The Evolution of Physical Therapy & The Mastermind Behind GMB Fitness Ryan Hurst

Show Notes

In this episode, Dr. JJ Thomas interviews Ryan Hurst, co-founder of GMB Fitness. Ryan shares his unique journey from gymnastics to martial arts and how these disciplines have shaped his innovative approach to physical therapy and movement. Discover how GMB Fitness is redefining the landscape of physical therapy, offering practical, adaptable techniques for therapists and patients alike.

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What is The Dr. JJ Thomas Podcast?

Welcome to The Dr. JJ Thomas Podcast! Here I'll be talking all things physical therapy, raw and unplugged, giving you the unfiltered insights you've been searching for in your cash-based physical therapy business. If you're caught in the grind of the traditional model, swamped with paperwork, or feeling like you're not reaching your full potential as a physical therapist, this podcast was created just for you.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 00:00

Yes. Investing money, but also continuing to invest your time. Like, I think Yeah. You know, it's very popular on Instagram to hear people talk about, you know, the the sexiness of people seeing success, but they don't they don't really wanna think about the work that goes into it.

Ryan Hurst: 00:17

Welcome to the doctor JJ Thomas podcast.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 00:22

Alright. Here we go. Welcome to the doctor JJ Thomas podcast. I'm doctor JJ Thomas, and I'm here with my very good friend and, colleague Ryan Hurst. Ryan is a, co owner and original, founder of GMB Fitness.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 00:41

Who, if any of you have followed me in the past, which I'm sure if you're here, you have. You've seen that's those are the guys who originally taught me what I everything I know in terms of the body weight, the animal locomotion, the a lot of the movement stuff that really I credit for, helping make our cash based practice such a success. So, Ryan, thank you. Welcome.

Ryan Hurst: 01:02

Well, thank you.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 01:05

I was hoping you could start by just giving us your background a little bit more and especially, a little bit on your background as a gymnast and a martial artist and how how you feel that might have led you to have a better understanding of movement and mechanics?

Ryan Hurst: 01:21

Oh, yeah. A lot's there. Started gymnastics at a very, very early age and competed until I was 18. And while I was in high school actually, I was in junior high or middle school, I guess you say nowadays, started martial arts. And so I actually did gymnastics.

Ryan Hurst: 01:40

We did my gymnastics practice, and then after that, I would go directly to my martial arts practice. So and I did that for quite a few years, and that led me to actually move into Japan when I was in college. And, yeah, ended up living in Japan for almost 30 years. And so, you know, to answer your question, if it weren't for those 2 things, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. And I was very, very lucky because my coaches were just absolutely incredible, and they laid the groundwork for the way that I actually look at everything I do now.

Ryan Hurst: 02:18

I never thought I would be a teacher of Mhmm. Of movement. But looking back at my coaches, it it just totally makes sense because they played such a huge, and pivotal role in my life at that time. And so, you know, everything that I look at and the way that I do things, I can point back to certain points, when I was growing up and practicing gymnastics and martial arts and how that actually, affects, in a good way, the way Yeah. Teach and the way that I continue to want to perform in my own personal practice as well.

Ryan Hurst: 03:00

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 03:00

Yeah. I can see that I remember going through the trainer the trainer program with you guys, and I remember learning so much as a teacher as well just through how you guys taught. Well, first of all, for those of you that aren't familiar with the GMB trainer program, it's, it's it's mostly done virtually. So it's very intensive. I mean, we spent hours every day not only doing the exercises so that we were proficient at them, but also recording everything.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 03:27

And then we would send the videos to the to the team, and the team analyzes it and gives great feedback, very sandwich oriented, like a positive Yeah. A critical piece to work on. Yeah. Yeah. Praise critique prints.

Ryan Hurst: 03:40

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 03:41

Yes. Very you know, the sandwich. But what I found through that experience, not only did it help me, as you're saying, Ryan, your coaches helped you move better and understand have a better appreciation for how you can move efficiently. I definitely found that, but also I found how I could help other people move more efficiently through some of the same coaching styles you guys taught us through that. And and thank god for that because I went through the trainer program before, like, COVID happened.

Ryan Hurst: 04:09

Always.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 04:10

And, yeah, and I remember thinking when COVID happened, like, wait a minute. I can I can do this virtually? Like, I can I can analyze movement virtually? That's what we did through the entire apprenticeship program. So, that was really cool for me.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 04:24

And on that note, I wanted to kinda take that and ask you

Ryan Hurst: 04:28

It's not a hit.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 04:28

Since that was something that I found through GMB programs that that reached something that was lacking in my in my practice at the time. Bad. When you guys created GMB, was there something that you felt was lacking from the fitness and wellness community that you were like, okay. This is why the community needs this?

Ryan Hurst: 04:48

Yeah. Actually, yes. So at the time, I was actually involved with another fitness organization, and my position in that organization was as their, as the head coach, programming, for them. And I did find that there at that particular time and I wouldn't say in that organization. I would say in general, there was this feeling that we got from a lot of people where they didn't wanna be in the gym, but they wanted to do something to feel better and move better.

Ryan Hurst: 05:30

And and so when we first started out, we realized, okay. It doesn't have to be the gym style training. It's finding a way that's gonna be good for you for the things in your life that you wanna do. That's actually why in the beginning, we came up with with gold medal bodies. It wasn't the fact we wanted to be Olympic champions or anything like that.

Ryan Hurst: 05:51

What does gold medal not gold medal, but, like, that body, that gold medal body mean to you? So just like there are multiple events in the Olympics, what is your event? And how can we help you in order to be a little bit better than you are right now? And the way that we looked at doing that was moving outside of the gym and focusing more on exploration rather than thinking that you need to kill yourself and, you know, do it until you drop or throw up or anything. You know?

Ryan Hurst: 06:22

Like, try it because the main thing with us was we were, excuse me, targeting people who were basically just like us. So they had families. They had real jobs, and they didn't wanna spend all day long training. I mean, I do, but I'm a little weird. But, you know, but, you know, that that's who we were targeting.

Ryan Hurst: 06:46

And so it wasn't a matter of, hey. Let's crush it. Let's do this. It was, what do you truly need? Here's another way of looking at it and actually being realistic about that rather than thinking that you should train like a professional athlete.

Ryan Hurst: 07:05

And and that's really kind of the way it was. And our original business model was simply, let's make cool stuff. I mean that was it. I mean, we didn't have this big plan of let's try to become the biggest x or something. So in essence, really, our business model was very similar to the way that we're looking at the way we wanted to work out, which was we don't really want to work out all the time.

Ryan Hurst: 07:35

We wanna figure out exactly what is going to help us to get the results that we're after to make our life better. And that was that was really it.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 07:45

I love that. That answers, like, some of the other questions I had for you was on your business model and how it how, exactly what you said, how it think. Kind of became in your mind. And that was one of my things is, like, how did that one of the things I'm constantly talking to PTs about is, like, make sure that your business model matches your values and goals. Right.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 08:05

And it sounds right. And for you guys, it was like, we wanna teach people to do cool stuff

Ryan Hurst: 08:10

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 08:11

And we wanna be able to do cool stuff. And, if you if the audience if you guys look at their programs, if you haven't already, that it's very obvious. Like, that it's obvious that that holds true because, you know, you can learn all kinds of cool stuff like handstands and, planches and

Ryan Hurst: 08:29

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 08:30

Shrimp squats and pistol squats, or you can be like, hey. I have tight hips, and I wanna work on my hips. Yeah. It's really cool. But that was a thing.

Ryan Hurst: 08:39

But I Sorry to interrupt you, but go ahead. Yes. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 08:41

No. Please tell me.

Ryan Hurst: 08:43

Yeah. I was just I mean, really, it was we are all so different, but how could we actually take I I don't wanna say a template, but how can we actually share what we're trying to do in a way that's going to be good for that person across the board. And and in the beginning, it, you know, it was mainly equipment focused because we didn't think we were gonna start a company. I mean, honestly Yeah. We were just like, hey.

Ryan Hurst: 09:16

Let's put out this thing again because we enjoy doing it. And it really just started because I was coming back from a very serious injury. And I don't know if you remember that when I blew my shoulder out in judo. So I had my shoulder, that slap tear and had surgery on that. And, you know, my daughter had just been born, and it was like, you know, that's when I stopped competing in judo.

Ryan Hurst: 09:45

And so it was kinda like, alright. Like, I don't need to be training, nor should I be training the way that I did when I was 25 years old, when I was single, and my job was literally working at a martial arts complex and doing martial arts. Yeah. And so it was a matter of what do I really need. And then what I needed at that time was to actually just enjoy things.

Ryan Hurst: 10:10

And so that's what it was. And so it was a matter of, okay. I need to build a stronger body, but I need to actually enjoy it and not crush myself. Again, I keep saying that like I used Yeah. When I was younger.

Ryan Hurst: 10:21

And what what I said, I think I think I wanna so I had my injury when I was 33, so, obviously, we didn't start GMB when I was 33. It was, we've been going so I'm 51 right now. So we're looking at, like, 15, 16 years ago. So this one's quite a bit older. And so, you know, the last thing I need to be doing is is more of that stuff.

Ryan Hurst: 10:47

So what what it was that we start off with the rings, and so Jarlow actually sent me a pair of gymnastic rings. And I hadn't touched rings since in in the fashion that that I had when I was in gymnastics since I was 18. So there's a huge gap. And so Yeah. It was interesting because I didn't go back into the rings thinking I was going to be a gymnast again.

Ryan Hurst: 11:11

I was looking at the rings as simply a tool that would allow me to explore and strengthen my body in a way that would be fun. Mhmm. But, again, give me the results that I was and that's that was the first product. That was the official GMB product. We had

Dr. JJ Thomas: 11:30

The the rings program.

Ryan Hurst: 11:31

Now they brought it before that, but it wasn't an official GMB program pro pro so yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 11:38

That's so cool. I don't think I realized that. That's fitting too because pulling is missed. Pulling is such a missed, I'd say movement Yeah. In a lot of people's training for for home stuff.

Ryan Hurst: 11:49

Yeah. So And we were the first we were the first company there was, there was one of the rings program that was put out by an Olympic gymnast at the time, which is really cool. But we were the only one, to help that. There was another company at the time that, was doing gymnastic related stuff, But we were one of the first, especially online, to put on there. So yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 12:16

And I was trying to remember the story about when you and Andy and Jarlow decided to do this, like, decided to actually because I think that's the other thing I would love for my PTs listening to get out of this is I think, like, when to hit that go button, when to, you know, when to decide to go all in in something that's a venture like GMB Fitness was.

Ryan Hurst: 12:37

So this I don't even know if you know this, but, excuse me, we didn't actually go 100% into GMB until maybe 5 years later. So Okay. So what we did was so when we launched, GMB, it was pretty funny because Andy Andy was a client of mine. He was one of my students in, Osaka, Japan, and he would come and train with me. And then Jarlow and I knew each other from that previous fitness organization.

Ryan Hurst: 13:13

And so so Andy would come to me and and, the product before rings was called Prasara Primer. So I actually I had 2 TV shows in Japan, and one of them was joint, mobility related, and the other one was yoga. And so this huge production, we shot at this. It was on a movie set that they have in Japan where they would shoot samurai films, And it was like this castle. And, anyway, it was all Japanese style.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 13:53

That's awesome.

Ryan Hurst: 13:54

So this was a Japanese company and, television channel that asked me to do these programs for me. So it was a yoga thing. So it was a 5 part series, and and each each episode was a flow that I created are these yoga things. And so shot that. I remember we shot it, and it was in February.

Ryan Hurst: 14:17

It was freezing out. And I was out there with, like, hardly any clothes on at all, and they had it was ridiculous. And so, but it was a lot of fun, and they had, you know, 4 high-tech cameras, a boom camera, a crane that they had going on. It was really cool. Anyway, so that day, we shot that.

Ryan Hurst: 14:35

But, what I'm getting at is that decided to take that. And and by the way, I did that all in Japanese. So I did it all in Japanese, but we decided to add in an English voice over. And so Jarlow actually flew, and we all met up in Tokyo and went into the booth, and I recorded it, Jarlow and Elle Park on the script, and we recorded it there. And we actually sold that problem.

Ryan Hurst: 14:58

Well, We Jarlo this is just Jarlo and I. But we decided, okay. Listen. We should put this online. And the thing is, though, we had no idea how to do it online and Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 15:09

You know, marketing or whatnot. Well, this is where Andy came in because that's Andy's background. And so he was a client of mine. I was like, hey, Andy. I'm thinking of doing this.

Ryan Hurst: 15:17

He's like, oh, it just so happens. Blah blah. And so, anyway I

Dr. JJ Thomas: 15:21

could see him flexing. Yeah. Right?

Ryan Hurst: 15:22

And you're like, well, you know, I am the best

Dr. JJ Thomas: 15:25

in Well, I happened You

Ryan Hurst: 15:26

know? And, but, yeah, it was really cool because, he helped with that, but it was hilarious because here, Andy and I are in Japan, and I contact Jarlow. I'm like, hey, man. There's this one guy. His name is Andy, and he's really good at marketing and and ideas and things.

Ryan Hurst: 15:42

I think we should bring him in. And Jarlow was like, alright. Jarlow had never met this guy before his life. And we end up starting a company. And That's cool.

Ryan Hurst: 15:53

Pretty funny. So but then working online, though, was when we first started off with the company, it was super simple. Andy and I's deal, we had piece of paper, and I it was a napkin, actually, and we just wrote, well, we'll split the profits 50.50. We just both signed it. And then we just did that with the 3 of us.

Ryan Hurst: 16:12

And so we said, hey. Listen. We're the company. We'll just go even, you know, 1 third each. And then, what we did is and this is all I'm getting to the whole point of the story here.

Ryan Hurst: 16:25

I remember It's good. We had a barbecue at my house. We're at my house having a barbecue, and there's tons of people there, and Andy was there. And it was a Sunday, which me it was a Sunday morning, which means that it was Saturday evening in the United States. And that's Okay.

Ryan Hurst: 16:41

We launched our program. Okay? And so my computer was upstairs. And so during the barbecue, Andy and I would take turns going upstairs and seeing, like, if they actually sold or not. Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 16:56

And I remember him coming down and going, Ryan, do you have to go upstairs and look? And I was like, okay. Yeah. I went upstairs and looked. We had sold so many of these things on this wall.

Ryan Hurst: 17:08

We just couldn't believe it. But both of our our wives, they were just like, you guys wanna do an Internet company? What do they even mean? Right? We have this Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 17:18

Yeah. Because 15, 16 years

Dr. JJ Thomas: 17:21

I was just gonna say when you guys started, this was not a thing. I mean, this was like And

Ryan Hurst: 17:25

Yeah. So but that happened, but we were like, alright. We're not gonna quit our day job. And so we continued to do that. But then, like, within I don't even know how long.

Ryan Hurst: 17:37

You know? Within a year, we were like we we were getting so many like, the emails, and we're just pumping out content. And, you know, every week, putting out multiple articles and multiple videos on YouTube and just really trying to grow. And what we were doing is trying to just provide our knowledge and get that out there. And we were just like, we can't be doing all this, the 3 of us.

Ryan Hurst: 18:01

And so we Yeah. Andy actually brought in, Amber. And Amber's, of course, still with us. And, we're we're Amber. We we can be here.

Ryan Hurst: 18:12

But what we did was we took all the money, and we kept reinvesting it into the company. And so for the 1st 5 years, we actually brought in employees, and so we used that money in order to grow the business. And so it wasn't until about 5 and I actually think that it was 6 years until Andy actually quit his his, part time job and came full fully into GMB. And now, of course, you know, it's just 100% what we do as GMB. But it wasn't, you know, until quite a while that we actually were like, alright.

Ryan Hurst: 18:49

We're gonna go full in. And so we just continue to invest money into the company to make sure that it keeps going.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 18:57

Yeah. And and I think, like, what I'm hearing is that, yes, investing money, but also continuing to invest your time. Like, I think

Ryan Hurst: 19:04

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 19:04

You know, it's very popular on Instagram to hear people talk about, you know, the the sexiness of people seeing success, but they don't they don't really wanna think about the work that goes into it. But I think, you know, that's one of the things I'm happy to hear you talk about that because as PTs looking into going to cash based practice, I want them to realize that, yes, it's great. It is great when it, you know, when

Ryan Hurst: 19:27

where it work.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 19:27

When you start to reap the benefits. Right? But you gotta it does take time to build the foundation, which you guys did really well in your company. Yeah. And it's very like, one of one of the things I just, one of my colleagues said today at at primal, she she was like, I I posted that thing.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 19:42

I posted something. And she's like, I love how, like, all PT lessons can be actually applied to life.

Ryan Hurst: 19:48

Oh, yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 19:48

And it's like the same thing. Like, you guys teach building your foundation.

Ryan Hurst: 19:51

That's it.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 19:52

Right?

Ryan Hurst: 19:52

That's what it is. Yeah. And the one thing I wanna say about that is there's a couple ways you can look at it, but, you gotta be willing to scrub toilets. And Yeah. Right?

Ryan Hurst: 20:03

Like like, the sexiness. People see, oh, yeah. I did this. Okay. Great.

Ryan Hurst: 20:07

They don't see the things behind the scenes that keeps things going. And I say scrub toilets just like because there's people like, yeah. I wanna open up my own gym or my own business or whatever the heck it is, but, you know, you gotta make sure the toilets are clean. You gotta make sure that you know, like, all these little things. Right?

Ryan Hurst: 20:25

And so I I don't remember who said it, but one thing that I learned early on is this sounds horrible, but what shit sandwich are you willing to eat? Mhmm. So looking at it that way, like, okay. Are you willing to do that thing that's going to allow you to continue to do the thing? You know?

Ryan Hurst: 20:46

And so Yeah. That's what it is. Like, you know, everyone you know, the cash based system. Okay. Great.

Ryan Hurst: 20:53

As long as you have that system and keep that system running, then it's gonna work out. But along the ways, it's not always gonna be so fun. And so this is the other thing is that, you know, Andy Jarla and I have been together for a really long time. And thing is is it hasn't always been, you know, lovey dovey. I'll just say that.

Ryan Hurst: 21:14

Right. And and so, like, there are sacrifices, and what and you need to understand that because when it is with other people, it's not always gonna be the way that you want it to be. And so, there's a lot of things that you need to sacrifice in the sense that even though I am the dancing monkey in GMB, it's 3 of us Yeah. Together that actually makes that happen. And so, yeah, a lot more to say on that.

Ryan Hurst: 21:47

Yeah. Right.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 21:48

No. That's, yeah, on that same I like I you you make me laugh how you call yourself the dancing monkey because you do you do do all the you do all the tricks that everybody loves. Tricks.

Ryan Hurst: 21:57

That's all I do.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 21:58

You know? You do the tricks. And, I mean, it's like you said earlier, Andy and Charlie do the do the tricks on the back end that are obviously very critical. But when you were talking about the shit sandwich, I was thinking about it's the same thing. Like, with our patients, we want them to do we want them to do the foundational work.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 22:15

Right? And we have to Yeah. But we have to we have to do that too. Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 22:19

Yeah. That's correct. So that

Dr. JJ Thomas: 22:21

brought up another question in my mind, though. Like, where how programming itself Yeah. Like you said, so you rings was the first program. Uh-huh. And then how did I was curious how your client interactions and client feedback led you to all the other programs.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 22:37

Like or was it was it client feedback or was it like You

Ryan Hurst: 22:41

get it.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 22:41

Was it out of, you know where did the progression of different programs come from, I guess?

Ryan Hurst: 22:45

I think there's a lot of a lot of things to unpack here. I think, the one thing the first few programs, to be perfectly honest, were things that I wanted to do for me. And

Dr. JJ Thomas: 23:00

That's awesome.

Ryan Hurst: 23:03

Because a lot of the times, if there's certain things that that you're doing for you in terms of it wasn't, hey, what do you wanna do? And then I create a program. It was I was working on rings because I needed it.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 23:21

Awesome.

Ryan Hurst: 23:22

I I then moved to parallettes because parallettes is something that I wanna do. And then we did the floor 1, which is something I wanted to do. But the thing of it is, is what I'm getting at, is that this is going to create better empathy for your clients. Yeah. Plus, if it's something that you're working through too Mhmm.

Ryan Hurst: 23:44

Like I said, the empathy is going to be there because you just say, hey. Listen. I know what you're going through. But the other thing too is to understand that it doesn't need to be perfect because we're not perfect. The important thing is that you're actually putting it out there, and then you can always make changes to things later.

Ryan Hurst: 24:01

And so like anything, it's evolving. And so we would put it out there, and as you know, we have updates to everything based upon the feedback and things that we learned from not just the clients, but also us learning, period, and saying, you know what? There's a better way. And, actually that's how we've grown is because we have always gone, okay. What have we learned?

Ryan Hurst: 24:31

And what is working and what is not working? And why is it not working? Or why is it working? And so nowadays, that's why rather than tricks and and and, you know, these party tricks, it's more about the method. That was the one thing that we realized that we were lacking was the fact that there's not a unified method for us to be able to teach people.

Ryan Hurst: 24:52

And so that's why we spent so much time creating the method, and so which you actually don't find in a lot of other place.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 25:00

100%. I'm so glad you pointed that out because even in the PT world, I think the method the method the intention of a method was there Indeed. Like, in PT school. And then somehow, everyone got distracted by the shiny objects.

Ryan Hurst: 25:14

Yes.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 25:14

And right? And a lot of people lost the method. Right. And so that is a big push I'm trying to give PTs too. It's like, get back to your evaluation skills.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 25:23

Yes. And I I should have mentioned that because that was one of the first things I was so impressed about when I came to the apprenticeship program was, you know, having been trained as a PT and learning how to evaluate and assess and reassess, and that was already really important to me at that point. But you guys were always like assess, address, and apply.

Ryan Hurst: 25:40

That's it. You know?

Dr. JJ Thomas: 25:41

It was like Yeah. Yeah. That's so and then teaching like, arming your clients with the ability to do that on their own is was brilliant.

Ryan Hurst: 25:49

And that really, that was important. You know, Jarlo with his background as a physical therapist, Andy with his background as an educator, my background in, you know, all the stuff that I've done as far as movement as well as just teaching over the years and seeing so many people. And, you know, working with them was a matter of, okay, what are the essential things that we need to be sharing with people to allow them to be able to do this themselves? And so Yeah. You know, the goal is not to to hold a person's hand, to be perfectly honest, and, you know, keep them coming for years years years.

Ryan Hurst: 26:25

I mean, ultimately, it would be great, you know, just like my wife, Chica, when she does her acupuncture with people, she's like, I hope to never see you again. And so Yeah. Alright. You know? But the thing of it is is it's looking back at that method.

Ryan Hurst: 26:40

And so that's why we're like, alright. There should be a process. And if you don't know that process, it's going to be difficult for you to actually get where you're going. And so the the problem is is the majority of everyone out there, they're familiar with working out. And as you know, we don't say work out.

Ryan Hurst: 27:02

We we say we practice, and the reason why is because we feel that what we're doing is actually skill acquisition rather than just working out. And, literally, anything in life is a skill. And if you know how to actually learn a skill, you're it's maybe it's this early. It's gonna move beyond exercise. It's gonna use this for your whole life.

Ryan Hurst: 27:23

And so being able to assess where you are, being able to address what's going on, and then apply the necessary protocol to help you to get where you wanna go is what is after. But, you know, people go into a workout, and they're like, okay. On the piece of paper today, it says 3 sets 12.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 27:43

Right.

Ryan Hurst: 27:44

Okay. Great. That's fine. But, you know, is that what you need that day? And, you know, as a physical therapist, it's the same.

Ryan Hurst: 27:52

You could have every intention. Somebody comes in, and you're like, hey. I really wanna dry needle this person. They walk in, and that's what you think. And they walk in, and you evaluate you assess them that day and realize, no.

Ryan Hurst: 28:04

Dry needling is not what they need that day. They need something else.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 28:07

100.

Ryan Hurst: 28:08

And so that you address the situation. And then what are you gonna do is you're gonna figure out what you need to do, and then you just apply, and you just do what you need to do. The problem is is when people get into a rut and start just doing the same thing with every single person in 100%. In their life as well. And so this is this basically a way for us to be able to say, alright.

Ryan Hurst: 28:32

What do you need today? Figure out what you need that day, and then you just make adjustments by using auto regulation. And and that's it.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 28:39

Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 28:39

So in that way, I can actually have a program out there that says, okay. Today is this. But another thing too, because we don't use repetitions or sets, we use time, this allows you to bring awareness to what you're doing and truly, truly focus on what you need at that moment. And so, yeah, again, this is very, very martial art related, and that just goes back to the fact too that Andy, Jarlow, and I, that's what we've done for our whole life.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 29:12

Yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 29:13

And so it's that awareness and and coming back to just saying, alright. There's gotta be a little bit better way to do this instead of just thinking that we're teaching exercise here. So

Dr. JJ Thomas: 29:22

Yeah. I adopted that same thing, the time based, like you said, into my practice, and that is I'm I'm so glad you brought that up because that's I'd say one of the single most things that move the needle for my patients in terms of accountability with their exercises. Like, when I break it down for them, for you listeners that are PTs, when I break it down for them and I say, I want you to like, first visit, I won't give them more than 2 exercises usually.

Ryan Hurst: 29:46

Yeah. That

Dr. JJ Thomas: 29:47

2 solid So I whole body.

Ryan Hurst: 29:58

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 29:58

So I'm getting you know, they're getting a really big bang for their buck. And when I tell them I want you to set a timer for 1 minute for each exercise and do each of them 3 times, that's 6 minute commitment every day. Can you do 6 minutes? Yes. You can.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 30:12

And the face I mean, immediately, Ryan, their face is like, oh, thank god. The last PT, I had 2 pages worth of exercises. I don't even know which ones I'm supposed

Ryan Hurst: 30:21

to do anymore. Absolutely.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 30:21

So I mean, that was a huge scale I picked up from you guys that carried over into my PT career. So

Ryan Hurst: 30:26

That's cool to hear. Well, a big big thing in my life I mean, my favorite book is called essentialism. And we're like, what is essential to what you're doing? And you figure that out, and you cut away all the stuff that's not serving you. And so in this way, like, you need to make it easy to do.

Ryan Hurst: 30:49

And remind you know, I give this example all the time. You know, we're coming up to January, and people are like, yeah. A new year, a new me, a new body, whatever. And they're like, I'm gonna do a 100 push ups every single day. I'm like, no.

Ryan Hurst: 31:02

You're not. You know? It's right.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 31:05

That's right.

Ryan Hurst: 31:05

You know? I'm like, you might have good intentions, but if you don't have a system to allow you to to actually do the thing and, more importantly, complete the thing, then a lot of people, they feel bad, or they're just like, oh, that's too much. I'm just not even gonna start. So how can you make it so simple it would be stupid not to do it? And that is just kinda the thing.

Ryan Hurst: 31:28

And so that's why in our programs as well, we have the option for a 15 minute session, 30 minute, 45 minute session. And then even when you start, you after your prep, your warm up, as you know, the screen comes up and say says, how do you feel today? If you're feeling great, good. You continue on. If you're not feeling so good, you have 2 options.

Ryan Hurst: 31:52

You can say, I feel like poo poo, and you can quit that day. Good. That's maybe good for you. Or you can just have a lower intensity session where you still do the thing, but you do it at a level, lower intensity. You still do the thing, feel good about it, but you're not killing yourself.

Ryan Hurst: 32:13

But the most important thing is do you have a system that allows you to actually get in there and start? Step on the mat and start doing the thing. And if it's too difficult, it's not gonna happen. So, again, coming back to your clients and PTEs out there, if you're listening to this, how easy can you make it for your client, your patient, to go home and do the things that you want them to do so that next time you see them, it makes your job easier. Not what we're after.

Ryan Hurst: 32:40

Right? So, yeah, it just cracks me up because there's I just see so many trainers out there as well is when they teach, they give, like, 10 different cues. And I'm like Right. They're not gonna remember a single cue if you do that. Like, again, just make it so easy that it would just be stupid, and then just go, that's it?

Ryan Hurst: 32:58

You're like, yeah. Yeah. You know? And

Dr. JJ Thomas: 33:00

You're like, yeah.

Ryan Hurst: 33:01

That's it. Right? So and I look at that with business as well. I mean, really, what is essential to your business to allow you to make it easy? A lot of people don't think about that.

Ryan Hurst: 33:13

They're like, I'm gonna work harder. Well, have fun with that. Okay. I mean, how can you make it easier on yourself? You know?

Ryan Hurst: 33:20

Cut out the stuff that's not serving you, that's not essential to your business, but that's just my opinion. So

Dr. JJ Thomas: 33:27

That is a 100% what I was looking to leave them with today, Ryan. So thank you so much. I mean, you gave so many good pearls, pearls that I know I learned through through the trainer apprenticeship and just through my time being friends with you guys and continuing to grow my own practice as a mover and practice as a PT. So, thank you.

Ryan Hurst: 33:47

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 33:50

Yeah. You guys, so if like I said, we got a lot of great pearls here. Pretty much every single pearl, like we said earlier, can be used to, apply to your own life in terms of your own, skill acquisition for your own practice with your body exercises, for your patients and how you're improving their ability to move for your business and how you're improving your own efficiency with your business growth.

Ryan Hurst: 34:15

Mhmm.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 34:16

So, yeah, GMB Fitness, they've been doing it a really long time, doing it really well. And, thanks for sharing all your

Ryan Hurst: 34:22

all

Dr. JJ Thomas: 34:23

your nuggets, Ryan.

Ryan Hurst: 34:23

Thank you.

Dr. JJ Thomas: 34:24

Yeah. Alright, guys. Thank you. We're gonna have some more, but I was happy to have this one with Ryan and, happy to share him with you. And just, like and subscribe so you can continue to hear more from the people we bring on and look forward to hearing from you.