The Science of Fitness Podcast
Welcome to the Science Of Fitness podcast where we aim to inspire you to live a healthier and more fulfilling life as we share evidence and anecdotes on all things health, fitness, performance, wellness and business.
Hosted by Kieran Maguire, Co-Owner and Director of Science Of Fitness with an Undergraduate degree in Exercise Science and Masters degree in High Performance, the podcast includes guests and friends of SOF from all walks of life sharing their knowledge and stories within their field of expertise.
Join us as we provide listeners with digestible and relatable educational tools and entertaining stories to inspire a healthier and more fulfilling life.
The Science of Fitness Podcast
Finding Your Lane In Exercise Physiology with Oscar Munro
Start with a simple truth: progress belongs to the people who take the first step and ask better questions. That’s the heartbeat of our chat with exercise physiologist Oscar Munro, whose journey runs from childhood sport and an early uni stumble to a thriving practice across NDIS, DVA, ageing strength, and elite rugby programs.
We explore how the EP role sits between diagnosis and performance—where exercise is prescribed like medicine. Oscar breaks down the practical handover from physio to EP, why timing matters for post‑op and acute injuries, and how to “dose” strength and conditioning with sets, reps, tempo, and progression. You’ll hear real stories that make it tangible, including a 92‑year‑old who cut sit‑to‑stand time from 24 to 15 seconds and ditched reliance on the chair, proof that targeted training and patient education beat guesswork every time.
Beyond clinic walls, we dig into Fit Over Fifties classes, a data‑driven Army block that blends testing, reports and tailored programming, and the communication rules that speed results—like ditching headphones during coached sessions so feedback can actually land. Oscar also shares his own Hyrox prep and how he swapped junk volume for smarter intensity, showing how to stay strong, fit, and fresh inside a busy coaching schedule.
If you want to understand the difference between physio and exercise physiology, how to build confidence after injury, or how to find your lane in a growing field, this conversation delivers clear, practical insight. Listen, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and if it helped, follow the show and leave a quick review so more people can find evidence‑based training that works.
Welcome to the Science of Fitness Podcast, where we aim to inspire you to live a healthier and more fulfilling life as we share evidence and anecdotes on all things relating to health, fitness, performance, business, and wellness. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Science of Fitness Podcast. Today we have Oscar Munro, uh fellow staff member at SOF here and uh uh EP for you know pretty sort of solid amount of time now for us for the last couple of years. So Oscar, welcome onto the show. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Um mate, there's uh there's plenty I want to unpack. Um, and uh it's it's quite funny when we speak to members, they always want the staff on the show, and you know, they've often brought up your name saying, Why hasn't Oscar been on? He's been here so long, and I'm like, actually, it's a good point. So uh really excited to finally have you on, mate. And um, yeah, I think there's there's there's a lot more that I think we'll be able to discuss that'll be relevant to a lot of people listening to this than um we can probably even imagine. So uh to kick things off, I want to talk about you. I want to talk about your story. Um talk us through it. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Brizzy boy, what's the story?
SPEAKER_01:Yep, uh so born in Bankstown, Bankstown boy. Uh grew up in Queensland, mum and dad are Kiwis, so ended up moving down there for for work for dad, and um I think I lived there for a total of about six, seven weeks, maybe. Um brother, older brother was born in Queenstown, uh sorry, in Queensland, Martha Hospital, same with my sister. Um, so we were up here, went down. I was born, then just shot straight back up.
SPEAKER_00:So do you support the blues or support the Queensland Marines? Maroons always, yeah. Yeah, you really shouldn't, but that's right, I understand why you've changed. That's uh that's fair enough, mate. Um, cool. Sorry, born and you know, sort of raised technically um here in Queensland.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'll claim the Brizzy title. But um yeah, so pretty much grew up same family house over in Holland Park, been there my whole life, um, no longer live there now. But yeah, mate. Oh yeah, grew up there.
SPEAKER_00:Beauty. Uh let's go into sort of sport exercise. Was it always a part of your life? Did you stumble on it late? Talk me through all that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh, so mum always grew up a swimmer. Uh so over in New Zealand, she's I don't know why they wanted to swim. Every pool's cold, but anyway, mum grew up as a swimmer and as a result, just forced us, didn't force us um fully to do it, but initially did, and uh it was one of the things I just grew to really loved. Uh so probably started doing that when I was about six, maybe five, five, six years old. Uh, at the same time, dad grew up playing footy. So I was also over at East Rugby Union playing footy uh since the age of six. Uh I was I was swimming up until up until pretty much the end of high school. Uh, but my rugby career pretty much stopped around uh year 10, 10 or so. Uh just one became more important than the other. I figured out pretty quickly uh that I was a little bit better at swimming than I was at rugby uh and kind of went after it a little bit harder uh for a while and then just dropped back on it a little bit with with studies. End of year 12, everything just got a little bit tough. I was I was good, but I wasn't good enough to to get there. Uh so decided to pull the pin, focus a little bit more on studies, and that led us to me kind of being in this area, I guess. So they're probably the two main sports that I was doing. As always, with every I feel like Australian kid, you do everything. So as I was growing up through primary school, I did soccer in school, I did rugby league, and so I went to a pr uh state school, so we didn't do any rugby union or anything like that. Um, so I did rugby league, soccer, dabbled in swimming, uh OzTag on weekdays, uh Touch on Friday nights, like the the whole footy on the Saturdays, literally anything, anything, swim meets on the weekend, like Tuesday night swim club. It was just every it seemed all year round there was just some kind of sport going on. Um, whether it was myself, my brother, my sister, we all just happened to fall into something, which is always good.
SPEAKER_00:Man, it's um it's funny because it is sort of etched in our culture, and I think we sort of maybe take it for granted in this country. Um, but it it has such an influence, I guess, on kind of how it shapes potentially our careers and all that sort of thing as well. So, was there a sort of point, you know, through that process, particularly into high school, later part of high school? Obviously, you wanted to head down into year 12 and and and and get sort of you know into the academic side of things. Were you always drawn back to the sport thing from that transition end of 12 to you know actually choosing to study X Fizz? Talk me through that sort of process.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I always I always uh thought sport was in some way, shape, or form for me, whether I was gonna play it or work in it, whatever it was gonna be. Um, in year 11, we started this elite athlete program through our school. There's a few of us that were selected for it, and I think off the back that was a bit of a catalyst to really get into the area of sport. Um, as most people in like the sport and exercise realm, you know, some people will aspire to do physio, and I was actually one of those people. However, as I was getting close to the end of year 12 and you're finishing your grades, I wasn't quite there, and so I was um more guided to your sport science, your EPs, just because it was a little bit academically easier to get into than the medical grade physiotherapy.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the physio was you're still in the OP system. Literally, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So doctors, doctors, OP1, physio, OP1 to I got guided into this and um never really looked back. Uh if I think about what happened after that, um I've been guided pretty well, just with little mentors along the way that have ushered me into sports programs that have helped me, you know, learn my trade and slowly progress into where I am now, which is fully qualified and attacking the world day by day.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, nice. Very good. It's really interesting because I think it's sort of um at some point, hopefully, the X Fiz, X Science does require a higher level qualification or or grading system, like you know, a higher OP or whatever. But it obviously that'll exclude people. If I think about how I behaved and the marks I got in high school, emotionally probably not very mature and had no idea what I wanted, so therefore didn't care, therefore didn't do very well, stumbled into this industry as a sort of couchment, uh, loved every minute of it, turned around and did a double degree in science or you know, did an undergrad, did a master's, and you know, exercise fizz is probably the same thing. You're probably finishing high school going, I'm not gonna really base my career on a very scientific, heavy um type subject, yet here we are. Was that sort of the case for you, or did you always love the sciences?
SPEAKER_01:No, that's it's funny you say that. When I was um I had a bit of like a curveball hit me. So out of high school, uh first year university, you always get told no one's gonna help you. Like that's the one thing everyone's like, no one's holding your hand, you're on your own. Get into um first year uni, and all of a sudden it's just anatomy, physiology, everything's thrown at you. And I'm like, I just I got like a B plus on high school HPE. Yeah, and so you're just like, you don't really learn as all this stuff, and there was one subject, and I ended up failing it. And I think that was a bit of a just a what am I doing? kind of kind of moment. And it ended up being just a I thought it was gonna be a bump in the road, and it ended up being a six-month bump in the road, where that was a subject that you have to pass to do this and and continue on. So when that happened, thankfully it happened early on. It was a bit of like a light bulb moment of like, yeah, I'm spending this money, this is something I want to do, I need to be better at this, and it lit a bit of a fire to get better and learn and take the time and and all that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, nice. That was gonna be one of the questions is sort of one of the hard things, or yeah, maybe good things and good experiences that you've dealt with bit through sports, school, education that have sort of shaped you both personally and professionally. And obviously that's a that's a big one.
SPEAKER_01:That's probably one of the big big ones that was like a big wake-up call.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And did it take a conversation from your parents sort of thing, or was it like I just feel a bit embarrassed because I didn't need to do this, or just the inconvenience?
SPEAKER_01:Embarrassment 100%. It it ended up becoming like a and I've spoken to a few people about this because I know someone who's gone through the exact same thing, and I think they've done what I've done, and you kind of just go, I'm I'm part-time. You just like results of the yeah, because just you don't have to face the questions anymore, and you're like, Oh, so that's what I did. And in hindsight, like I got through it. I am better off for it now. Ended up getting better grades down the line as a result of it. So it's a blimp in the radar, but something that's does shape you, right? Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_00:It it's it's funny, like you know, if life's always good, it's too cruisy, we probably don't actually improve, and it's when you get that slap in the face of hey, switch on. Like, you're gonna be an adult and you're gonna chase this career, or you're gonna bum out and do something else. So 100%. Yeah, really interesting. Absolutely. So, was that from the get-go? You finished high school, you're like, I'm gonna go and do X Fizz because of the sports side of things, and or did you go, I'll do sports science and I want to work down in that route? Yeah, physio was always on the cards. Uh, was this gonna be a stepping stone towards physio?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I mean, honestly, I was never educated on how to get there. So it was kind of just like, sweet, X Fizz, that's it. I'm in. Uh, and it was just all throw your chips in and just go hard at it.
SPEAKER_00:Did you have any career aspirations? I want to work as an X Fizz, or we're like, oh, this is just what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, I wouldn't say career aspirations necessarily for X Fiz. It was more so I want to work in some kind of sports and science area. I really like sports and I want to do that for the rest of my life. Um, I'm probably not a good enough athlete to pre pay play professionally and earn money for it. So I may as well work with people who can or help those who have suffered and and try and make their lives better as well. So yeah. Um, but no, it's pretty much straight away. Um, yes, blimp in the radar, but after that it was it was all systems go, and um, I was pretty much just fully committed on trying to do this for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, nice. What what point was it? Was it that sort of failing moment going, this is a career, there's a salary there that I want to earn, there's work that I want to do, or were you still like, no, I need to switch on, just get this done, that'll come. And you know, was that sort of in your mind?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think a bit of both, a bit of both. Like if you look at our industry, it's I mean, if you want to chase money, go to finance. You want to chase money, go to whatever property, whatever it might be. It's more just you've got a passion and you want to help people, you want to nurture them. Um, and so that's just where my headspace was the whole time. It was never really necessarily how do I make as much money as possible in this industry. It was just can I get the degree done and then slowly make a difference along the way. Um, a few little like awesome stepping stones, like towards probably about my third year in, I ended up um linking up with an old um mentor of mine who he was actually the the one who started the athlete program at our high school. And um, as a result, I I literally just met him at uh met him again at one of my mates 21st, and he took me through the whole of um East Rugby Union clubhouse and their gym system. And he's a very, very switched-on guy, Brad Pillard Hughes, if he has ever watching this, but um he pretty much was just like, mate, what are you doing? I explained to him, and he just took me under his wing straight away. And um that was probably the first time that I was like, yeah, this is it. Like I'm fully, fully in here.
SPEAKER_00:There's a career hundred.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, yeah, definitely. Because there's one thing that I hate, and I I tell all the interns, and the interns agree absolutely, is the uh the structure for the university for EP X science. You don't do your first placement until three years into your course. So a lot of like I've got I know people who do their first placement and then they go, hang on, I hate this. Like, I can't talk to people. I actually I want to make squillions of dollars. Like, this is not my industry. Um, like I think nurses get it the best, like first year bang, straight into placement, you figure out real quick whether you're gonna like it or not. Yeah, and um, I think that's something that's that we need to get better at um as a as a learning education system. Um, so I think yeah, I was lucky enough to dip my toes into it and actually really enjoy it and and froth it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, early on. It it's true, it's such a good point, you know. What do we do? Are we scientists? We roll around in shorts and shirts and joggers all day, like no, I guess, but you know, we're not in a lab testing things, and but then at the same time, we can do VO2 max and blood lactate and jump on force plates and look at physics, and we spend that most of our day doing that sort of stuff. So scientifically it's very entrenched, but you're you're kind of active and moving with people teaching, communicating, selling, like there's there's all these layers of human nature, of behavioral sort of science, and then of the actual science in practice. Yeah, um, so it is, it's it's it's multi-diverse, it's multi-skilled, and it's actually really quite a niche industry for a certain personality. Yeah, and then there's realms within that. But um, yeah, I think for the for the person that sort of thinks they're either gonna sit down in a lab and do this job, or they're gonna be on the gym floor and not having to think about the science, it's like that's gonna be really challenging. So yeah, it's um it's it's an interesting sort of observation. And I my experience was I just went straight in, did cert three and four, it's a three-month course, and I was in the industry, and so I was working and earning money as a practitioner all through my studies, loved every minute of the study because it just made me every better uh better every single time, every single course, every single unit. So yeah, it's really interesting. Um so you've graduated, you've sort of gone through the last two years. Talk us through that. So since you sort of graduated and uh and and how that's been.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Um cool. Well, I first got here end of it would have been actually 20, end of 2021. I did my first placement here, and then off the back of that, um signed up as a member, started doing group fitness, um, did my own thing for a bit. And then um pretty much a year later, everything came full circle. You asked me to come over and and help out Jeeps. Um, by this time, that's what end of 2022 now. Still in my that would have been third year, end of third year. Uh, and then from there was working here doing SNC work and then helping out with Jeeps, just a little bit of casual part-time, um, and then pretty much finished up in the end of 2024 at uni, graduated, became a fully uh sorry, 2023, graduated. Yeah, you're a year ahead, man. You've been out for more than more than one year of uni. Uh yeah, finished 2023, became a full-fledged, legit exercise physiologist, start of 2024. And um, yeah, since then, just just really trying to chuff along. Everything started slow and quiet. Uh, you know, severe cases of imposter syndrome to the highest degree, um, especially being surrounded by very, very smart individuals all the time. And uh from there, just slowly started getting more clients, seeing different people from different population groups, all parts of life, different diseases, comorbidities, and just slowly growing knowledge around it all. Uh, because you don't have any of the answers coming out of university, you just go, gee whiz, like you feel like you've you feel like you know everything for about three days, and then someone asks you just a really obscure question, and you're like, I know nothing. And then you hear someone right next to you just completely answer it. Super crazy. Um, so yeah, like the last two years has been really good now. Like I feel I've I've gone from having you know three, four clients to having five, six, seven, eight clients a day, uh every day. Uh slowly growing, you know, our 50s program now, which is really good. We're averaging, you know, you're eight to ten people every single class now, just about. And uh yeah, the last couple of years as well. I've been in sport for four years. So uh of of most recently, I've picked up I was working at South, so the last two years, uh 2024 and and this year as well, working at South, Rebbe Union, doing the head of S and C there, uh, which has been really good. So it's cool, like you all different walks of life, you see a bunch of different people and you you pick up different things um from different diseases, injuries, whatever it might be, and you just add it to your tool belt and slowly learn.
SPEAKER_00:It's cool. And you get that sort of taste of a range of populations sort of enniched into a single thing. So um, yeah, it's it's pretty interesting. So for the uh the average listener or someone that doesn't quite know what a normal day looks like for you, talk us through that really briefly. Like, what are you seeing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And um, I mean, I'm pretty aware of it, but uh yeah, give us a little taste.
SPEAKER_01:It can get pretty crazy. Um let's let's pick a day. Uh, if we go something like a casual Wednesday, uh I'll typically of recently I was starting off with someone with charge syndrome, which is essentially just a bunch of different um genetic disorders that have been put into one. Um, it'll affect breathing, it'll affect heart, um, hearing, all sorts of things. Um, so essentially you just have to figure out what he can do, how well he can do it, and then just try and get him moving as best as possible. I'll then roll into a um a client with autism who's always awesome, love him, super fun. Uh, I'll be with him for about an hour, and then straight after that, I'm on a video call uh with a 92-year-old client who mate in the last six months has just come on leaps and bounds. When we first did his um I just I love talking about him. When we first did our sit to stand, we did a five sit to stand, um, which for those don't know, it's a test where you pretty much um you're seated and you stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. Seems pretty easy. You do that as many times, uh, sorry, as quickly as you can five times. And uh his very first one was 24 seconds, and that was him holding onto a chair. Uh, he's just got no strength, no balance. And now we've got him to a point where he uh has hands out in front of his body, he no longer uses the chair, and he's down to 15 seconds. So we've we've knocked off heaps of time there, but also his ability to actually have confidence around that and not have to hold onto the chair, uh, which is that's that's online. Uh yeah, it's huge. Uh in Redcliff area, somewhere around there.
SPEAKER_00:The other side of Brisbane, yeah. Not going to commute at 92.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Um, and just does his program every day. Every day does his program. Best pace can't fault 100%. Uh and then I'll roll into to a DVA client, so that's that's Department of Veteran Affairs client. Um, and then from there I might have someone with um open heart previous open heart surgery. Uh, I might finish off with you know, someone who's had double knee replacement, uh, double sh shoulder replacement. It just gets gets pretty crazy. And then in between, you'll have, you know, your healthy population who's got nothing wrong with them. They just want to get nice and strong. Yeah. And it's just like uh, sweet, let's let's get really strong. Let's do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's like, oh, this is a relief if you do this with your eyes placed compared to those.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's just like sweet. It's not switch off kind of mentality, but it's just like this is good, this is easy. Yeah, compared to all the other challenges that you've had leading up to that.
SPEAKER_00:Deal with nuanced little mechanical details as opposed to going, well, let's just move. It's not perfect, it doesn't matter, we're moving 100% really interestingly. What else are you sort of dealing with week to week? I mean, you you've from a versatility perspective, you've probably got one of the more versatile profiles in terms of patients and clients and programs that you're working on. Um, what are sort of the other things that have landed on your lap in the last two years?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so one of the one of the other ones, like I mentioned before, I'm we're doing the 50s program. So I look after that um predominantly here at at platinum. Um the probably the the biggest one that has with the big whale that we've landed is the uh we do an Arby program. So uh they do about four blocks every single year. They go for uh eight weeks, but they see us for seven weeks. And now it's essentially they come in, they do some testing, we write them um specific programs based on their injuries, goals, uh testing each individual per block? Correct, yes. So how many per block, roughly? So this block, for example, we've got about 19. Last block, I think we had about 20. Um, we'll write up reports at the very end, which shows their progress. So we use all the vold data to see where they start and where they go. Um, and then on top of that, where they're on base and then they come in here for multiple sessions a week. Uh typically it goes uh from Tuesday through to Friday, either we're there or they're here. And we'll do every day for for seven weeks. Uh, and we'll do a presentation of some sort, or um we might do a Pilates class, or um, they might do some form of breathing, down regulation, whatever it might be. Uh, and then we always have an hour before that where we'll oversee them doing their program just so we make sure that they're doing their rehab, their strength training, all that stuff correctly. Is it so is it a performance or recovery-based program? Uh it depends. Absolutely depends. Um, we get a mix of those that are post-op, uh dealing with chronic injuries. Uh, we also might have someone who's potentially mental health. So um, for someone like that, they're not physically affected by um by any little amendments or anything like that. So we can essentially just give them exactly what they need, high intensity, whatever it might be. Um, so there's a bit of both. So you might have someone who's a week, uh not a week, but maybe six or seven weeks post-op. You also might have someone who's been strength training for seven years, but they've got some mental health issues. So physically they're very capable. So we can push that person a little bit harder than we can um the person who's you know six, seven weeks post-op. Yeah. So it's a complete mixed bag. Yeah, you don't really know what you're gonna get until a week before we start and they all come in for testing.
SPEAKER_00:And we do the testing and we say, where are you at? You've just had an operation. Yeah, it's it's a it's a full-on program. I think the best part about it is the education element that we're doing, as you mentioned. Um, but you know, professionally really challenging, but stimulating at the same time. It's sort of yeah, one of the big ones. Um okay, so so just to recap, you're sort of heading our fit over fifties group fitness program, which is you know, roughly what people in their 60s later. Um, and that's just sort of small group group fitness strength training type stuff. Then we've got this army program, which is a complex sort of layer of rehab right through to performance, sport performance stuff that you're doing, um, and then your every day-to-day group of clients, yeah, from NDIS through to DVA and everything in between. It's um it's a pretty versatile profile. Um from a blanket sort of rule perspective, what what's sort of an observation you make that probably applies to every single one of the people in that whole sort of profile that you're dealing with from an exercise perspective? Be it you wish they knew, be it you were observing through their sort of you know, um training or behaviors or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. I think um I think one of the big ones is just to ask the question. Uh I I see a lot of people who they're just completely unsure. They'll like we get it a lot with our army guys, and they've got no idea what the movement is, how they should be doing it, and they just go, headphones in, head down, do something, potentially, hopefully it works. Absolutely. Uh and you just you just see it so often, and it got to a point where we're like headphones out. It's like as long as we're in here, it's like no one does no one wears headphones. Um, we need to be able to talk to you, tell you what you're doing better, worse, whatever it might be. Um, and the second one would just be like take that first step and try the hard thing, I would say. Um, you don't get better by just doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, like especially if you want to improve and and do that next marathon, do that next uh whatever sprint, pick up your grandchild, whatever it might be. Um, you just need to to do that next hard thing. Um, and that could be it's as simple as taking the first step into a gym. That could be the next hard thing. Yeah, um, but just consistently trying to do the next hard thing is probably the most important thing that I see a lot with um with clients all around.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, nice. Let's jump to your own training. What have you taken from EP? You know, obviously you've got the studies and this foundational knowledge of all these principles of exercise, and then you've seen it with clients, and then you've had to start to manage a schedule where you're starting in early mornings or finishing late in the evening. And how have you sort of found that, setting that up and making sure you take care of yourself over the last two years, given that you you you are someone that practices practices what he preaches? So let's sort of unpack that a little bit. What does your current training week look like?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, um, so currently I am I'm getting a lot of a lot of slack for this of like I'm doing a Hyrux. I'm gonna do Brisbane Hyrux and I'm gonna try and win it. Yeah, no one believes in me. I'm using it as fuel for the fire.
SPEAKER_00:Well mate, you put it on public record now, the whole world will notice.
SPEAKER_01:Emily Adams is rolling in a grade. I uh never done one before, she'll be fine. But anyway, I am trying to train uh two full strength sessions a week, uh, and then a third S and C session. So just trying to build a little bit more volume through the legs as well with conditioning, and then uh I want to do like a high-intensity, high rock style kind of session. That's probably my big uh strength work that I'm actually in here um doing, and then outside of that, some interval runs and some longer runs. Um, but yeah, like I think the biggest thing when I started working in this industry was like waking up early. Holy moly! Like it's it's pretty rough.
SPEAKER_00:Um you came from a swimming background, yeah. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know. But um another thing, like while it is, you know, it's weird waking up super early. We've had a the discussion, you finish your day, you start at five, you finish at one. Like, what does what does everyone do with their day? Like, we've got so much time to do whatever we want. We're up at five, well, we're up at four really, but we're up at five working, up at six working, what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00:You're at 5 a.m., you're smiling, getting people pumped up, ready to train them. You're not just you're not just waking up and then at work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it just makes me think like it's it's when I work in the afternoons and I have a sleep and I'm like, geez, I've only got like two hours until after work, what's going on? I've wasted the morning. You know, once you do your gym and then you're into work, like you you don't have much time at all. Um, so that's probably the one of the biggest things that I was a bit of a shock to the system. Um, but then what I've taken away over the course of learning EP and how that applies to my strength training is uh you don't have to just go flat stick the whole time. Yeah like when I first started doing gym, it was just like let's do 15 sets of bench press and superset that with tricep extent. Like it was just the the most gnarly workout, and I'd have sore shoulder, uh absolutely no legs at all. Um, and now it's just like I don't need to do that. You just need to be you can be a little bit more conservative with your training, you can push the the weights a little bit harder, you don't have to do as much volume, um, and you can actually feel a lot better and recover a lot better um by doing that, as opposed to just going flat stick the whole time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's totally takes a little bit of time to work that out on your own on your own. But once you do, yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. And and in terms of, I guess, the career and already in the last two nearly three years, obviously you studied before, it's evolving really quickly and it's actually becoming pretty significant and substantial. Health and fitness as a whole is just growing year on year. Um, what probably most excites you about about this industry?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's such a young space. Um, it's funny, like we'll me and um Emily, Emily and I rather, we'll be doing an exercise physiology session with our clients, and someone might get a phone call and just say, hey, hold on. I'm just at the I'm just doing a physio session. So it's just like just over the years, hopefully it'll start to get a little bit more clear. It's like it's not physio, it's EP, it's a little bit different. Um physio, you know.
SPEAKER_00:What how would you define that that difference? You're probably just about to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I'll so I would more so define physio as um they well, firstly, they can diagnose um conditions, so they can diagnose conditions, injuries, all those kind of things. We don't. We get given the condition and um we essentially just manage the treatment and we provide as as good a result as we can using exercise. Using exercise, yeah. The easiest to like yeah, the the analogy that I like to think about it is if you go to the doctor and you get given a script by your doctor, you don't ask them how how like should I just take this for like one day or I'll just take this for one day and that's it. They're gonna the doctor's gonna tell you exactly how much to take, when to take it, why you're taking it, for how long you need to be taking it until you can stop doing it. We're the exact same. We get given exactly what we um are told by a physio or a doctor or whatever it is, and then we'll prescribe exercises, we'll prescribe sets, reps, all those kind of things, how long, how you progress, all those um little things that really add up in the long run.
SPEAKER_00:And and and you get you through the education you've taken into, or you get to take in the clinical considerations for the versatile musculoskeletal injuries, genetic disorders, diseases, contraindications, medications, all that sort of stuff, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And we work hand in hand with physios really, like particularly in those early stages, those acute phases, which is of musculoskeletal skills. Correct, yeah. So if someone's just had an acute injury, so they've just rolled their ankle, for example, or come out of surgery, whatever it might be, uh, they need they need physio early on. Like they research will tell us that they need physio early on, they most likely will need some form of manual treatment. Um, however, as you progress, you need exercise rehabilitation. That's going to give you the most bang for buck, and that's where we come in. And so under the guidance of the physio, we'll uh slowly implement our magic, so to speak, uh our exercises, sets, reps, all those kind of things. And then um slowly it's a handoff from physio will slowly give the give the reins to the to the EP and and they'll take the the client on the rest of their journey.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's sort of funny. I mean, I've spoken about it a fair bit on this on this show and um That sort of grey area of I've finished with the physio, I'm starting with the EP. It's not clearly set in stone. 20 years ago, there were not a couple of hundred EPs rolling around ready to take the reins from the physio. Um, so the physio kind of did it, and then it was like, okay, see how cross your fingers, hopefully you're good, or how long till I take care of you. So it's really exciting. And the sport performance world has it, you know, physio hands it over to either an EP, an SNC, whatever it might be, but it's it's a cross-pollination sort of thing. And I think if if anything from you know, adding to what you said about experience and the education part of the career, it's also being able to um teach EPs a little bit more about the injury side of things and to have a really acute sort of understanding of what the injury is, what the pathology is, and what the physio is doing in those initial stages, so that you know, when they do say load this much, but not you know too much, etc. You go, yep, I speak that language. And I think you know, early on in your career you've worked with a lot of physiotherapists already. Um, and that's probably a skill you've developed nicely and really quickly, but a lot of EPs tend to miss.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And that's honestly, that's one of the most important things that I got told early on. And it was just like, from a physio point of view, they're thinking, all right, what's the surgeon thinking? So that's their person who's giving them the patient. And from for someone who's got musculoskeletal injury, from our point of view, we've got to be thinking, all right, sweet, we're getting handed over by a physio. What's the physio thinking? Why has the physio been doing this? What's their treatment plan been? And how can we utilize that to continue the process and get a good result for the client?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, no, I love it. How do you see the space evolving? Exercise physiology, particularly as a career, as an industry, how do you see it evolving?
SPEAKER_01:Uh it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting. Um, I think, especially in um Brisbane and Australia with the with the games coming up, uh, there's gonna be a lot of high um, there's gonna be a very high demand for elite sports. And as a result, EPs and SNCs are really gonna rise to the fore forefront, I think. Um, as the client also, you know, the everyday client starts to get a little bit more education and there's a little bit more education pumped into the the GP clinics and of what an EP can do and offer, I think the space is just gonna grow. Um Physio laid the platform 50, 60 years ago or whatever it was. EP only laid it, you know, what, 10, 15 years ago, whatever it might be. Like it's it's so green. And um, I'm really excited to see how the space evolves. I don't know how it'll evolve yet. Um, but I mean the interns and the practitioners that keep coming in here, um, you they're just getting better and better. Like everyone's just that little bit more switched on. Um, everyone's sharing more information, everyone's becoming more knowledgeable. Um, so it's exciting where it's gonna go. Um, yeah, it's just an exciting space to follow, really.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Um, if you were sort of to jump forward, your your favorite question. It's on 20, 20 years, 30 years, you know, be it yourself, be it EP as an industry. Um, how do you sort of think it's gonna be interpreted? And and I guess more importantly, if you could leave a mark, how how would you want that to be interpreted by people in the future?
SPEAKER_01:I knew this question was coming. Um it's a tough one. Uh 20 to 30 years ago, like I mean, 20 to 30 years from now. I just want to keep helping people, as as cliche as that sounds. Yeah, very true as Gandhi would say. Um it's just it's a very rewarding um space to be in. I think uh with the technology that we've got access to, uh it's just gonna keep continuing to grow. And I'm super excited for that. Uh, as to where I will be, hopefully, you know, potentially running an amazing practice somewhere. Um, but for as long as I can, I'm gonna be just doing as much hands-on work as I possibly can. Um I'm not in the industry to sit in the head office of something and do nothing. I'm more of a hands-on, I really like engaging with clients and and talking to people. So for me, I'm gonna do that as long as I possibly can. And um, wherever that takes me, I'll happily go uh as long as I'm consistently learning and and trying to bring a better result to the people that I'm looking after.
SPEAKER_00:Love it, mate. Very profound, Mr. Gandhi. I know. Um we've sort of spoken about a message and a theme to um to your clients uh that that you know you wish they knew or sort of brought to every session, or people thinking about getting into exercise and stuff with an EP. If you lean on practitioners a little bit more, um, be it one, be it three points for aspiring practitioners, be it someone in high school that's thinking about going into this industry, be it you know, a couple of people that have just started, whatever it might be. Um, what's kind of your main point or message that that you want them to understand?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for someone doing EP, it's it's so broad. Um so dip your toes into something early. Uh me personally, I was working at my high school doing um some elite sports programming. Like get your feet in there as quickly as you can and figure out whether you like it, because it's so broad, you might not like musculoskeletal rehab, but you might like cardio rehab, like you might like renal, metabolic, whatever it might be. Like there's so many avenues, spinal, NDAS, whatever it might be. So the biggest thing is is as early as you can dive into something, uh, reach out to someone. Everyone, I know someone who most recently um they didn't they wanted to be in professional sport. I know that they reached out to someone working at the Broncos and that guy just on LinkedIn and that guy invited him in, had a coffee with him, um, ended up setting him up, and now he's doing an internship over at the Gold Coast Titans. Like people are so generous in this industry, but uh a lot of us are too shy to ask. I know I would have been too shy to ask. Um, so people will give time. You just have to be willing to ask them to give time, and uh you'll figure out very quickly what you like and what you don't like.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, totally, mate. Very good, very powerful, mate. Um, beautiful. I guess um to bring it home, you know, for for you know, all your clients listening and anyone else that I guess is thinking of engaging in exercise uh for the first time, be it young or old or you know, injured, abled, disabled, whatever it might be. Um, what's sort of your your big take-home message for them, mate, to sort of hammer the nail in the coffin? Do we go inspirational again? Yeah, mate. You you've done it already.
SPEAKER_01:I've run out, I've run out. Um I think like what I was saying before, like the first step's the toughest thing. Um, it's a bit of both of the first step, but then also asking the question. Um, I had someone earlier uh about two weeks ago who at the end of our session, I was talking to them about the plan, and they were literally just like the hardest step was me walking in here today. Just whatever you tell me to do, I'm ready to do it. And so it's just like the first step's always going to be the hardest. Jump into it. Um everyone's here to help. 100%. Uh, wherever, whether it's some form of specialty, unit, um, cardio rehab, whatever it might be, everyone's ready to help. So dive in. Don't wait, dive in.
SPEAKER_00:Don't wait. That's it. Beauty. Well, mate, you've uh yeah, certainly grabbed the ball by the by the horns the last two plus years. It's it's been awesome to see, and you know, it obviously resonates the way you talk about it as well, which I'm sure everybody can hear, but I know everybody feels, and we see it and we feel it, mate. So you're greatly appreciated across the board and uh just don't stop being you, mate. It's it's it's awesome to have you a part of our team, and thank you very much for your time today. Thank you. Cheers. Thanks for listening to today's episode. For more regular insights into SOF, be sure to check us out on Instagram or Facebook, or visit our website at science of fitness.com.au. Once again, we thank you for tuning in to the Science of Fitness Podcast.