The Coaching Lab: Health, Wellness & Performance! (Brad Cooper, PhD)
Welcome to The Coaching Lab podcast, your trusted source for engaging, evidence-based, thought-provoking health, wellness & high-performance insights for those looking to improve their lives (or coaches/clinicians looking to enhance client outcomes). The Coaching Lab is the evidence-based journey toward better! If you've been looking for a health & wellness podcast that avoids the fluff and the headline-chasing fads while providing practical, real-world guidance, you just found it. We bring together the world's foremost experts, from world-class researchers and best-selling authors to elite athletes and coaches, sharing their insights about how to make the most of your personal and professional life. If you're looking for an entertaining format to help optimize your own health, wellness and performance through such evidence-based practices, this is the place for you!
The Coaching Lab podcast is hosted by Dr. Brad Cooper, who brings a uniquely expansive background to the table. He has a PhD in performance psychology along with Masters degrees in both physical therapy (MSPT) and business (MBA) and a Bachelors degree in biology. He is CEO/Co-founder of Catalyst Coaching, an internationally recognized speaker, and elite masters endurance athlete (11 time Ironman, including 4 times at the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, winner of the 2-person 3,000 cycling Race Across America and 2:47 marathoner). Most importantly, he's husband to Suzanna (celebrating 30 years of marriage) and Dad to three amazing kids, now ages 30, 28 and 25. You can tap into Dr. Cooper's "NOT DONE YET!" (Fitness & Life After 50) publication free of charge at https://betterpath.substack.com/
The Coaching Lab: Health, Wellness & Performance! (Brad Cooper, PhD)
Influence of Resisted Breathing on Blood Pressure, VO2 Max and More! (Daniel Craighead, PhD)
What if the research indicated there was an inexpensive breathing exercise device that, if utilized about 5 minutes/day, could significantly reduce blood pressure and improve exercise performance? Resisted breathing – or what the science refers to as “inspiratory muscle strength training” – or IMST - isn’t new. I remember reading about it, but at the time it appeared to be all fluff as our intercostal breathing muscles were almost never utilized at capacity, so who cares if we strengthen them? Fast forward a decade or so and it turns out we might all care. Whether you or a loved one has high blood pressure and would like to access options beyond just medications, or you’re a runner, triathlete, swimmer or cyclist looking to optimize your performance – IMST may be worth a closer look. Today we’ll take that closer look with Dr. Daniel Craighead, who’s groundbreaking work in this area is both fascinating and eye-opening.
Dr. Craighead is a leading exercise physiologist and cardiovascular health researcher at the University of Minnesota, where he focuses on innovative, time-efficient interventions to combat age-related declines in cardiovascular and metabolic health. His research on high-resistance inspiratory muscle strength training has shown that just five minutes a day of targeted breathing exercise can significantly lower blood pressure, enhance vascular function, and improve exercise tolerance — all without traditional aerobic training. Today, he joins The Coaching Lab to unpack how this simple, science-backed technique is reshaping approaches to both peak performance and everyday health.
The Powerbreathe unit Dr. Cooper has been using available here.
You can stay up to date on Dr. Craighead's latest research via his lab website and if you'd like to tune into another interview he provided for NPR, it is available here.
Info re earning your health & wellness coaching certification, annual Rocky Mountain Coaching Retreat & Symposium & more via https://www.catalystcoachinginstitute.com/
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Tap into the home of the (freely available) Not Done Yet! articles on unlocking life's 2nd half here.
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If you are a current or future health & wellness coach, please check out our Health & Wellness Coaching Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278207545599218. This is a wonderful group if you are looking for encouragement, ideas, resources and more.
