Joseph Lipsky

Physical Therapist helping people overcome barriers to living a healthy life.

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

“Hard choices, easy life.

Easy choices, hard life.”

- Jerzy Gregorek

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you

True but we need to challenge ourselves differently

High intensity work is challenging but can’t be high volume or everyday. We need low intensity and high volume

If everyday was high intensity what even is high intensity?

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Healthcare is really sickcare

The fitness industry is great at helping people who don’t need it

No wonder the US is approaching 40% obesity rate and spends $635 billion on chronic disease

Who is helping the people who need it?

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Push ups are more than an upper body strength exercise

They are an extremely accessible way to help promote longevity & prevent disease

The ability to do 40 push ups puts you at a 90% decreased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who can do less than 10

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Running is not bad for your knees

Running does not lead to arthritis

A study researching runners and arthritis:

9% of marathon runners had been diagnosed with arthritis compared to the US population at 17.9%

If you’re not a man in the arena you don’t get an opinion on this

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Happiness = reality - expectations

This is the hardest part of both

1)Helping people adopt healthy lives

2)Overcoming pain & injury

There’s no winning health & fitness, we are playing an infinite game

Stop selling people bullshit quick “fixes”

Winning is about the journey

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

A huge misconception about communication:

Hearing = Listening

These are not the same

Hearing = the physiological act of our body recieving noise

Listening = a cognitive skill of understanding the message

listening is about the whole message that means both actions & words

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Almost 40% of US’s population is obese

80% of people who don’t meet PA

80% of Americans will experience low back pain

Chronic disease costs the US $1.3 Trillion/year

I’m not trying to shame anyone but we are not a healthy country

How can we help people be healthier?

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

The obesity rate in the US is approaching 40%

80% of Americans currently don’t meet physical activity guidelines

Walking 1 hr per day 5 days per week can help you burn an extra 1,500 calories

Let’s stop complicating exercise & focus on making it more accessible

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

How in the world did living a normal healthy life become so difficult?

Daily walks —> I don’t have time

Exercise 4-5x/week —> That’s too much!

Eat vegetables —> Takes too long to make

Go to bed before 10pm —> No fun!

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

We make teaching people how to do an exercise far too complicated

Give context to why this is important

Show the start & finish position

Then get out of the way! Repetition is the best way to practice

The best part about exercise is there is no failing, only learning

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

80% of people don’t meet basic physical activity guidelines

2x strength training & 150 min of moderate to vigorous cardiovascular exercise/ week

Stop glorifying ridiculous exercise variations & extreme IG workouts

Let’s keep it simple so more people find exercise they enjoy

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

A recommendation if you have an exercise related new year’s resolutions

Keep it simple & start slow

Become advanced at the basics

Going from 0 to 100 is never sustainable

Walking with squats and push ups can go a long way

Remember, simplicity leads to consistency

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Low back pain is the #1 cause for disability

Reassurance is the #1 treatment

The problem?

Our healthcare system is a fee for service model - we pay for time

This disincentivizes clinicians to dedicate time to communicate & educate out clients outside of their appointment

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Education is very similar to exercising

We want to get in great shape but you can’t do it in one day

We have a lot to teach but we can’t learn everything in one day

Do too much at once and you end up not accomplishing anything

Load management = information management

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Shielding clients from pain with instructions to rest/avoid movement isn’t good healthcare

This is group think that pain is the enemy

80% of Americans will experience back pain

We can help educate that pain can be normal

🔑= Develop strategies to minimize the negative effects

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Building failure tolerance is essential but not easy

It requires a deeper understanding of failure

Failure is a normal part of experimenting

We are constantly testing options to figure out what work vs what does not

In my world, the gym is my lab where the testing occurs

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Building trust is extremely hard

In 2019 only 15% of Americans reported feeling confident in the US medical system

So what do we do?

Create a place that puts people before profits

That spends 2 hours with each person during evaluation

Help people feel heard and validated

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

A huge issue in fitness is no one knows how they should be exercising

Knowing how to exercise is similar to being a DJ

We need to listen, sometimes we turn up the bass and down the volume

Sometimes we blast that shit and go for it

It starts with our ability to listen

[Joseph Lipsky @Joseph_Lipsky1]

Social isolation is just as risky as poor physical health

Mortality risks of smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are the same as social isolation

Social atrophy occurs similar to muscular atrophy

As socialization decreases so do communication skills