to help them do what I want them to do. Because I have my life, they have theirs. So, I mean, just, I think connecting with people is really important, but I would love to, like, offer things, like, in my community, wherever that ends up being when I'm working, but just, like, you know, educational. Like, it doesn't have to be like, here you're going to get a half of a doctorate of physical therapy, but, like, just this is what, you know, during daily life. This is the. This is the stuff that's going to help you not have pain during this. Or this is going to help you do this better or be. Have more endurance with this. And like, training different. I mean, even different. Like, you could get into, like, energy systems that you would train, you know, sports in, but, like, humans should be in them too. Like, what if you have to, like, go sprint down the street to save your dog or something? I don't know. But I mean, obviously it's less. Less common with normal general population, but it is interesting and it just.

Front of cars, that's fine. Not touch wood like you active.

Yeah, that's true. And just like, endurance, there's just. I mean, and you could just mix it up because I think what a lot of people. A lot of people that are not necessarily, like, interested in, you know, like, powerlifting or like, some specific sport where it's like, okay to have just, I don't want to say monotony, but, you know, the same things practicing over and over, because it is a skill and you want to get good at it, so you better practice a lot. But, like, a lot of people like to mix things up. So if you can mix it up with, like, okay, today we're going to be working on this. We're going to sprinkle in a little bit more of, you know, endurance work or a lactic work or, you know, glycolytic work. You know, things that are just very varied, different, you know, not necessarily in the same day, like, certain things are doing. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think just if I. So what I've been trying to do, like, with my Instagram and just with my clients that I have now is just kind of share who I am and, like, how I like to train and kind of try to educate a little bit where I can when I have the brain cells to do so. Because right now my brain cells are kind of taken up. But I think that the more that you just are yourself and kind of share, like, what you're passionate about with a, like, true desire to help people, then people kind of come to you and they ask you questions. So it's kind of hard for me to like, say right now, but people give me ideas all the time. Like my clients. I learned so much from my clients. Like, just like, oh, that clicked for me. Or like, oh, I noticed that when I was gardening, like, my back didn't hurt, you know, so just relating it to what people want to do. And I think it's a little different for everyone, but you can get certain populations. Like women, for example. Like, I'm going on a major tangent, but like, women want, women want to be comfortable in their own skin. And I think, you know, a lot of that comes from wanting to look a certain way. But if you were just to get them to like, pay attention to their skin and like learn to just auto regulate and think about like how they're feeling and get stronger, then they're gonna stop needing to look a certain way because they're going to just love the way they look because they know what they can do. So.

Yeah, and I, I know you mentioned that you too, that you want to start working with youth. Like, how young, when do you want to start? Like, when do you want to start doing this work?

Oh, God. Well, I mean, I just have, I have a soft spot for like young women, like, you know, middle school to high school, just because I remember being that age and I feel like that's kind of the, the group that would probably gravitate towards me most because they're like, oh, she's like young and likes to work out. Like, maybe I could be like her, but I don't know. I mean, it's, it's really. I've worked with like, you know, elementary school kids before for like strength, quote unquote, strength and condition camps. And it's fun to work with them too. So I don't know, I like the high school level because you can really. They're just like little sponges, you know, if you're actually like someone that's engaging, then they'll just, they can learn so much from you, you know, and you're inspiring them to go and study things in college, you know, so that's really cool. So I would say probably high school plus, you know, they're kind of experiencing like they're getting more competitive in their sports. They're, you know, they're going through or have gone through puberty and are kind of like either not liking their bodies, you know, or maybe they, you just like, don't really understand what the hell is going on. So I don't know, I think probably high school and I think it can be really beneficial too because especially now, like, I feel like just, I mean maybe this is just because of COVID but like there's so many kids that are like struggling for connection right now. And I think that'll probably go away hopefully once everything kind of calms down. But I don't know, I'm worried about like the future mental health of our youth going up now.

Honestly, I think that we have yet to see the impact and we're not going to really fully understand the impact of this time and what it's done to our youth. I think, I think we're going to have to wait to see what that's going to do. But it is, make no mistake, it's already made an impact. But we'll see what the full impact is later. But I agree, I think that connection is so important and it's easy to just pretend that we don't need it or that the zoom is enough when it's really not. People have like physical touch hugs. They need to be interactive, they need to be able to connect, get into different energetic force fields.

Yeah, 100%. And I can attest to that being in a hybrid program because it's totally different being, you know, in zoom class during the week or even like our asynchronous lectures versus like in lab. Like I go to Waco every two months, the lab and it's just you.

I thought Baylor was in Texas.

Yeah, so. So because it's a hybrid program, like literally all of my didactics are online. So I have asynchronous lectures which are like, they're not synchronous. So I'm by myself, have to just complete them. And then the same subjects, I will have synchronous lectures during the week, like normal, normal class load or whatever. And then, you know, the weekends are typically when I get my asyncs done. So it's really just like non stop. But then every six to eight weeks or so we have lab immersions. So I go down there. My first one was in February and it was two weeks long. So you know, you just pick random people to stay with. And since it's Covid, we are all, you know, set with a certain group of people that we had to kind of just interact with the whole lab. But luckily I lucked out with my house and they were awesome. And like I'm already like invited to someone's wedding. Like it's been, it was so cool, just really clicking with people and like being in person. Um, but. And then I go back again in a couple of weeks. But yeah, so every, every other month this year I'll be going down there for a week or two and then next year I'll be in my clinical rotation. So I don't know like where those will be yet, but we have, I think there's three labs next week, next week, next year, and then our graduation. So yeah, it's, it's interesting. It's actually there's several programs like this now and I think after this year there'll be a lot more. Like there's people like that were before, like kind of scoffing at it and now they're like, hey, so what are you doing over there? You know, they're like, oh wow, that's a really good idea. And like, look, you're pumping out amazing pts in two years. Like, I mean it's, it's not necessarily cheaper for tuition wise, but it's cheaper in the long run because you're going to be working faster. And another thing that I really like about it is that they're very, they're very big on like they don't like push us to do residencies or fellowships, but they're very, they're very much like educating us on it and like suggesting it from the get go. And that's something I'm really interested in doing. The only problem is like, I don't think there's anyone doing exactly what I want to do, but I think I could. Yeah. Well, I wish. Well, there's, there's, there's certain people that I kind of look up to and that I definitely look up to in the field as far as like, that are kind of doing similar things to what I'd like to do that I would love to have as mentors. But yeah, I mean, we'll see, we'll see what happens. I want to see like how clinical rotations go and everything too. But yeah, it's, it's most of my stuff. All my classes are online and then I just go down to Waco every other month.

So casually, casually, just, just a quick hop on a plane.

Yeah.

What caused you to go from, you know, strength and conditioning to also adding the, the physical therapy doctorate.

Yeah. So I. So like I mentioned briefly before, so I'm a certified athletic trainer and I was actually in my undergrad, I was planning on PT until like the last trimester of my undergrad and I decided to go athletic training because I did. And I went to the University of Washington for undergrad, and I was doing an internship, sports medicine internship, and working with their football team and their athletic training staff is just like, they're just the coolest people. Like, they're still there. There have been coaches overturned, and, like, they have stayed there. They just. They're just awesome. And so I was like, wow, you guys are so cool. I want to be like you. And so I decided. I changed my mind, and I decided to go and get my master's in athletic training. Um, and kind of like, while I was down there working, working, like, my clinical rotations there in, obviously, college, I was in the sec, so it was, like, very. It was pretty intense. Like, very good college sports. Like, Arkansas track and field is amazing. Arkansas football is obviously SEC football. Um, and I just kind of realized, like, while it is really a cool experience to work those sports, I just knew the lifestyle wasn't for me to work college. Like, I mean, during the season, it's. It's pretty insane. Then during the off season, it's really not. But I just. I just kind of knew in my gut that I didn't want to do that. Like, it's. It's not really what I saw myself doing. Like, when I was a parent or even, like, not a parent, just in general trying to settle down. And so I decided to work high school. And then when I was working high school, I really loved working with the kids. I loved watching all the different sports. It's. You have to deal with a lot of different humans when you work high school athletic training. You know, you're dealing with parents, dealing with admin, you were dealing with coaches, you're dealing with students, you're dealing with, like, doctors, everybody. Um, but what I didn't like, was my favorite part. And my favorite part, like, as a personal trainer on the side, is obviously working with people and getting them stronger and, like, figuring out their problem and then solving it. And with athletic training, at least at the high school level, you really don't get to, like, take them from zero to back to play, because that's. You're referring them to a pt. And so I kind of just realized, like, hey, they're taking the part that, like, I really want to do. And so why. I mean, obviously going back to school after I've already gotten a master's degree because I changed my mind. Like, there's. Everything happens for a reason. And it was not an ideal, you know, like, hey, let's go spend more money on loans. But I just. I just knew in my gut that I was not doing what I was meant to do. And so here I am. There you are.

But now you have this comprehensive look that most people don't have.

Yeah, it's taken some time, but. And I feel like. I mean, it is definitely. It's been beneficial to be, I think, older. Like, I cannot. I can't imagine going right into a PT program like this out of undergrad. Like, I. I know I personally wouldn't have been able to handle it. I have classmates that are like, 22, and I tap my. Take my head off to them because it is. It is incredible the maturity that you have to have in order to handle this amount of work, especially when you're, you know, 22 years old. So. Yeah, so I think. I think I'm at the right place where I'm supposed to be now, but. And it definitely has helped that I'm older and that I have a little bit of a background in this kind of stuff, so. So cool.

So cool. I can't wait. I can't wait. You're gonna have. Amazing things are already coming for you from you, and you're gonna just change the world. So it's exciting.

Thank you. Hope so.

Well, I definitely want to be respectful of your time. So for those of you who want to learn more about working from you, learning from you, any connecting with you, where should I send them?

Yeah, so my Instagram is megzi m e g s i072. Really random name. Seven is my favorite number, but seven was taken, so I had to choose the two. Anyway, that's my Instagram handle. And then my website is Barrington Kinetics. So Barrington, my last name. It'll be on the title of the episode. And then kinetics, like movement.com. that's my website. And then, yeah, that's pretty much the. Those are the best ways to get in contact with me, but.

And we'll link all this in the show notes as well. But you also have a podcast, right?

I do, actually. I believe Alina's been on here. So, yeah, our podcast is Move your Brain, Move youe Body, and our Instagram handle is move your BB or at moveyourBB. So, yeah, that's also. We have a lot. We had Beverly on a couple times. We need to get you on again because there's just so many things that all of our audience, a lot of our audiences like other personal trainers and athletic trainers and PTs too.

So, yeah, you guys have some brilliant guests on your. On your show, too.

Thank you.

We'll definitely link all that up. So Honestly, it's a pleasure and a privilege to have you on my show, so I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Beverly. I appreciate it.

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