The Redefining Fitness, with SassFactor Fitness Podcast serves a growing community of masters athletes, adventurers, fitness enthusiasts, and First Responders seeking to get reconnected with themselves in order to restore optimal fitness, without pain.
If you’ve been injured, ill, suffer from chronic pain, are overworked, or otherwise had life interfere with your fitness and you want it back, this podcast is for you!
I’m your host, Cyn Sass, a former competitive athlete turned fitness enthusiast and first responder. I too have experienced serious injury, been out of shape and demoralized, yet found a way to make the challenging journey back to peak fitness. I am breaking the silence around chronic pain, injury and fitness in the world of emergency services to share my experiences with you with the hope they might help you also.
Subscribe to this channel for information, strategies and tools to help you reconnect with yourself and position your body to its optimal posture for ideal movement efficiency and function. Improve range of motion and flexibility, restore your inner athlete and achieve optimal fitness goals to live the pain free fit life you were meant to live.
Movement as Medicine for Injury Recovery and Pain Management : A Conversation with Dr. Veronica Jow
Are you struggling to find motivation to stay active or recover from an injury?
Injury recovery and physical therapy can be challenging, especially when you're trying to get back to your favorite activities, and particularly after you have been released by your doctor to “resume normal activities,” but you are nowhere near your normal.
In this episode I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Veronica Jow, a medical doctor with board certifications in internal medicine and sports medicine, with over a decade of experience practicing sports medicine in the Bay Area of northern California, and discuss her unique approach to fitness, healing, injury, recovery, and patient care.
Through her work as a collegiate Team Physician at the University of California, Berkeley and into private practice at Avid Sports Medicine, Dr. Jow has helped patients from elite athletes to underserved populations recover through empathy, education, partnership and the concept of movement as medicine. Bringing a system of care usually reserved for elite athletes, to all fitness enthusiasts and people on the fitness journey.
17 May 2023
What Are You Consuming? Answer 3 Questions to Improve Your Functional Fitness Diet
What we feed ourselves has the power to help or hurt us in our fitness journey. Most of us are aware of how the food we EAT might impact us. But are you aware of the OTHER food sources in your environment and how your consumption of them can impact your health?
Tune in to learn 3 Key Questions to ask yourself to ensure your holistic, functional fitness diet is helping, rather hurting, your progress.
Key Moments:
1:14 - Calorie Consumption?
2:30 - Behavioral Change
3:23 - Consumption Question #1
3:40 - Motivational Music and Monologues
6:00 - Sound Affects Temperament
8:25 - Focus Shifts
9:42 - Consumption Question #2
13:15 - All Counsel Isn't Good Counsel
16:15 - Consume Connected Community
17:38 - Consumption Question #3
18:30 - Growth vs Fixed Mindset
19:17 - Consume Faith
20:20 - Read to Feed Mind and Spirit
11 May 2023
Building Foundation: Navigating the Gap Between Post Injury Recovery and ”Normal” Activity
Have you been medically released to resume "normal activities" but are finding yourself still stuck between post injury capacity and your fitness goals?
This episode dives into how to navigate the gap between that point where your doctor releases you to return to normal activity and you're actually BACK to your normal level of activity. There is a huge gap between those two places. And that gap is often the place where active people experience difficulty, pain, re-injury or other barriers to true recovery.
Tune in to learn how you can move from post injury recovery to YOUR level of normal activity, smoothly and as pain free as possible.
Key Moments:
:45 – “The Gap”
2:14 – The Issue with The Gap
8:30 – Standing in The Gap
10:14 – Building a Foundation
13:07 - Movement Patterns That Matter
14:30 - Resilience with Redefining Fitness
17:50 - A Different Way
18:20 - Getting Back to Baseline
19 Apr 2023
5 Quick Tips to Improve Eating Habits
When we start talking about diet, a lot of times the first place that we go is to counting calories and macro nutrients; grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. And it's a good place to start. Especially if you haven't been paying attention to what you're consuming or really need to get a handle on how you're fueling your body, currently, macro nutrient counting is good to track.
But macro nutrient and calorie counting is only one way to deconstruct how we consume food, and the changes we might need to make to change our body composition, lose weight, or better fuel your body for movement and activity.
Here are 5 Quick Tips to Improve Eating Habits and give your fitness program a boost.
Key Points:
*Use a Smaller Plate to Control Portions - 3:22
*Visually Divide Macros into Thirds - 5:00
*Choose Quality Macro Nutrient Foods - 6:00
*Just Eat Real Food: Why GMOs Could Be Problematic - 10:54
*Progressively Stack Dietary Changes - 14:39
14 Apr 2023
Why Are Some Foods Addictive and What Does the Food Industry and Your Emotions Have to Do With It?
Our body recognizes the cumulative effect of what we consume over the course of the day and the week. And it looks for ways to use what we eat to fuel our bodies and is dependent on the quality of that fuel.
The key is to consume the foods that we love, that love us back and fuel our bodies in the way that we need.
Because the flipside is, is that we don't pay attention to what we consume and we become addicted to foods based on the food industry's profit goals. And that is a trillion-dollar industry designed to create and market foods that make your taste buds fire then trigger your brain to respond in the same way it responds to opioids and stimulates, releasing hormones that keep us feeling like we want and NEED to consume more of what they're selling.
Key Points:
*Controlling What We Eat Is More Than Macro and Calorie Counting – 3:28
*What It Means to JERF – 5:37
*When Beef Became “Bad” – 7:50
*What the Food Industry Doesn’t Have to Tell Us – 9:30
*Creating the “Bliss Point,” Your Brain on Drugs – 10:00
*Your Food Is Playing with Your Emotions – 11:52
* Your Emotions are Playing with Your Food – 14:00
*Eat a Better Brand – 18:40
*Better Quality Won’t Break Your Bank – 22:55
*Use the 4D+ Method to Create a Better Habit – 32:55
5 Apr 2023
How To Stay Consistent in a Movement Plan
Have you been wondering why it’s been so hard to keep up consistency in your diet and exercise plan?
You know what to do, but something feels off.
Maybe you feel like you don’t have enough time or energy? Or that you are doing ALL the things you’ve been conditioned to believe will work, but nothing seems to be changing.
In today’s episode, tackles what could be going on and some tangible actions you can take to make change and get that needle moving on your progress.
It may not be what you think, but it DOES work!
*Disclaimer: This is intended for informational purposes and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always check with your doctor before beginning any new exercise or movement programs.
Links to Stretches for Neck/Upper Back
Neck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_TdSVFpLdg
Neck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQr-Rs5ecA
Neck and Upper Trapezius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNTlUaKeuXE
Upper Back Stretch/Exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We9j7uJfWXE
Links to Exercises for Neck Upper Back
Chin Tuck Neck Exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYW0LNH7RdU
Combined Back and Neck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4b9-5W7GI
Scapular Retraction (Back): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmjbLO-L7g
Seated Back Exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M-b1c2spPE
30 Mar 2023
Redefining Fitness For Yourself
Deep down, you know there is more to fitness than what we've been traditionally taught and generally led to believe. You know it isn’t just about just numbers on a people or food scale as energy input and output, as banging of weights, as depriving and punishing myself, you know, even if somehow that felt good.
How you look on the outside is not always an indicator of how healthy you are inside physically, mentally or spiritually. You can look good and still be incredibly unhealthy.
You want to be your best self. You want to reconnect with yourself and to fulfill your fitness potential. You want to restore optimum movement and function in your body to increase your energy, feel good inside, and experience the untapped joy you know is still locked deep down inside of you.
We can't get physically fit until we adjust our mindset and relationship with ourselves so that we can be successful in our efforts. The point is not just to gain fitness, but to sustain it.
You are looking for a way to manage your entire self, your responsibilities, your life, all of that without ignoring any aspects of it. You know that the truth about fitness is that you need to respect and pour into all of you and all of your life, your mind, your body, and your spirit.
This episode is for you!
29 Mar 2023
First Responders Respond to Self First
Today's episode dives into how to find the sweet spot between giving to self and giving to others so that we have the capacity to give to both?
So many times, we give so much to everyone and everything else that we have nothing left for ourselves. And we've all heard the saying, “You can't pour from an empty cup” because when your body breaks down with the inevitable illness or injury, we aren't able to show up in life or to live it the way we wish.
And this is especially true of first responders and other emergency services personnel whose job it is to give in service of others.
22 Mar 2023
Welcome to Season 2 of Redefining Fitness
Welcome back to Season 2 of the Redefining Fitness Podcast with SassFactor Fitness!
Here we have conversations that challenge standard approaches to regaining and sustaining fitness and to understand why we find ourselves stuck in cycles of pain, injury, gaining and losing strength, energy and weight.
This is a community and space where you can discover new ways to reconnect with yourself, restore your inner athlete, and fulfill your fitness potential after injury, illness, or other life events had other plans.
22 Mar 2023
Is Lack of Capacity Holding You Back From Reaching Your Fitness Goals?
Fitness is not bound to just working out. The success or lack thereof, starts with our mind and spirit. And without addressing any turmoil in those areas, NO fitness plan will stick.
Capacity is often a barrier to sustained fitness, not motivation or commitment or dedication, like people tend to say or has been beaten into us by voices all over the internet.
Some of you are packed to your limit with commitments and responsibilities.
Jobs, families, caring for children, or parents, active social lives. You are exhausted trying to do all the things, and be everything to everybody. But when we overload our capacity, we are usually unable to function well, for ourselves OR the things and people we are so desperately trying to be there for. Something has to be released in order to make space for what YOU need.
For YOUR fitness, YOUR health and well being.
When we don’t know what we need to release, we add to an already full plate and capacity gets pushed even more, which is unsustainable, and things start falling off. And the first thing to go is usually the last thing you added because it hasn’t become a habit yet.
And guess what that is?
9 Feb 2022
How Mind and Body Balance Improves Fitness
But did you know that changes in our body balance affects the balance in our mind, our mental health,
and changes in our mental health affect our body balance?
Science shows a relationship between the mind and the body with regard to balance in either.
If we make improvements in body balance, improvements in mental health are evident as well and vice versa.
Several studies show that many times, the reason we may not be able to keep up the fitness regimen we know we need is because we do not have the mental capacity to stay consistent.
Something emotionally or in our minds is holding us back from doing what it is we KNOW we need to do.
It’s not necessarily about a lack of commitment, but the capacity of our minds in the moment.
Improve mental capacity and improve the ability to maintain your program.
15 Jan 2022
Building a Foundation of Fitness - Building Block 1: The Mind
The Mind is a powerful thing. It controls everything. What it focuses on it magnifies and believes. And what we believe we achieve.
What we tell our minds, whether from us or other people, the mind believes over time. And those beliefs can either work for us or against us. What we believe impacts how we show up in situations, including how we show up for ourselves.
With tools and techniques, through neuroplasticity, we have the power to make our brain remap itself and work for us.
6 Jan 2022
Letting Go of Perfection
Are limiting beliefs, hyper focus, or an attachment to perfection interfering with your ability to reach your goals?
Our brain is a powerful thing. What we think affects our behavior. What we believe, we see and achieve.
What we tell ourselves about ourselves and our experiences can help or hurt progress toward our goals. Our ability to to keep perspective and stay focused on the small as well as the big objectives can be the difference between making it all the way, or falling short.
This video discusses some behaviors to watch out for as we enter the new year with intention.
30 Dec 2021
SMART Goals, Because Resolutions Resolve Nothing
This time of year we often think hard about goal setting and resolutions for the new year. But SMART Goals offer a more effective way to set intentions and carry out tasks to reach our goals.
Last year this time, I too was thinking about my goals. This episodes dives into how I applied SMART Goals to return from a near career ending injury, got back to work, added in some adventures and am on my way again to better fitness!
Learn how to use SMART Goals to get back on path and reach your fitness results.
22 Dec 2021
Managing How Chronic Pain Affects the Brain
Have trouble sticking with your fitness plan? Chronic pain may be affecting your brain in such a way that prevents your ability to be consistent.
Long term pain can teach your brain to TRICK you into believing movement is causing pain when there is none. It is a protection mechanism to keep you from further injuring yourself, but after prolonged periods, can start to work AGAINST you in its attempt to help.
Dive into this week’s podcast to learn more about this issue and how to prevent it, or if you are already in this cycle, how to get out of it.
15 Dec 2021
The 3 Building Blocks to Forming a Foundation of Fitness
The 3 Building Blocks are key to helping you shift perspective to create healthy relationships with self, others, food and exercise, restore optimal movement and function in your body, and connect to something bigger to keep you focused when life gets rough.
This is an introduction to strategies, tools, habits, and mindsets needed to integrate into life to place the body in the optimal situation and posture for ideal movement efficiency and function.
15 Dec 2021
Introduction to Redefining Fitness
There‘s more to fitness than just food, numbers on a chart, scale, and clothes, or going to a gym. Our thinking, impacts our ability to obtain and maintain a lifestyle helpful to meeting fitness goals. We discuss the truth about fitness, what impacts it and how to navigate barriers to getting it. The mission of the Redefining Fitness community is to implement methods proven to provide results, reconnect with self and something bigger, fulfill fitness potential and restore the athlete within.
14 Dec 2021
Why Redefining Fitness
This information may sound like what you’ve heard before, but as we dive deeper it’ll become clear that this method is different than anything you’ve tried before. And the results are sustainable and can be easily reproduced if life gets away from us, again, down the road.
The way we think impacts the way our bodies perform, how we exercise, and how we eat. It keeps us motivated, authentic to ourselves and individual preferences, strengths and weakness and uses them to our advantage.
The mind body spirit trinity is key for connection to self and optimal fitness. We can’t get physically fit until we adjust our mindset and relationship with ourselves so that we can embrace positive energy that sets us up to be successful in our efforts.
And we can’t abuse our bodies into submission. If there is an issue with a component of proper movement and mechanics, that issue gets address first in order to place the body in the optimal posture for ideal movement efficiency and function. Only then can our gains take off.
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