The Over 50 Health & Wellness Podcast
The Over 50 Health & Wellness Podcast
Incremental Fitness with Damien Joyner
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My guest on today’s show is Damien Joyner. Damien is an ACE Certified personal trainer who specializes in working with men and women 50 year and older. He is the founder of Incremental Fitness, a business dedicated to helping older adults live life with strength, agility, balance, and confidence. In this episode Damien discusses the importance of strength and agility training for older adults and makes a strong case against ageism. You can follow Damien on Instagram @damien.a.joyner.
Damien’s website is https://incrementalfit.com/.
Damien mentioned the National Council on Aging as a great resource.
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Hello and welcome to the Over 50 Health and Wellness Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin English, founder of the Silver Edge. Our mission at the Silver Edge is to inspire men and women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond to live their strongest, healthiest, most fulfilling lives. In this podcast, we share stories of amazing individuals who are doing just that to help motivate you to become the healthiest version of yourself, regardless of your age. And now, on to today's podcast. He is the founder of Incremental Fitness, a business dedicated to helping older adults live life with strength, agility, balance, and confidence. Damien, welcome to the show. Thank you, Kevin. Happy to be here. Great, and certainly glad to have you on. Hey man, I really want to dig into what you're doing, your work with older adults, but let's get to know you a little bit first. Can you tell us what you were like going back to when you were a child? What were you like as a boy? Were you active?
SPEAKER_01I was active. I probably tried every sport. I tried baseball, I tried soccer, I tried tennis, but soccer was my love. Um I played that probably from second grade all the way up to high school. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So lots of sports, very active. And then what about um as as you went into school? Were were you active and played team sports there?
SPEAKER_01Or it's funny, but the undergrad I went to was not a collegiate school. It was not mini sports, so I did a lot of working out on my own. So I did more so running. I really wasn't as focused as I am now about the benefits of strength training. It was more so just more so just running and doing some some weights in the gym when I could.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. And then um you obviously went to school, I believe, went to school and then law school. What about those years? Were you still maintaining your activity levels?
SPEAKER_01Those years I was, yes. It's funny because I moved from Chicago to California. Something about being out here just I was kind of switched gears about being more active, maybe more focused about what my activity was. Because I liked working out, but once I got out here, it was more so focusing on a goal, which means races or a competitive event. So that's what I did to kind of keep myself in shape.
SPEAKER_00And what kind of what kind of races and competitive events were you doing?
SPEAKER_01When I first started, I started doing um some office course races. I did some in San Diego and also up north. And then I got really into um doing an endurance event through GoRux. I do that once a year to get 12-hour endurance events. So it's kind of different because it's not about how fast you are, how strong you are, it's about working together as a team. So it's a good balance for me to really work with people versus by yourself, you know, in a race.
SPEAKER_00All right. So it's fair to say you've you've been active all your life, and I I take it fitness has has been important to you your entire life. Did you have do you have role models for that? Were were your parents encouraging of that, or is it just kind of the environment you were in um supported that?
SPEAKER_01Parents are encouraging, definitely. I mean, I was raised in a household where first off, we make meals from scratch. That's what we do. Uh it's so it's if we ate out, it was more so the house was tired or special event. But birthdays is like, what do you want for dinner? We'll make it. And both my parents are pretty active. Um, they definitely did, of course, have um, I mean, there were times where I didn't get good grades. You can't go out and play, you know. So it's it was a good balance, but they always were really um backing me in regards to just moving better exercise in general.
SPEAKER_00Great. So it sounds like nutrition then was also a part um from early on that you were conscious of nutrition. And um certainly we're we're gonna talk a bit about that, uh, how that's impacted you as an adult. But so as a child, active, good nutrition pattern started early. So you certainly had the background for what you're doing today, right?
SPEAKER_01Draft, yes, yep, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so that that kind of brings us up to your your where you are today. I I read on your website that you had gone to law school and kind of had a little bit of a crisis there in your life uh with what you wanted to do, and you had a passion for fitness. Talk to us a little bit about that, what what that was like, and how you made that decision to take the jump into a fitness career.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's funny because I was I've been working, I worked out, did a lot of working out outside at that time. Once somebody asked me, are you a personal trainer? I'm like, no. It's like, why would I do that? So it's I kept circling it. I definitely did um enjoy doing it on my own. But at one at that point, I couldn't see myself training other people. Uh but I when I kept circling, I kept circling trying to figure out what my direction was. I I've always liked working with people and helping them. And I was like, I might as well just give this a shot. And I didn't really under really understand or know how much I'd really get out of it myself versus just helping people. So yeah, it was it was definitely a good good jump.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I get where you've got, you know, you've got this passion for for fitness, you you enjoy working with other people. So you make the jump, you're you're a personal trainer. Walk us through how you get from there to where you are today working with uh I guess let me back up. Do walk us through how you got from just being a trainer to being working with a special population, but tell us what that population is as well and and how you you grew that the passion for working with older adults specifically.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I felt the pressure like many trainers do when you first start out, you had to have this niche. And I was trying to learn how to train at the same time training niche, and it's really frustrating. And so I just I finally just backed off and just I was doing group classes at a small boutique gym and also training one-on-one. And the clarity just happened. Like I was uh training a client, Anne, who she was 82 at the time, and um just she was like many of your guests that you have. She's just very vigilant, she's full of life, and like she walked every day and um put a lot of effort with me. I mean, it was not an easy workout. We adjusted it, and even to the just to show her vigilance has really got me going, that eventually the gym um moved on and she found another gym herself, and she was proactive enough to really look on her own versus sitting at home saying, What am I gonna do? And so, yeah, my population is 50 years and up. My oldest client I've worked with thus far is in her 80s, aside from Anne. And uh that's really where I had that clarity. I had the clarity that I had to figure out how to really get in front of more people like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I see. You have right on the front page of your your website, you say strength, confidence, and independence has no age limit. Right. I I love that. Obviously, that's gonna resonate with uh with my audience here. Right. So um, so let's talk about your audience because I notice in a lot of your posts, uh, a lot of your blog posts, your Instagram posts, things like that, you're not only talking directly to people that are in there, say their 60s and 70s, maybe 80s, but you're talking to those people's children. I I feel like you're okay. Um, part of my audience is the millennials or the 30 and 40-year-olds, and you're talking to them about their parents. Talk to us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got some good advice from somebody uh a couple months ago about that because I always just geared my information towards my clientele. And a lot of times when our kids are like, mom, dad, I wish it would work out more. And I've had friends of mine that have said the same thing. I wish that you were close to my parents, or get someone like you close, and like it's important to pull those children into the conversation, not just because they care about their parents, but also you should be focusing on so you're you know can move as well as you can when they gift your parents' age.
SPEAKER_00And so that yeah, that's intriguing to me because that's something that I really hadn't thought a whole lot about, but it it resonates with me as well, right? It makes me think about my parents. Right. Um, so you're you're talking to these people. What is your message to say somebody that's in their 30s or 40s uh about their parents and grandparents?
SPEAKER_01I would say first off, encouragement, because I mean we all family, we care about each other. We like to write our parents, like I do it too, you know, with things I concern about with them, but we want to encourage them. We have to understand that us walking in the gym, a 30-year-old walking in the gym or a 40-year-old walking in the gym is different than somebody in their 60s or 70s because number one, possibly loud music. Number two, a lot of machines they might not have seen before, and to do exercise they're not really sure about, and also just a um understandable fear of pain because either they might be in pain now, somebody has got them there and not really coached them well, or just they just don't want to get hurt. And it's just important to really kind of harness that with that population.
SPEAKER_00I I agree wholeheartedly. I in fact, you have a bought a blog post, and I think it's something like why your parents aren't too excited to go to the gym, something along that line. And you're it lays out, it talks a lot of what you just said, right? It talks a lot about that social aspect about training. It you know, we take it for granted, especially folks that have had some history with the gym. Um that you know, walking into a gym, especially like a big box gym, a globo-type gym, you're gonna have younger people, you know, maybe indict clothes and with their earbuds in and going about and doing their thing. There's a lot of uh intimidating looking machines. And if you're not familiar with that environment, you can see, I mean, that's intimidating to younger people stepping in for the first time. So certainly being aware that that could be one of the barriers to getting folks to move into fitness. So, how do you counsel younger people to assist with their or or even your own clientele to making that transition and to breaking down some of those barriers?
SPEAKER_01I think first off, to take a step back and um kind of see their point of view, where their parents are coming from, walking to the gym. But also, of course, first off, just make sure that they're vigilant about getting their hearing checked or vision checked, things like that, because that can affect just movement in general, their balance, like if they're if certain things aren't going well in their body, it might affect how they move in the gym. So that's number one. I would say number two, to really kind of help the kids work with their parents, to really don't be afraid to reach out to other sources, whether it be me or somebody else, or National Accounts on Aging, they have great resources there that kids can look at to kind of help parents understand that, hey, strength is great, it's good, but also balance is good too. You know, that one commercial they might not even know about, I found they can't get up, is kind of funny until it's your parents. You know, and so really trying to make the connection because I mean when people are younger, they're like they want to get stronger, they want to get swole. That's great. You know, but you can still get that when you're older, but there's more of a um necessity to really focus on those really important areas so they can really enjoy their lives with their kids as long as they can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well said. And I know you do a lot of work with certainly with increasing strength and the importance of that. Um, but balance might not be one that everybody considers. So talk to us a little bit about, because I know you've written a good bit about balance, right? Uh, about the importance of balance, especially in in this population.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely not the sexiest thing you see on social media is like balance training. You know, so it's the importance of it is we're always incorporating balance when we're moving from one step to another, even getting out of a chair to sitting down. And I kind of call it as like the program running in the background, because like your phone's working great, your computer's working great. You don't really, you just okay, I'm just gonna move on with my day. But then once something happens, your phone starts going slower, you want to know what's going on. Same thing with walking or moving. Like everybody doesn't really take, they take minute, they take for granted their balance until something is happening. And so being able to walk upstairs, um, walk their dog, have a conversation, multitask, which is one of the main areas that people do fall when they're multitasking. I have too, like running, stamping your hands and looking around. But the thing is, if they can either catch themselves or also the the bone density if they do fall, because it does happen. And so it's just really important to have them understand that it's it's important because to me, important before it becomes a problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I agree. And I and just to pick up on what you said there on bone density, I think that ties in very well with your strength training, right? That we know that um the stronger you are, the it's great to have the strength for a number of reasons in an aging population. But one of those reasons certainly is is bone density, right? So if they do have a fall, they're much more likely to survive that. I think it's um Mark uh Ripito who says uh stronger people are harder to kill. Yep. And that can be from a virus, a flu, a fall, um, a number of different things. Um okay. So let's let's back up just a little bit because I I want to go through a couple of things here. One is when you intake new clients, what typically what's a typical new client for you? What what kind of shape do they come to you in typically?
SPEAKER_01But I mean, like number one, probably possibly retired. If not, uh they might they might be still enjoying their work. They might be already doing some walking or some exercise on their own, but they're usually coming certain reason either because their doctor told them to, or they just they have friends or family who have had health issues and they want to avoid that. And they are like anybody who walks to a gym, you're ready to make some kind of change, you know, whether mental or physical. And so from there, it can just run the gamut. And they might have some kind of knee injury or back injury or something we have to address, which might be part of that fear why they don't really want to step in. But that's something we usually talk about.
SPEAKER_00So you're I'm sure you're seeing then uh a like you said, a wide variety of people coming for a wide variety of um of issues. And when you when you see these folks and you're intaking them, what um what is important in your in your initial assessment? Do you do you look at um mobility? Um where do you start when you're gonna make a program for somebody? I'm I'm guessing it's highly individualized. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_01Definitely, definitely. I would say first off, really the nonverbals. I mean, like, like anytime you're working with people, you want to see their their body language and how they really talk about themselves, how they how they really um speak to me and have seen other clients in the gym. So that's one thing I kind of noticed first. Uh any frustration, um, any concern is really important to kind of address first to kind of get them more comfortable. Uh from there, I would say it's it's kind of like more so figuring out what they do outside of the gym. Like if they already walk or bicycle, we can kind of tack onto that and kind of use that as a motivation to be able to do that better.
SPEAKER_00And then when you're building these programs, I'm guessing what I mean, with any population, but certainly with older adults, uh, is there some sort of progressive overload or some sort of I'm imagining you're not making major sweeping changes, but we're doing this in kind of small steps. Talk us through some of that.
SPEAKER_01Right. I would say let's just use, for example, um, let's say Deadless. Like all my clients are kind of a variation of that. And so one of my clients, Lita, she was already in Zelda before I started working with her, and we used a certain kind of weight, and we're doing that with the barbell, and we progressed it by adding like five pounds to the second set, and then the third set did a little bit more. And then later on, I would I backed off from that and we did more so just really strengthening her core and her legs and getting her in the right form, and then coming back around a deadlift, and she noticed how she was getting stronger. And so a lot of times the tweaks are really small, but they know me well enough to know if it's a small tweak, they're in trouble to know it's even a little bit harder. I mean, it could be everything from just um a staggered stance versus a neutral stance, which can make a huge difference, or like balancing, there's some balancing you could do without movement or with movement, which is a really small um tweak, but it can make a big difference in their performance.
SPEAKER_00So it sounds like you're constantly challenging, right? I mean, when somebody uh completes a task that you've set out for them, then we're on to the next. Is that is that fair?
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah, and a reasonable amount. I mean, like we'll kind of stick to something so they kind of also a lot of times with exercise, it's a cognitive thing that let's say doing like dead bugs. They look on video look interesting, but then trying to do it yourself, you're like, wait, I gotta think what I'm doing. And so when I get past the point where they have to stop thinking and really just focusing on the movement and breathing, of course, too. And so it might be a matter of weeks till I make a small tweak, or if I see that they're coming in down for a challenge that day, we'll do a little small tweak after that.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Great. And I I I love that you that you brought up deadlifts. Um obviously, I think it was a read or digest um article. I'm guessing you're aware of it um a few years back that said, here's a list of things that people over 40, people over 50 should never do on there, where it's things like push-ups and deadlifts and squats. And of course, I I people can't see your face. I can. I can see the expression you're making. And pretty much everybody in the functional fitness world is groaning and rolling their eyes. Yeah, you've got um one of your Instagram posts says deadlifts, sled pushes, and agility drills have no age limit. And then I believe it's a video of a 70-year-old client of yours who's doing all three of those things. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I mean it's it's just important. I mean, it's empowering for them. And also it's just kind of funny for the gym. They're like, wow, she's really strong. I'm like, yeah. Anyway, moving on. You know, it's just like it's just funny it to see that happen. And it's good, of course, for the clients too to really be there and see that they can do it. And they walk out of the gym and they just not just physically, emotionally, they feel confident, which goes a very, very long way.
SPEAKER_00Sure, there's got to be huge carryover to um say an older woman who comes into your gym, you introduce her to barbell movements like a deadlift or a squat, and as something she never thought she could do. Now, not only is she doing it, but she's progressing in weight, and there's got to be carryovers into all areas of of life there, right?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. I mean, at one time I was at this other place I work at sometimes. I was I work with a woman who she made a mistake of telling me she was a pastry chef. And I'm like, ooh, you pick things up and you put them somewhere else. We're gonna do deadlifts. And of course, that word is scary. The barbell is kind of intimidating. And so trying to like, okay, picking things up, let's just call it that, because that's really what it is. And so trying to get them comfort with that, and I've had clients that want to go light at first, which is good. That's a smart thing to do. And they're like, Can I have a little bit more? I'm like, okay, let's a little bit more. After they realize that it's not your arms, it's your legs are doing the movement, and just really kind of get them to understand that that's going to help them pick things up in general, you know. So it's great.
SPEAKER_00And I see um obviously if you think about things in that way as functional movements, right? So what what we're saying is that we want to enable older populations to do things like pick something up off the floor, for example, their grandkids or a box. Um, we want people to be able to lift things over their head to put things away into cupboards and whatnot. We want people to be able to get themselves up off of the floor, up off of a uh the toilet, things of that. These are all very functional movements. And certainly the the stronger, more capable you are in these movements, the more it carries over and allows you to have a quality of life. So I know that's a big spot for you. Talk a little bit about how this strength training translates to you know real life for these people.
SPEAKER_01Well, I would say it's just first of all, from just getting out of the bed to rolling over to picking things up to uh and also just using your body in the most optimal way. Because I think that's what it kind of comes down to that, like um somebody might know how to pick things up off the ground, but they might be like just bending their back and not really using the most optimal form. And so really the gym is not just a place for them to get stronger, but really figure out how to use their body in a better way that doesn't cause them as much pain or uncomfortability. So that's kind of where I'm headed for that.
SPEAKER_00And you mentioned that that some of these folks might be intimidated by the tools that you use, specifically barbell. And you talked a little bit about how you might um how might how you might address that. Where are you using barbells or dumbbells or kettlebells or some sort of uh weighted resistance with the majority of your folks? Is that how you work?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a variation. It kind of depends, of course. I mean, if somebody has a bad back problem, we're not gonna we're gonna adjust, we're not gonna have to do deadlifts. I mean, I have one client that she's got a variation, doesn't it? She picks up a like a six-pound ball off of the ground. You know, she does like a lunge matrix with step to the side, pick it up, stand back up. And so she's doing a deadlift. I'm not gonna get a barbell with her because this wouldn't really work because she has her arthritis one of her knees is so bad it wouldn't really, it wouldn't be good for her. But we're still she still fixed stuff up in real life, and so we're gonna do that with a ball. Uh, some people use barbell, other people you will use kettlebells. Of course, you have to use what you have. And so it's um it all kind of depends. Somebody might walk in one day and like, you know what, we're gonna just back off and let's do something else to kind of work around that and then come back around.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So uh just a brief aside here for anybody listening to this podcast in the future. We're recording this in May of 2020, so we're we're right in the midst of all this corona craziness. Um, talk to us a little bit, first of all, how how has the the COVID 19 pandemic affected your business? Uh is most of your business in person or is most of it online?
SPEAKER_01It's usually mostly in person. Of course, I've had to jump some training with. One client, an 80-year-old client, on uh on Zoom right now. Uh, I might start doing some outside cleaning training uh and like maybe next week before my clients are really excited to do that. So yeah, the the gym I work out of is closed, of course, for obvious reasons. And so right now is the time for me to try to figure out what I could do on my own and just check, I checked in with my clients, they're doing okay. And what's interesting is that I mean they have the tools to be able to move better. And so even though, like, of course, they want to get back in the gym, they kind of do kind of see how they're not they're not as strong as they used to be, but they're doing movement. And at the end of the day, that's all I really care about right now. It's like it's even even for me, it's hard to work out everything used to. So you have to kind of figure out where you can have that space to get something done and do it and then move on. And it's easier said than done for sure.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I know that it seems to me that there's been um more awareness about fitness in general, nutrition, exercise, um, recovery based on this pandemic, because let's face it, the folks that are most at risk are the people that are elderly compounded with unhealthy, whether that's going to be some obsidian or some uh inactivity, um diabetes, etc. Um so talk to us a little bit about the benefits of being elderly, but being stronger, being fitter when it comes to something like a pandemic or a or a flu and and that that those types of risks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would say just none of the other they're resilient. Um they're not if you're I mean, if you're headed into this and you haven't been working out and you're pretty deconditioned and you're trying to read this stuff of how to get in shape, they can be pretty intimidating.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01You know, and people people are doing it, but people who have been moving a little bit, they they know how to find other ways to move. And so that's that's a really good point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I agree. I I think that there's you know, it's obviously a a crazy time right now, but hopefully that this this might act as a stimulus to get some people back, you know, when gyms do finally open back up, or even if it's not a gym, but just to get out, get moving. Like you said, maybe they like enjoy walking, maybe they enjoy hiking, maybe they enjoy biking, but to kind of jump on that fitness train, if you will. All right. So we talked a good bit about working out, getting stronger, progressively stronger. That I believe that's important for all folks, but specifically for that 50 and older person. Talk to us a little bit about your thoughts on nutrition, because clearly the two of those go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_01Right. Well, of course, as you know, first off, like I'm just a trainer, I'm not a nutritionist.
SPEAKER_00So I'll disclaimer there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Um, aside from that, I think uh people underestimate in general that okay, I go to the gym, I crush it, okay, I'm done. And like there's so many things that help you either move better in life or just work out the the better stuff you put in your body. And I'm not on the whole, you know, diet train or like everything has to be organic. I grew up, my dad, he grew a lot of stuff in the garden, bought stuff at a store. Nothing was, you know, organic or et cetera, et cetera. But we ate mostly plant-based things, not many processed things. You know, I drank my water, I drink alcohol, you know, it's it's more so out of balance for me, but I I don't have the story of um coming back from being deconditioned. Mine is more so that I enjoy being able to feel good. I know the times when I haven't, like when I was in loss, when I was setting for the bar and I was really stressed out, I wasn't working out, I wasn't running, and rare things happen to my body. Like I hurt my knee randomly, and like stress and everything else, and like who knows what happened if I would have been better about my exercise then, you know. So I I understand how stress can affect that, but it's really important that people get that it can really be a good thing for you to work out more.
SPEAKER_00I think we can all agree with that. And I like that you brought up that you know, not a big fan of diets, um, but certainly starting with um with whole foods and less processed foods and more mindful eating. And we don't have to be nutritionists, right, to understand to agree that that's a great place to start. Right, right. Um, do you recommend any kind of supplements or supplementation? Again, I understand you're not your arena is more in the trainer side, but are there um supplements that your folks are taking or that you're recommending for older folks?
SPEAKER_01Um for me, I kind of I'm on definitely the vitamin D train. I mean, it's nothing new, it's kind of come out more recently. Uh, but that's definitely one thing that a lot of times people are deficient in. Uh magnesium, I've really gotten that last year or so because it kind of helped me have a better quality sleep. And also a lot of times people are deficient in that too. Uh B12, multivitamins. Um, other than that, I don't I don't take like any other stuff like protein powder, things like that. I don't really touch that at this point yet. Um, but yeah, it's more so just making sure you get those vitamins and minerals that most people usually are deficient in, and just making sure that that helps supplemental your diet.
SPEAKER_00And you mentioned you mentioned sleep. So I do want to talk about this population and recovery. So clearly, when you get somebody in, a new client, and they're starting to work out, maybe for the first time ever, or maybe for the first time in a long time, I would imagine that as as you age, there it's it's different than when you're 20, right? You can go to the gym every day. Um, recovery has to be taken into consideration. So talk to us a little bit about your thoughts on recovery, how many days a week you actually have folks working out, and what that looks like.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, generally I have people working out with me twice a week at the most, sometimes. But number one is hydration. When people don't drink enough water, and also um just really feeding the beasts, I say, make sure you get your protein. And so those are two areas I make sure to hit first. Uh, but with recovery and the days in between, if it's more so, go for a walk. Stretch. We all got to stretch more. Sometimes people don't have to stretch. If you do a lot of yoga, you might not need to, you know, but just really keeping them aware of what's going on. A lot of times for first new clients, I'll say the next day, hey, how are you feeling? I don't, it's not my badge of honor to get you sore, but I need to know how that workout works for your body so the next time that we do something. Doesn't mean I'm gonna ramp it up if you're not sore, it's more so knowing that that was a good place for you. Um, aside from that, with with what they're eating and stretching, really just I think when people are first starting out, give them to be in tune with their body. Give them to be in tune with where things are tight, where their pain is, and communicating that to me about how they feel and not trying to be, you know, a hero and pushing through. And then I get like, why do you tell me that this was hurting? Like, let me know, we'll adjust. You know, it's really important to let me know what's going on.
SPEAKER_00That's a good point that um you you were asking for that kind of feedback. And I feel like somebody who's maybe not been in the gym a lot and not been active their whole life may have less of that biofeedback available to them. So it may actually be more difficult for them to communicate because maybe they they don't have that, you know, mind-body connection which comes with through exercise. And right. Um, so yeah, I I can see how that would be important feedback for you as a trainer and somebody who's working on their uh, you know, helping them reach their goals. Well, uh I think we've hit a lot of the areas I wanted to talk about. So let's kind of wrap up with let's say there's people listening to this, and maybe there's somebody who's who's acting fairly active, fairly fit, but have parents that aren't. What sort of advice would you give somebody who's listening to this um who's thinking, wow, I you know, I I I like what this guy's doing. I I I love his message. Um, I would I would like to be able to help my parents or grandparents move in this direction.
SPEAKER_01I would say, like, first off, see what resources they have where they live. Of course, bigger areas might have more resources there than some smaller towns, but there's usually there's somebody there, whether it be the council on aging or something to the city that has free programs to begin with, they can do like the YMCA. I mean, there's a good program here in San Diego people have for the city for older adults. And so see what you can find for free, possibly, resources that can reach out to. Uh, educate yourself about what's like things like balance and cognition about how that's connected. I mean, like if somebody's take if your parents are taking some kind of um medicine that's gonna affect their inner ear and their balance, that's gonna affect that, you know, and so really being aware of how their parents' world might be at that point in time. And aside from cheering them on, um, maybe walk them if you go to a gym, talk to the owner there and kind of just kind of feel out and see how they really work with that demographic. And hopefully they don't coddle them. Hopefully they do have somebody who's gonna really help challenge them and get them to move better. Uh, there's a lot of free videos online you can watch too. A lot of people who sell videos, a lot of books they can read, but really just really find somebody their parents like. They might even like dancing, they might like uh some kind of pool class. A lot of times people are older, especially if they live alone, they like that community sense and that ownership. And so a group class might be a great place for them to start.
SPEAKER_00Great. And so do you work with uh remote clients? Do you have a a remote business? You do? Okay, so people could also reach out to you as well. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Right. Well, that's a good a good place maybe for you to talk about um talk about your business and where people can connect with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh incremental fitness, you can find it online. Just search for that or incrementalfit.com. I have things like blog posts, videos, some ebooks. I'm working on a book right now, it's gonna be done probably in a year or so that I'm working on right now.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So, and I'll I'll drop that in the uh in the show notes. You have uh an Instagram as well, and I can drop that in there as well. All right. Um, anything else you want to you want to end with on this?
SPEAKER_01I would say end with just fight ageism in regards to what's happening right now or just in general, that like this demographic deserves to move better. There shouldn't be a cutoff point where people aren't able to get up from the ground or not do what they want to do, that vitality and independence should not end at some sort of prescribed age.
SPEAKER_00Amen to that. That was very well said. I I I think we can we can leave it there. Thank you so much uh for your time and your your willingness to share with us and best of luck uh in and all your future endeavors.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Thank you, Kevin.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's our show for today, folks. If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell your friends and please consider subscribing and giving us a five star review. All the show notes and much more are available at our website at silver edge.com. That's silver at edge.com. So until next time, stay fine.