The Dr. JJ Thomas Podcast

"There’s 72 seconds left out there." That’s what pro runner Josh Izewski said after his last Olympic Trials. Every second counts, but injuries and setbacks can change everything. In this episode, I sit down with Josh Izewski, a professional runner for Zap Endurance, to talk about injury recovery, movement evaluation, and the rehab approach that got him back on track. We dive into strength training beyond running and how shifting his approach has shaped his comeback. Josh shares his journey from post-race disappointment to rebuilding for another shot at the Olympic Trials. Whether you're an athlete overcoming setbacks or a clinician working with endurance athletes, there's a lot to take away from his story. Tune in!

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With over 20 years as a physical therapist, JJ’s passion for movement along with her unique experiences and training have shaped her into the successful clinician and educator she is.

JJ graduated from the University of Delaware in 2000, which is now ranked as the #1 physical therapy school in the nation. She holds multiple certifications in a variety of advanced specialty techniques and methods, all of which complement her role as an expert clinician and educator. JJ has been certified in dry needling since 2009, and began instructing dry needling in 2012. She currently teaches for Evidence in Motion (EIM), and also independently lectures and trains other clinicians throughout the country in the fields of physical therapy, chiropractic, and sports medicine. She uses her expertise to help other professionals advance their skills and outcomes, either through manual interventions or specialized movement analysis.

JJ Thomas also has certifications in Gray Cook’s Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA), ACE Gait Analysis, Functional Range Conditioning (FRC), The Raggi Method of Postural Evaluation (based out of Italy), and many other joint, soft tissue, and neural mobilization techniques. In addition to these accomplishments, JJ is also a trainer for GMB Fitness, where building a solid foundation fosters restoring functional, pain-free movement.

JJ’s expertise in the area of movement analysis and in dry needling has played a large part in success in the field of sports medicine. JJ has had the honor to work with the US Field Hockey Team, and with individual professional athletes from NFL, MLB, NBA, USATF, PGA, US Squash, USPA (polo), and more.

As a recognized expert in dry needling and consultant for organizations such as the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), JJ has contributed to national legislative advancements in dry needling. Her work with these organizations includes establishing national education standards for dry needling competence and successfully adding a Trigger Point Dry Needling CPT code for insurance and billing coverage. JJ assisted the APTA in successfully adding a specific CPT code for trigger point dry needling in CPT 2020.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Dr. JJ Thomas
Master of Movement With over 20 years of experience, Dr. JJ Thomas has established herself as a highly successful clinician and educator. Her unique experiences and training have shaped her into a passionate advocate for movement and patient care. Graduated from the renowned University of Delaware, the #1 ranked physical therapy school in the nation. Holds multiple certifications in advanced specialty techniques, including dry needling, SFMA, FRC, and more. Instructs and trains clinicians nationwide in physical therapy, chiropractic, and sports medicine, both through Evidence in Motion (EIM) and independently. Expertise in movement analysis and dry needling has made her a sought-after professional in the field of sports medicine. Worked with notable organizations and athletes, including the US Field Hockey Team and professional athletes from NFL, MLB, NBA, USATF, PGA, US Squash, USPA (polo), and more. Recognized as an expert and consultant in dry needling, contributing to national legislative advancements and education standards in the field. Lives an active lifestyle, engaging in various activities like running, weight lifting, Jiu Jitsu, hiking, skiing, and more.

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.

Josh Izewski:

Welcome to the doctor JJ Thomas podcast.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the doctor JJ Thomas podcast. Really happy to have you here today with with Josh Azuski and I. Josh has become a good friend quickly in the last couple months. Mhmm.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Josh is a professional runner, runs for Zap Endurance, and has a great story that we're gonna share with you today. So thanks for coming, Josh.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You know, our podcast is for two sets of audiences. It's clinicians who want to do better and provide better care for their patients. And so in that, our podcast will often either give technique stuff or give perspective on physical therapy. And we also interview athletes like you to give them perspective on, not just the way we do things here, but certain I love having professional athletes and elite athletes like you on because number one, you guys you rehab better guys like you rehab better than anyone. Know?

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Like, is your job. And you rehab like it's your job. And so I just think for both clinicians and patients, it's really good for them to see that process, to see how well people can do. I think often people are like, Oh, how did that basketball player get back so fast? Or how did that runner get back so fast?

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And it's like, well, they did it with a whole lot of work Yeah. And a whole lot of dedication and a whole lot of commitment. And that's really why I wanted to have you on today because, because you really did a phenomenal feat recovery from, which we'll get into the details on. You did. You did.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

We're gonna have this a lot. Josh and I keep pointing fingers at each other. Yeah. Let's, before we get into the phenomenal feat that you did, let's let's I do wanna share We're agreeing to disagree.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I wanna share with them a little bit about your background and Yeah. And and your story. I mean, everything from I think it's cool how you like, you didn't you weren't always a professional runner. You did try stuff before that. Right?

Josh Izewski:

I well, I grew up swimming

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

And then ran in high ran the end of my high school and ran in college. And then after college, I I think I was just burnt out from running but Yes. Did triathlon professionally for three plus three, a little over three years and then after 2016 retired from triathlon because it was quite frankly too much exercise.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It's great.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. It's a lot of exercise.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And you exercise a lot. Yeah. So that says

Josh Izewski:

a lot. Yeah. A long days of exercising and I just didn't have the same like if you're gonna exercise that much you need to have that like passion for it.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And if

Josh Izewski:

you don't have it it's like you're not putting everything into it that you can. So I came back to running then and I actually lived with my parents for a year while I was trying to figure out find a team and they were supportive of that and I joined Zap Endurance in January first of twenty eighteen, so Awesome. And I've been there since.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Those guys are great.

Josh Izewski:

Living in North Carolina and Mountains Boone right near by App State.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And that's how and that's really how we met was Yeah. That when you were just to give these guys the background that when you were training for New York Marathon, that was right around that.

Josh Izewski:

It was the very it was the beginning like about eight weeks or or no, would have been about no wait. The first time you for New this hurricane

Dr. JJ Thomas:

This hurricane.

Josh Izewski:

Came through Boone and Western North Carolina and I mean I was lucky, I was displaced, my place flooded but nothing bad compared to most of the people Yeah. And had happened down there but the training venues and everything were also destroyed. Sure. And that's not the main focus

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Even outside, like you couldn't train really, everything was flooded

Josh Izewski:

and Yeah. Trees down, the trails are like, you know, washed out, roads were washed out, so there's no so end up coming up here and finishing the build up up here into New York. I think it was must have been

Dr. JJ Thomas:

think it was like the week before that I first met you.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah I think it was the week of the race.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah and that's I mean even that like I love you know, I love the network of PTs. I think one thing that I do encourage PTs in general is to network with colleagues all over the country because, you know, Abby reached out to me about you, and Abby is a phenomenal therapist in North Carolina as well that Josh had been working with for years and years. Since

Josh Izewski:

2019, I

Dr. JJ Thomas:

think. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And when he had to come up here so that you could finish your training, Abby called me and was like, I need some help with my runner is dealing with some issues right before his New York City marathon race and can you help him out? So I just love those relationships. I think they're really valuable and especially when you have that respect and rapport, we were able to sort of tag team your care at that point.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Yeah. Mean, YouTube being able to, I guess, what's the word? Not selfish, unselfish. Unselfish.

Josh Izewski:

That's the word.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. Unselfish. And that's it.

Josh Izewski:

Unselfishly work together and help each other and help me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

But that's what I try to tell clinicians. There should be no egos with what we do. Everybody's gonna have their strengths, everyone's gonna have some things that they're better at than others, and if we can all play off our own strengths to help our athletes, then everybody wins.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. So that was really cool. And then but what was interesting about that is that that since I saw you the week before the marathon, I

Josh Izewski:

I think it was like Tuesday or Wednesday and I was racing that Sunday.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. Wasn't even a full week.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Like five days before and I think it was like that last workout I came in I was like, something's wrong. Yeah. I'm something's wrong. We got five days to maybe figure this out, but it might be not enough time time's out on our side.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. And you were on I mean, you were great about that. I think and I I you know, quite frankly, I was like, okay. I'm gonna do what I can. You had numb at that point, when you were running, you had you had leg you even had numbness down to your foot.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Right? From the so

Josh Izewski:

my down to my toe, down this leg, in my hip

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

When I any like, running and sitting, like, I'd get my toe to go numb when I'm running.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. And I think even I mean, obviously, you guys are so in tune with your striking patterns, but I think you even said, like, even my striking pattern is off. Like, I can just feel

Josh Izewski:

I mean, once you try and the body's gonna figure out how to get the motion or the movement it needs, so Yeah. Then that causes issues, and that's kinda then what happened in the marathon.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. Yes. So we'll get to that. So I but I remember being a little bit torn because I didn't know you that well, and when teach dry needling to other clinicians, there's always this discussion of when an athlete is coming to you right before an event, you kind of have to know how they're going to respond. Some people get sore for longer than others, and I didn't know your body that well, so I had to kind of on the side of caution when we were treating, which was the right move, because the last thing I wanted to do was metabolically tax your body in a way that didn't allow you to run the marathon to your best potential either.

Josh Izewski:

Don't add insult to injury.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So, yeah, so we did what we could, and then I just remember actually, I remember seeing your post after the race, after the New York race, and I remember, and I didn't know you that well, but my heart like wrenched for you because you were so disappointed in your race according to your post.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That I was like, you know, I wanted to really at that moment, was like, I need to help this guy.

Josh Izewski:

Like, I

Dr. JJ Thomas:

just I know I knew that you it limited you from doing your best.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, we only get, you know, three two, three chances a year and with a marathon, I mean other races you can race many times but a marathon is two, three times a year and you know, you put twelve weeks in, it's like that's your day to go perform, that's your day to get paid. Yeah. That's your day. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

That's your day.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's

Josh Izewski:

your There's only three of them Yeah. In the year maybe and Yeah. It was the second one of the year that did not go well. Yeah. So last year I was one of three for marathons.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

But I think, you know, there's always if you didn't learn anything from it, I mean, walking away from it, we figured out a lot and we're able to make a huge turnaround.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So and I think that's I'm glad you said that because one of the things I've been so impressed by with you, which I've told you, but I want them to know, is that, you know, I treat a lot of professional athletes, and most of them do almost everything I say. But Josh, you did literally everything that you have, I mean, to a T everything that we talked about in terms of what we do in here, what you do on your own, what exercises you do, what frequency you do them

Josh Izewski:

in,

Dr. JJ Thomas:

the consistency of it. Like, just a little background you guys, I think the first week I met you, I did have you doing 100 banded squats every day.

Josh Izewski:

Two sets of 10 Yeah. Five times a day.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yes. Two sets of 10 banded posterior chain squats five times a day. Yep. And Josh is still doing those every day. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

In addition to all the other work that we've that I've given him, but but the cool thing is that you you're still

Josh Izewski:

doing Which I have my brother doing now too.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Oh, yes. Let's go. Yes. That's great. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So but that is it is truly that work that you did and the dedication and commitment that you exhibited, which I think partly came from your disappointment from New York. Right? Like I think, I mean you're that kind of person anyway.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean New York was disappointing race, especially knowing where I was going in the fitness that I had.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah, like you had the physical capacity.

Josh Izewski:

And it's just, I think it also too is just a frustration of just like, you know, I have like this big engine and this ability to do this, but there's always something that like comes up or pops up like. Right. And you know, this is definitely one that can be controlled. It's not like it was weather or something you can't control.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Right.

Josh Izewski:

This is like

Dr. JJ Thomas:

When the l five did

Josh Izewski:

not change. Yeah. We there's gotta be someone or something we can do to figure this out so it's not happening at the same time before every race and Yeah. When we identified a lot of the issues and we had specific things and some of the exercises were not ordinary. Not traditional.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Not traditional. Yeah. But they worked. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

And you could even just the one where I'm on my knees and I bring my leg up, it's like, wow, I I can't do that. How do I expect myself to even be able to run

Dr. JJ Thomas:

To run.

Josh Izewski:

26 miles plus the point two.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. And and really really freaking fast, by the way,

Josh Izewski:

you know. Yeah. How do you expect yourself to be able do that if you can't do this simple movement? That was That's not even an exercise, really. I mean, it's just a movement.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It's a regression of an exercise. Yeah. Yeah. So what Josh is talking about is the quadruped knee slide one that we do that's a regression of the frogger hops. So after New York, Josh was like, I'm committed.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

We did the movement evaluation that first time, so I think you already You got a glimpse of the way we do things in terms of whole body movement assessments.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And then I think after the race, you and I connected again and you were like, I'm ready. Like I'm in,

Josh Izewski:

we're We got nothing to do but figure this out. We have hopefully eleven weeks at that point we were thinking.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Which is yeah, I'm dying to get to that point where, so we talked a little bit about the disappointment, but then in eleven weeks you were able to recover from a true L5 radiculopathy with nerve numbness, so the PTs know that's pretty significant. So recover from the nerve injury, and build your mechanics of your body up to a point where you actually even PR'd at this Houston marathon. Yeah. Which is freaking incredible.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

So

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. So let's rewind back to that. So I remember quadruped knee slide one that we did, that was one of the first ones I gave you, and that It was an moment for you. I remember you being like, woah, like I can't My one leg goes up really easily and my other leg doesn't.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And I think what

Josh Izewski:

that I don't remember which one was which, but it

Dr. JJ Thomas:

was I think it was the left that doesn't. I think it was the left hip drive, I think. I actually don't remember either now.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Either way, there wasn't that

Dr. JJ Thomas:

There was definitely one And it's good that you don't remember. Yeah. Because we've taken that deficit, and then built upon it to higher level exercises that still give you that stability pattern that you need.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the hardest part of that specific time coming off in New York was also being like, I also have to maintain fitness so Yeah. We have to figure out how to do all this. Building up, doing all this also while trying to build back my mileage and get in shape to run Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

A marathon in Jan mid June.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

In eleven weeks.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Yeah. And that and I think we didn't actually even start until about nine and a half weeks or so.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. You were just keeping a base because

Josh Izewski:

I was like, just I need to recover for like a week from this race. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It's true.

Josh Izewski:

So it was more like nine and a half weeks of actual PT and strength work.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. I don't know if was true. Yeah. I think I was away too, that first week.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. That it was the first week that because I was down in Raleigh for the first week.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

And then I think that, like, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday when I got we I saw you, so

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. And just so the audience knows, I think really the game changer for your body, and this is we see this a ton in runners, and really all athletes, but especially in runners, is a lot of times that missing link is that stability of the upper trunk.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You know?

Josh Izewski:

Like pecs and shoulders.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And yeah, so you guys, we did a movement evaluation. We did a treatment right before this, and so you'll see in the treatment we did together that Josh, every time he extended with his arms overhead, it didn't move as far as it did with his arms down. So there's still this shoulder piece, but mechanically he looks so much better.

Josh Izewski:

I feel better.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. But we're gonna keep we're gonna keep working those things.

Josh Izewski:

I mean, it's funny too, like, because I remember the one time we were in here, and I was having I think it was just one of I had random day, random workout or something, and it was it might have been, like, December, and I was having, like, hip issues here. Yeah. And we just worked on this pack. Yeah. I think it was the day it bruised.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Oh yeah.

Josh Izewski:

And they're like, that'll fix your hip and I was like

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Whatever.

Josh Izewski:

I trust you. So we're I'm not gonna question it. I know better at this point. The hip was fine then, like, walked out. I mean, I was sore afterwards, but I walked out and it was, running, I feel great.

Josh Izewski:

I'm walking limping to the grocery store now.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. But And that I think that that's the other thing I loved about working with you, is because you or I still love about working with you, is that you don't you just you you hit a point where you're like, okay, I tried so many things for this, and it didn't really change it, so you were completely open to this concept that seemed very, you know, treating areas that seemed unrelated.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, wasn't completely foreign, it was definitely not anything that we had done or I had done in the past Right. To treat any issues and like I said coming off the marathon two weeks ago, even ten days ago

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

Just even like, neurologically, cellularly, I don't know if you can feel that sort of thing in your body Yeah. But if that feels like that now that I'm not like anywhere close to broken down the way I used to Yeah. Like there's no way a week after running a marathon that a week later I'd going out to run 18 miles and be like, oh, was fine. Yes. But they did that on Sunday.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I love that. So Yes. And that's because we're training out of the pattern.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So, like, you're not getting that same overuse because we're training the muscles out of the pattern of running so that you're stronger in the pattern of running.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

How about that?

Josh Izewski:

Which is a different way of thinking about that I didn't all ever think

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

I'm always in this I'm always doing this movement.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So I should train that

Josh Izewski:

movement. Why would I train anything else?

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Right. And I think it's important for PTs to hear that too because I think it's it what I'm what's hard sometimes for clinicians is that when an athlete comes in, and athletes like you are so smart and they're so in tune with their body, that if a clinician doesn't have the confidence to follow the movement, then they're going to fall into that same pattern and just treat the symptoms and treat in the same running patterns rather than out of the patterns, which is really what they need.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

If that makes sense.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, it worked for me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

I don't happen to understand it.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You're like, out of here.

Josh Izewski:

Just have to understand it. Like I said, all I have to do is just run. Yeah. You have to pick up all the piece pieces that I leave lying around behind me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

But all you have to do wasn't run because let's talk about that. Because you would come in and I would treat you when you were in town for a full week, I would treat you two to three times that week.

Josh Izewski:

Mhmm.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And it was not, you guys will see the treatment sessions, they're not exactly a walk in the park. But in addition to that, like you said, we did a lot of strength training, we did a lot of body weight Primal Locomotion stuff.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Tell me, I'd love to hear your perspective on, I do remember that first week when you went home with I'd started you with just the Primal Locomotion stuff, and you're like, woah, this is different.

Josh Izewski:

Well, of the exercises, I just couldn't even, like, do the, like, even my like, my head was not working correct. I don't know. It wasn't not working correctly to even do the movements. Yeah. Because I'm not used to doing anything like that.

Josh Izewski:

You're like, I can do the running movement fine. Sure. But you asked me to do these, the sliding bears, I think

Dr. JJ Thomas:

they were.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Walking. Those were the walking yeah. Yeah. Those were I was like, I I I need a mirror.

Josh Izewski:

I'm having trouble with this one. Yeah. They know, doing them, every day and, you know, a lot of times I'm in my living room just doing them with my dogs licking my face half

Dr. JJ Thomas:

the They're hilarious.

Josh Izewski:

But it, you know, made a difference.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

I think the only days I didn't do them was if I had like a big, big long run day that was like close to 30 miles or so. Yeah. But other than that, that was pretty much every day with the, you know, that's my job, so.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But it still takes still takes commitment. It's awesome.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Then the strength training stuff, that was different too, right? Like, because it's not so so leg heavy focused.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, felt like it was just more like, you know, it's funny because it didn't seem like it was heavy stuff that were like, the strength sort of stuff you would typically do, but like I finished doing it and it's twenty five minutes and I'm like, my god, am Tired. Much rather go run a marathon. Yeah. This is exhausting.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I know.

Josh Izewski:

But just, know, it was also nice too that it's like every day is different. Yeah. So you're not doing the same thing. So I think that that's, you know, even in running, it's like you gotta keep the body guessing a little bit so you can make

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

Different adaptations. Although the body's gonna make the adaptation be like, I'm figuring out what you're doing, it's easy now.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's exactly right, like to build resilience we have to have exposure to lots of different scenarios and feedback and input and responsiveness. And I didn't say what we did with Josh, you guys, is we had you on the app, on the Primal Physical Therapy app for the exercises. And then, but the way we worked that was like, if you were like Which

Josh Izewski:

is great by the way, because I don't have to do, I don't have any timers. I just hit the hit one or two buttons and

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It is so good.

Josh Izewski:

It's good to go.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. It's good.

Josh Izewski:

It just rolls you through everything which makes honestly, makes it a lot easier.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It does. You can just like turn

Josh Izewski:

it I can sit my phone, hit it, and then I'm good.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I love that. And then it but you did a couple times you said, like, if you weren't sure, is my body doing what you want me to, JJ? You would just text me a video. Yeah. Right?

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And and that was perfect.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, I have a tripod, so I can film my well, it's for my dogs, but

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I

Josh Izewski:

love their their training. I also texted the dog trainer to make sure I'm doing it correctly, but I

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You do?

Josh Izewski:

Yes. That's great. So That's great. But, yeah, there was a mean, there's a few, and a lot of times it was once where it's like, after watching, was like, this is what I did. I can feel that I looked like this.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's right. I do remember those conversations. Yeah. You're like, I could feel like I I can't the one, you're like

Josh Izewski:

It was the, like, the push Yes. Those ones. Oh my god. My triceps for I think my triceps were sore for like eight days. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

I was like, I can't do this one again because they're so sore.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

So that's one of those things where, again, like, because runners, because you guys are always in this position, a lot of the strength stuff and the body weight stuff, both both with weights and without weight, that we need to do is get you out of those patterns. And so that's why that particular, that was like inverted press essentially, you guys, and that was hard for you because you had to get your arms relatively overhead.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Your arms are normally here for a really long time.

Josh Izewski:

Think there was another one that we did when I did the when we did the session over FaceTime. It was the one where I was doing like the single leg squat that where I had my knee out.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Oh, pistol squat.

Josh Izewski:

Yes. Those took me like three or four rounds or You actually, I felt

Dr. JJ Thomas:

like you crushed those. Soon as you remembered

Dr. JJ Thomas:

the

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Q through the Didn't

Josh Izewski:

feel

Dr. JJ Thomas:

like Well, they're so hard.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah, because I had to reach out, that was the thing.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's, and that was another one of those things that like, you just trust that the stability patterns, this is the primal stuff, guys, you let the stability patterns start with the shoulders, or the upper trunk, then the pelvis will be stable. But again, you just right away bought in and

Josh Izewski:

I never think. Out. So it was easy. I just had to listen to what you said to do.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I love it. Yeah. But that's not that easy when you feel like so much is on the line.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. But, I mean

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

I trust you.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Thank you. That was fun. Yeah. What so what

Josh Izewski:

do we Well, we're not done yet.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I know. That was fun. I know. We're ready for another one. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's what I know.

Josh Izewski:

We have many more marathons and races to do.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I know. That's So Before we came on before we started recording, Josh and I were talking about his calendar coming up, and I don't know if are we allowed to talk about the calendar too Okay. Good. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And

Josh Izewski:

It's not a secret.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I know. I never know. I think I'm afraid of commitment. So I don't like talking about my calendar too much to people.

Josh Izewski:

My calendar is easier though. It's just it's just three or four dates here

Dr. JJ Thomas:

and there. Yeah. It's awesome. So, yes, you have a couple races coming up.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I mean, we'll have something low key in like February that'll just be like, just kinda some rust from

Dr. JJ Thomas:

the marathon.

Josh Izewski:

Good. And then we'll do the Gate River fifteen k in Jacksonville on March 1. And then the cherry blossom ten miler in DC First Weekend Of April. And then I'll be back up here for Broad Street ten miler first weekend of May. That's great.

Josh Izewski:

A little bit of a hometown race.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It's a good race.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And so what we were talking

Josh Izewski:

A win, that one is also a win that has eluded me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Oh, yes?

Josh Izewski:

So I have to come back. One of these times I have to win it.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

It's gonna be this time. Yes. Yeah. I mean, truly, the trajectory you're taking right now, the mini goal that you accomplished, I mean it's actually I see it as a big goal, I love that you're hungry for more. So I feel like you saw Houston as sort of a mini goal.

Josh Izewski:

It's hard to like run a race. Like what we accomplished in eleven weeks or nine nine weeks really, but eleven weeks between marathons Yeah. Being able to not only run a marathon, come back eleven weeks ready to run it, but also heal, do all this stuff.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And get back on training.

Josh Izewski:

You know, there is and do the minimal amount of training that I did do, I just there wasn't enough days left to getting more fixed. I remember texting before the race and I was like or a few a week before I was like, that workout did not go well. Like, I do not know if I'm gonna be ready for this. Yep. And it was a small PR, but I, you know, I was that's probably my not allowing my weakness maybe, I don't know, allowing myself to be like, yeah, that was good, but

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Well, I think that driven people like you always want more.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Like, I mean, I I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that's how you reach excellence. Yeah. Is that you're I think we have to be I think people who strive for excellence do have to be careful to sometimes, like, be like, okay, good job. Like, God deserves an attaboy.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

But but I think the reason you are so successful is because you're constantly like, okay, what's next? Yeah. But from my perspective, I do I guess I'm so excited for you because knowing from the physical therapy side how incredible that feat that you did, recovering in nine to eleven weeks from New York Marathon with with as bad as your nerve stuff was, literally coming out of that, healing the nerve, healing your body, and then also getting strong enough and resilient enough to be able to PR, even though, as you say, was like, you know, a small PR, but still a PR,

Josh Izewski:

and

Dr. JJ Thomas:

a PR when eleven weeks prior you had, you know, you didn't feel great in a race. It's just what it says to me is that your trajectory is huge because you're committed to that.

Josh Izewski:

It's also nice to see that there's actually, was very happy to say there are so many issues because that means it's like, I didn't come to you and you were like, I don't see anything else. I don't really see anything else Exactly. But you're kinda tapped out here

Dr. JJ Thomas:

and Yeah. Exactly.

Josh Izewski:

I think, know, I know you you think you can run but maybe tone it back a little bit.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

No. No. I think you're

Josh Izewski:

So Yeah. You're because having having the the you know, this bag of tools now to use going forward because I mean, don't I'm not a PT but I feel like eleven weeks is not a lot of time to actually really do anything.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I mean truthfully, like we can't even really expect to see true strength gains in someone until like six weeks. So so what what this says is that we really were able to improve your recruitment patterns in a way that built your performance and your efficiency, and now everything out that's like the foundation. So now if we make an analogy to like a building, we've built this cinder block foundation for you. You've built it yourself. I just gave you the road map.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

But you now have this cinder block foundation that's only gonna get better and better and better

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

With the continued work that you do because you're because you're you.

Josh Izewski:

So Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. It'll be cool. I'm excited for what's to come.

Josh Izewski:

But We did forget I forget forget though that Gold Coast Marathon Australia I was is in in July. I I didn't get I forgot.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I'm so excited. So I wasn't We'll

Josh Izewski:

have we'll have a few weeks post Broad Street, and then we'll have that time. We can come back up here. We can reevaluate everything. Mhmm. You can clean me up.

Josh Izewski:

Mhmm. Yeah. We'll go into that buildup stronger and hopefully ready to go, you know

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. There

Josh Izewski:

and wind down under.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I love that.

Josh Izewski:

So

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah, July's gonna be good. Yeah. With the foundation you have, the manual stuff we do will be great to keep resetting you, but as I said, with the strength you're building on your own, you know, that you should need that less and less. So you're gonna

Josh Izewski:

Hopefully. Guess in an ideal world, I wouldn't have to see you. I know.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

But someday we'll go for a run to you can jog and I'll run. I'll be like, I'm Johnny. Keep up, Josh. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

But They will outrun both of us. I know. Very easily.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. I know. So good. Well, thank you for coming on.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Thank you.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And and I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. I I am too. I think we have a good plan going forward and I think that, you know, I trust a hundred percent what we're doing and I think it's gonna you know, we got three more years now for the next biggest race which will be trials in LA.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Didn't want I'm glad you brought that up because I I would be lying if I didn't say I was thinking about that for you because I if I didn't say if I said I wasn't thinking about that for you because I feel like even let's talk about that real quick because I feel like last trials, you were close. You were eighth. Right?

Josh Izewski:

And I was eighth. Yeah. And even that one, there was still just like a few things. I had come off the Berlin marathon with the similar hip back thing. It wasn't quite as bad then.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. But I didn't really get into training again until about, you know, six weeks. It was about six weeks out. Was over Christmas that I had my first like good work on. I was like, got six weeks.

Josh Izewski:

But even after that, was just like a struggle, like something would pop up here, something would pop up there, I had a bad workout here or there and it was just, know, another felt

Dr. JJ Thomas:

like a stutter start?

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. And then getting to the race, it was, there was a moment in the race where one pack moved away and another pack stayed back and, you know, I need to be right in between for where I was.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

So, it was a good race. I moved forward well and, got eighth, but, you know, I still think that the there's seventy two seconds left out there. That was the difference between eighth and third.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I love it. So Well, you keep keep on this trajectory, you're definitely gonna be there.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah. Yeah. So it's a short trip too out to LA.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

I know. And I can't get there. I yeah. I'm gonna I'm getting there this time.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah. Awesome.

Josh Izewski:

But yeah. But no. Thank you for everything.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Thank you.

Josh Izewski:

Closest thing to the magic wand. So You're

Dr. JJ Thomas:

too good

Josh Izewski:

to me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You're too

Josh Izewski:

good to me.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

No. You you feel me.

Josh Izewski:

I've if someone says I don't have a magic wand, can wave it to you. You do. So because every time I come here, I've gotten I've never walked out feeling I'm sore, but I'm not I'm not I'm you you fix whatever there is going So

Dr. JJ Thomas:

You're the best. Yeah. You working with you is it's it's really rewarding.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Yeah.

Josh Izewski:

Same. So

Dr. JJ Thomas:

alright. Cool.

Josh Izewski:

Alright.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

Well, we'll hug after.

Josh Izewski:

Yeah.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

For you guys, if you have any questions for Josh and I, you know, please reach out. You can, follow Josh on Instagram as well and follow him with Sap Endurance, you know

Josh Izewski:

how to reach And follow the dogs.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

And follow the dogs.

Josh Izewski:

Actually, didn't

Dr. JJ Thomas:

talk enough about the dogs, but anyway, yeah, the dogs are amazing. And

Josh Izewski:

I think that's it.

Dr. JJ Thomas:

That's it. Yeah. We'll talk to you next time. Don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss more awesome athletes like Josh and their stories.