Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Summary
On episode 151 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Brad Beer, a physiotherapist who has worked with thousands of clients, including professional athletes and Olympians, and runs an award-winning clinic on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Brad’s book lays out a five-step method for running without injury, built from eight years of clinical work helping runners of every level get back on the road and stay there.
The conversation covers why running pays off well beyond cardio, and walks through the first and most critical step: actually understanding your own body before you touch a training plan or a pair of shoes.
Links
- https://running.physio
Key Takeaways
- Running adds real years to your life, even at a modest dose. A 2014 study of 55,000 people found regular runners, including those doing just 20-minute jogs, had a three-year increase in life expectancy over non-runners.
- Running’s benefits go well beyond cardiovascular health. The research Brad cites links regular running to lower risk of stroke, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and clinical depression, plus better cognitive function.
- Brad’s five-step method for pain-free running: discover your running body, run with good technique, choose the right footwear, build hip stability, and prioritize rest.
- Don’t skip straight to the shoes. Understanding your own body first, your mobility type, frame weight, and movement patterns, determines what training and footwear will actually work for you.
- Genetic mobility falls into three rough types. “Floppies” are hypermobile and generally need more strength and stability work, “stiffies” have low mobility and benefit more from stretching, and “flippies” sit in between.
- “Frame weight” matters for injury risk. Carrying weight beyond what your skeletal frame is built for adds stress to joints and discs, something Brad experienced firsthand when 10 kilos over his frame weight left him with chronic back, neck, and knee pain.
- A running screen identifies specific weaknesses before they become injuries. It’s roughly a 10-point physical assessment covering things like quad and hamstring length, calf endurance, hip rotator strength, and single-leg hop and squat tests.
- Rest is a core training principle, not an afterthought. It’s one of the five steps precisely because athletes and fitness enthusiasts most commonly get it wrong.
“There’s three types of people that inhabit the earth: flippies, floppies, and stiffies.”
Brad Beer