You're listening to the PG Pinecast,
where smart people in healthcare come to
make noise.
Here's your host, Jimmy McKay.
All right,
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Sharif and the team over at Empower.
Our guest today has built a clinic in
the heart of New York City that runners
call home.
Yes, runners run New York.
And he's not just treating injuries.
He's reshaping how PTs think about
performance and long-term health,
from founding a running-focused education
company to building a brand trusted by
clinicians and athletes alike.
He's teaching PTs to think bigger and
train smarter in,
am I supposed to be unbiased?
The greatest city in the world.
I said it.
You can agree with me or not.
I'm a New Yorker.
Fight me in the comments.
Vikash Sharma, welcome to the show,
my man.
I appreciate you having me, Jimmy.
Gotham City, man.
That's a great... I mean, good for you.
I've known people who've had clinics in
New York City.
Simple because, hey,
there's lots of people.
Just not easy because, dude,
New York has its own gravity.
It's got its own physics.
So whatever you think New York is about,
go live there for a little while and
all of a sudden you start to see
the world.
It's just different.
It's different, right?
Yeah.
Many,
many different levels to New York City for
sure.
Right.
I think even for me now,
I've been here for fifteen years.
Good for you.
Once you think you have something figured
out.
Right.
Like the landscape of the city just shifts
even pre post-COVID.
Right.
There's just been a huge change in the
landscape of the city and even how we
do business.
You've kind of had to change the process
a little bit, too.
Where are you in the city?
Just to give people some context, like,
you know, the city's not a small city.
Where in the city are you?
Yeah.
So we're right in the heart of Union
Square, thirty two Union Square East.
Right.
Like right in like pretty much, you know,
like right in the center of it.
All the train lines come into us.
The buses all funnel into us.
So very,
very convenient for people to get to us
where we are.
I've had lunch in that park in Union
Square Park.
It's very nice there.
So you say rehab is performance.
I love when people make bold statements.
I love it.
What do most people get wrong about
separating those two ideas when you say
they are they should be tied?
They should be together.
Help me understand that.
No, a hundred percent.
You know, I think kind of, you know,
I think the past few years,
there's been a big push with that too,
right?
I think there's,
I'm sure obviously with you talking to
people,
getting a pulse of the industry too,
you see this a little bit more, right?
People are starting to bridge that gap.
When I first started, you know,
when I first started PTing back in like,
two thousand eleven, twelve,
like once again,
landscape was so different, right?
Like somebody would just get out of pain
and it would be like a little pat
on the butt out the clinic, like,
all right, we're done here, you know?
And then you'd see them a couple of
weeks later because they were like, well,
you know,
I started to try to do this thing.
I went back in the gym,
I started running again.
So we were never really equipping them to
meet the demands of, you know, life,
of what they were trying to do.
So I think, you know,
as time has gone by,
the profession has gotten better.
And I think the other thing too was
before as well, right?
The profession,
did a really poor job.
I mean, it still does,
I think of marketing itself.
And also as like thinking from a business
standpoint, you know,
we were probably one of the few industries
where you had raving fans that like loved
what you did,
were coming in consistently to see you and
you were not giving them any options to
work with you further.
Yes.
You know,
you worked yourself out of a job,
which is cool.
Well,
you've worked yourself out of a problem.
The next question should be,
do you have any other problems?
Tell me all of your problems.
And oh, look at that.
I can help with this one and that
one.
Let me now turn you over here.
So yes, agreed.
Agreed on that one.
Right.
So, yeah,
I think that was like a huge problem.
And I think, you know,
people getting a little bit more business
savvy, starting to realize like, you know,
hey, as a PT,
I am perfectly positioned to help you,
especially now that I've like worked with
you for so long.
I know every little nook and cranny of,
you know, your body, how you move,
what you're like, you know,
preferences are, what your dislikes are,
your personality.
I've developed rapport with you.
I was going to say,
and they know you.
Yeah.
And they like you might like you enough
to want to spend more time with you
if you can.
So I was so jealous of it's going
to sound like I'm telling a parallel story
or I am telling a parallel story,
but I was so jealous of my cousin
when he bought his house.
He had this guy down the street that
was like a handyman and they had such
a great relationship.
He hired him to put a door in.
And the handyman was smart enough to be
like, what's up with that step?
It's sort of like it's loose.
And he's like, I can fix that.
My cousin was like, dude,
I don't know how to fix that.
So he just became his super.
If you're in New York,
super is the guy who fixes everything.
Super comes with the building.
But that added value.
And you can change my cousin's house to
your goals, your body being the house,
which supposedly we're still going to get
one of these, right?
And then I love the fact that you
highlight the fact that somewhere along
the lines, I don't know where it happened,
but we became more savvy that we can
solve more than one problem.
We're more than just a cog in a
process.
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
Right.
So I think, you know,
the industry is definitely starting to
shift in that direction.
You're hearing more people kind of like,
you know,
starting to catch on and talk about that,
you know?
So I think now,
even knowing to know before it was kind
of like, you know,
you would see your performance physical
therapy clinics would be the ones that
would be kind of the only ones where
you'd be able to do this.
You're starting to see like a lot of
your
know cookie cutter franchise high volume
clinics also starting to realize this and
kind of get on the bandwagon a little
bit more but you know i think it's
something where it just makes so much
sense and it really kind of like starts
to help bridge that gap in health care
where you know like there is a big
disconnect a lot of times between mds and
pts a lot of times there's a big
disconnect between pts and personal
training performance as well so i think
you know either pts
getting on board a little bit more and
understanding a little bit more about kind
of like performance or also just,
you know,
developing the right relationships and
making sure that that patient is
continuing on and kind of getting the
right course of care to meet their goals
is really important.
And, you know,
I think there's this more of a landscape
shift at Perfect Stride, even like,
you know, like all of our clinicians here,
we always talk to people about
you know, your health ecosystem.
Right.
It's just the simplest thing that you can
talk to people about.
Just ask a few questions like how many
hours of the night do you sleep?
Right.
Like zero to ten nutrition score,
zero to ten stress score.
It's just those super low hanging fruits
that can just make such a big difference
when we're thinking about
rehab overall performance and providing
more value to the client and also working
with them on a more long-term capacity.
What are your goals, tens, twenty, thirty,
forty years from now?
Yeah.
Why do you think so many people in
our profession are missing the mark or
they could be doing something more
impactful long-term with people's health?
Is it necessity is the mother of
invention?
You're in New York.
Somebody once famous said,
if you can make it there,
you can make it anywhere.
But the people who make it there typically
get real creative and real crafty because
there's no one to come and rescue you,
especially in the timeframe.
There's not a lot of breathing room in
New York, which is part of the appeal,
but also part of the part that makes
it.
So why do you think so many PTs
are maybe missing the mark or could be
doing better impacting long-term health?
Yeah, I mean,
I think it's a great question.
I think a lot of it kind of
just goes back to
our education, right?
You go back to PT school and I
think, you know,
every PT always talks about this too,
right?
Like how much do you actually get educated
on like the business of PT?
Right.
I mean,
I think I know we had like a
little mini-mester for the month of
December.
You have to have like X amount of
minutes or whatever.
How would they measure that for
accreditation?
But
Not a lot.
I mean, I would also say like,
where are you going to put it?
Right.
I want to get the hell out of
here.
Where is it going to go?
But yes, it is important to know.
You got to know it.
Even if you're not going to run a
business,
you're going to be in one no matter
where you go.
Got to know this.
Got to know the physics.
No, a hundred percent.
And I think the other part of it
comes down to like, you know,
being able to provide continued value.
Right.
I think from PT school,
we're kind of taught like, yeah, you're,
you know, you are a physical therapist.
You help people overcome injuries, period.
And I think when you're starting to think
a little bit more now from the standpoint
of just providing more value,
thinking about things a little bit more
from the standpoint of a business,
thinking a little bit more of a standpoint
from how can I maximally benefit this
individual that's in front of me?
I think that's where the disconnect is.
Like people kind of just have that like
hard stop at rehab and they don't realize
the value.
Either they don't have the skill set or
they don't realize they can continue to
keep providing value beyond just like kind
of like the concern or the injury that
somebody is coming in for.
I agree with you, though.
I think the.
And the mindset, the mean, median mode,
I can't remember which,
the middle of our profession is now
starting to say, oh, yeah,
we can do this.
And why aren't we?
I think more people are asking, hey,
I'm not doing this.
Why aren't I?
What's a good reason for me not to
doing it?
And I think a lot of people don't
have a good reason.
So they start doing it.
And that's a great way to grow.
What foundational knowledge are clinicians
lacking right now?
Let's give it,
we have to give it context.
What foundational knowledge are,
PT is coming out of school,
lacking when it comes to treating runners.
There's only so much and PT school is
variable because you might have a
professor who specializes in spinal cord
injury.
So you're going to get a little more
spinal cord and you're going to get
something deeper.
So maybe they've gotten the surface
superficial level of running and treating
a runner.
Where are they lacking and how do they
improve that lack?
How do they get more?
Yeah, I mean, that's a great question.
That's literally why I launched Running
for Life, our continuing education course,
right?
It's trying to help clinicians better
bridge that gap a little bit more because
that's what I just saw so much of
is that perfect stride.
We would see so many clients coming to
us
from you know from other other facilities
where you know it would be that same
scenario of like you know my pain was
gone um and i would try to get
back to training but the individual i was
working with doesn't really fully
understand the demands of training so i
think that's really where the biggest gap
is with a lot of uh new grads
are actually you know more specifically i
think pts that just don't maybe run
themselves as well right there's just a
whole complex
you know,
series of things that you have to think
about.
And this is with any sport too, right?
Like if you're going to go see,
if you're like a, you know,
a baseball player,
like you're going to be better off seeing
somebody who understands the demands of
that sport a little bit better.
So I think with PTs,
that big gap is kind of understanding
you know,
the training demands of a runner, right?
Like understanding how does footwear
impact that?
How do I return somebody safely back to
running?
And like understanding that sixty,
seventy, eighty,
a hundred plus miles a week isn't crazy.
That's normal for the people who have
consistently been doing that for the years
and earn the right to be there and
do that as well, too.
And then understanding how to program
that, right?
Like how do different paces of runs
influence physiology?
How do they influence performance?
How do they influence tissue demands?
So I think there's just a lot of
nuances to that that just don't really get
considered.
And that's where there was a big lacking
in the knowledge.
I went to a friend whose kids do
dance, not just dance,
a very specific kind of dance.
And I never knew there were forty nine
different kinds.
There's a million kinds of dance.
Right.
And I remember she was I was going
to go to a dance competition with her
and the kids.
And the idea there was she was like
bracing me for this is a little crazy.
It's a little weird.
There's, you know,
it's dance and there's judges and there's
coaches, there's dance parents.
And and then we went there and I
am a runner.
And we got there and I was like,
yeah, the outfits are different.
This is a race.
This is a triathlon.
It's all the same kind of weird.
There's a different language.
There's a different expectation.
Like a kid dancing for Irish step dance.
them dancing X number of hours a week,
what they were doing.
They're like, I know it's probably crazy.
I was like, have you seen runners?
Have you seen cyclists?
Have you seen swimmers?
Have you seen tennis players?
Everybody thinks they're this own little
weird niche and they are.
It's just, it's a different kind of weird.
It's choose your heart.
It's,
it's these things and not knowing the
language,
not knowing the intricacies of
you're missing that mark.
You've skipped one of the very first parts
of being, in my opinion, a good clinician.
You have to achieve understanding.
Can you be a great running PT and
not be a runner?
I think you probably could,
but you still got to know a lot.
You don't have to actually do the thing.
I don't know.
What do you think?
You're the expert.
Am I wrong?
No, I think I'm a hundred percent.
There's plenty of great coaches out there,
you know, that, that don't,
don't run themselves.
It's just like, you know, they,
they do what they do and they do
it really well.
Right.
They've like dedicated a large majority of
time to understanding this,
perfecting their craft,
understanding the nuances of it.
So I don't think you necessarily have to
be,
I think sometimes it can help a little
bit, even a lot of my clinicians here,
right?
Like they don't, they,
they're not necessarily runners,
but I'll tell them, Hey, you know what?
Like what I'd love for you to do
is just
get the experience,
like go train for one half marathon,
just go through the experience,
understand the little like demands of it,
understand like, you know,
the things that you find difficult,
understand just like the little things
about like lining up in the corrals on
race day, like, you know,
the feeling of that, like, right.
Yeah.
So I think just kind of having that,
like, you know,
a couple of little experiences,
you don't have to be a runner.
And I think the more you're just dedicated
to understanding that and, you know,
educating yourself, that's like where,
you know,
that's where it really comes down to.
I think step one,
and I think I told this to a
student just this past weekend at an APTA
New Jersey event was,
if you want to build rapport,
step one is,
Make sure the other person can feel that
you're interested.
And step one in interested is,
are you asking questions?
Yes.
Are they the right questions?
They would say there's no stupid
questions.
That's fine.
I think there are, but keep going.
There are the wrong questions.
I always appreciated when a good coach or
a good fellow PT,
after I had a race, they would,
in my opinion, it's all opinions,
all subjective.
one of the right questions after a race
is, how'd you feel?
Instead of what was your time or where'd
you place?
Those are down the line.
You can ask those things.
How'd you feel?
Like to me,
it's so open-ended and gets the person
talking about whatever they think is most
important.
So how'd you feel?
And then shut up.
They're going to tell you where either the
bads or the goods were from that race
or that experience.
And I love when I hear people answer
that question.
How'd you feel?
And they're like, oh,
No, that's spot on.
I love that.
Yeah.
Always, uh, like always kind of have like,
I love that quote too, right?
Two ears, one mouth.
Yeah.
Use it proportionally.
Yep.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Right.
The more you just sit there,
like the more you kind of just find
those right questions to ask,
like everything you need to know will be
kind of, we'll come to you, you know?
magically the right information shows up
that was always so amazed when I was
in like a student and I'd watch maybe
it wasn't always my CI but it was
other clinicians in the room and you're
watching whose style and you're like oh
all these people are PTs that's the same
thing they're all doing it so differently
and then watching some PTs who would I
don't like barely talk
They'd just be so efficient with their
words,
not because they didn't want to talk,
but they understood using six words
instead of sixty six words was their
version of better.
And I was like, huh, that's interesting.
They're all doing the same thing that
you're doing it so differently.
It was cool.
There's no right.
There was just right for you kind of
idea.
Yeah.
Right.
And I think then part of it, too,
comes down to something I always like
mentioned,
especially to a lot of like my newer
grads is right.
Like as a PT,
our role is to like be that chameleon,
right?
Like each and every individual that's in
front of us is going to have a
different story,
a different learning style.
And you just have to be a chameleon
and be able to understand that individual
and then being able to adapt to those
things that are best suited for that
individual, too.
Yeah.
People want to be opposite.
People want to be seen,
heard and understood.
So that's the idea there.
let's talk strength when i started running
uh i didn't have to take a test
i just bought shoes and i literally just
went outside i was like i don't know
uh i ran in gym class didn't really
know what i was doing but i decided
somewhere along the lines i was gonna be
a runner i'm using air quotes and then
i just like ran for a while and
then i was like i feel like i'm
done and along my running journey um this
is way before i was ever looking at
pt i didn't i looked at like so
if i want to be better at running
i should do more running
And strength now, looking back, is like,
well, I was a little stronger.
Running might have been different, right?
Yeah.
Why is resistance training so often
overlooked for people like me or people
even not like me who do that?
And what can PTs do better?
So first of all,
why do people like me who are just
like, I don't know,
I just bought sneakers.
Now I'm a runner.
I've just decided.
Why do we often overlook that for runners?
And how can PTs,
to use your phrase before,
bridge that gap?
Yeah, I mean,
I think a lot of it does go
back to, you know,
just the industry and education itself.
I think previously there wasn't really
much of an emphasis placed on it.
Like, you know,
the research wasn't necessarily there kind
of like, you know,
to kind of support that claim a little
bit more.
But I think in the past decade,
fifteen years,
there's been more and more research coming
out,
more and more like systematic reviews,
meta analysis that are kind of supporting
those claims about strength training,
helping reduce injury risk,
helping improve running economy.
So I think now more and more people
are getting behind that, too, as well.
So I think that was first kind of
where that's where people were missing the
mark a little bit.
um and then you know now it's just
kind of i think that the tough part
for a lot of runners also is is
like you know hey i i'm a average
joe i'm not a professional runner that
does this for you know for income i
have a job so i'm working x amount
of hours i have you know like whatever
it might be i have a significant other
i have a social network
I have children and then I'm trying to
run a marathon and you're telling me I
need to run four to five times a
week maybe.
And now you're telling me I need to
also strength train as well, right?
So I think that's part of where also
it's just like, you know,
that part of it makes it tough for
people where it's like another layer and
complexity to the puzzle of having to
figure out where do I put this into
the mix as well.
So I think that kind of was also
like a very big limiting factor for people
on top of that too.
And usually that's the first thing that
falls, you know?
So that's something I think,
we really work strategically with that
perfect stride with a lot of our runners
is understanding that like hey there might
be ideal this is what the research says
right like yeah and we we understand that
and that's an ideal scenario but let's get
realistic and understand like where you
are what time do you have to offer
what are your life demands
And then how do we work with you?
Right.
So like maybe as the demands of training
for running go up a little bit,
we have to find those nuances of like,
hey,
we understand that if we drop down like
the frequency of your strength training,
you'll still maintain the gains that you
made earlier.
Maybe we understand that as you're getting
into the gym,
little nuances of like maybe we can pull
the lever on doing less single leg work
and doing more double limb work.
So that way you're spending less time in
the gym on top of that as well.
Maybe we can kind of start to reduce
the number of exercises that you're doing,
excuse me,
and then that we can still maintain the
gains that we've made as well too.
So we really try to kind of like
work with people to kind of like find
those barriers to entry for strength
training and make sure that they're kind
of still able to keep up with what
they've been doing.
So I think that's a really,
really important part of it.
Yeah.
What's the best exercise to do?
Well, the one you're probably going to do.
And before that,
the one you understand why doing this will
get you that.
I need you to draw a straight line.
This will help you go faster,
make you more resilient, prevent injury,
like make sure you understand why the
juice is worth the squeeze.
So you got to squeeze and you get
juice,
but make sure I understand why the juice
is worth the squeeze.
And now the other big part of it
too, right?
I think is like strength training in
general too, right?
Like we know starting the third decade of
life,
you naturally just start to lose power,
strength, muscle mass,
all things which are really, really,
really important predictors of how well
you'll be moving, feeling,
living later in life as well too.
So I always tell people strength training
is one of those non-negotiables as a human
because it's going to build a better
whatever, right?
Insert X into the mix.
If you are doing fundamental sound
strength training,
you will be better
baseball throw you will be a better runner
you will be a better you know parent
you will be a better human because you
are building that capacity to be able to
engage with your environment and you know
handle your day-to-day tasks and whatever
life throws at you better as well yeah
uh so you run a clinic and an
education company and treat patients
How do you do that?
My original question when I wrote it down
was going to be,
how do you do that without burning out?
But maybe I answered my question.
Is the mix of the different things that
are similar but not the same,
is that something that helps you stay
energized and avoid this thing we don't
like to call burnout,
but we do call burnout?
Yeah,
I think that you hit the nail on
the head there.
It's really important.
I think that diversity helps a lot,
being able to get on your different hats
and think a little bit differently and
have different challenges that you're
working to.
So there's not just the monotony of just
the same thing over and over again.
I think that's a really, really big
part of it,
but then I think another really big part
of it is I love what I do.
That helps, man.
It's often overlooked,
but I really like this,
which makes me like this.
Weird, but it does work.
It's weird how that works.
So it doesn't feel like work.
I think that's the rule.
I think as long as it doesn't feel
like work to me,
I'm totally fine putting my head down and
grinding.
And it doesn't mean that it's not
difficult.
The weight is still the weight,
but if you like lifting that way,
it's why I say what somebody told this
to me and I'm just requesting,
what's the best exercise to do?
Well,
the one you like to do would be
good.
If I said to someone,
start running and they don't like running,
that's a horrible suggestion.
So the question should be,
what exercise should I do?
What do you like?
I can figure out how to make that
difficult or modify.
That's the superpower of one of the
superpowers of PTs.
It's like painting ceilings.
Got it.
We're going to make the brush heavy.
We're going to figure it out,
but the activity should be person
dependent.
People visit New York.
And then all of a sudden,
because I lived there, was born there,
moved away,
lived there for a number of years.
I was on the Upper West Side.
And then whenever people would visit,
it's like if you have a pickup truck
and then you find out someone's moving,
they call you.
When you live in New York and people
are visiting, they're like, okay,
where do I eat?
Where do I visit?
Let's take that out.
You can throw in food if you want.
But if a runner is going to come
to New York...
Runners are weird.
I can say that because I am one,
but we want to run and we want
to run here.
What do I want to do here?
I want to run here.
I'm going to do the other stuff too.
Where are some cool spots to run in
New York that maybe are overlooked?
Where is a place that's maybe you're like,
yay, this is a secret.
This is where only insiders know.
Where are some good spots to run in
New York in case someone's going to go
from your perspective?
So my perspective, so you have your like,
you know, you have your known spots,
you have your Central Park,
you have your Prospect Park,
you have your West Side Highway, right?
I think those are kind of like the
bread and butter of like your new workers.
Google that, you got that.
I want the non, don't make the list.
So I think some of my favorites are,
you know,
I love I think the bridges are really
fun to kind of run a Brooklyn Bridge.
I think, you know,
it's kind of like Times Square.
You avoid it because it's just there's a
lot of tourists there.
But the Manhattan Bridge out of all my
the bridges is my favorite because it's
the least trafficked and you get great
views of the city.
I love kind of doing a little loop
that brings you through Brooklyn out
towards like Red Hook a little bit more
as well.
You kind of see like different parts of
the city going out that way.
So that's always a fun one for me
as well.
There's some routes kind of bringing you
down through like Long Island City and
Astoria,
which you got to get down on the
river, which I think are really,
really fun routes to be going through.
When I used to live on the Upper
East Side,
I used to go out to Randall's Island
as well.
I enjoyed kind of getting out there a
little bit more.
But for me, you know,
like where I am right now,
I'd say probably like
Ninety percent of my runs are on the
West Side Highway just out of convenience.
But yeah,
I'll kind of hop on the Manhattan Bridge.
I'll get out.
I'll go out towards Red Hook.
Sometimes I'll hop on the train and I
will get up to Central Park again or
I will try to get up to like
Randall's Island just because I like the
idea of just being a little bit more
secluded and not having like, you know,
throngs of people even this past weekend
it was warm here right so there's times
on the west side highway where there's
just so many tourists there's so many
people just doing their casual walks where
as a runner you have yeah exactly right
then you're coming up behind them and
you're having to stop walk until you can
kind of like you know circumnavigate them
and then you can start running again
Yeah.
So many nooks and crannies.
I know that Central Park is always going
to be up there, right?
By all means, go.
The cool things I liked about Central Park
and now with people creating websites and
whatever, there's so many weird,
hidden things in Central Park.
Like little like there's, you know,
concrete animals that are put there and
then there's a story behind it.
So like, by all means,
go do a couple laps in Central Park,
take the selfie, you know,
go to the boathouse, whatever.
Do weird stuff.
There's weird like and it's not that's the
thing about it.
It's like this little hidden thing like
this park in the middle of the city.
There's hidden things in it.
Go walk around after you're done with the
run.
Great place.
But yeah,
that is probably your Times Square.
Times Square, horrible place to run,
right?
I mean, you're not going to run.
You're just going to walk and be annoyed
by people.
But yeah, walk through there,
but go run somewhere else.
Randall's Island's a good one.
Yeah, Times Square,
I remember the one time that I actively
sought out Times Square was in the middle
of COVID.
That was cool then, right?
Very weird, right?
Because it felt like a post-apocalyptic
movie where you're like,
I shouldn't be able to stand here with
no one within a hundred yards.
It was creepy.
It was very bizarre,
but I would actually actively seek that
out because I was like,
this is probably the only time in my
life where this is going to be like,
all right.
I was like running in the middle of
the streets through Times Square.
Yeah,
you and I were probably there on the
same day,
but we were probably the only people.
That's funny.
Only people.
We're going to play a game.
You ready to play a quick game?
I didn't preface this.
You got to think on your feet,
but a running PT is ready to do
that.
You ready to play a game?
Let's do it.
We're going to play a game called Stride
Right.
I'm going to hit you with a rapid
fire round.
Short answers only.
Find out how you stride right.
This is all personal preference.
Treadmill or trail?
Which would you prefer,
treadmill or trail?
Trail.
preference trail, um,
utility being in nature.
I love that part of it,
but in reality here in New York,
that's probably true.
You know, it's treadmill,
but trail would be where you're living.
That'd be great.
You know?
Yeah.
I'm up the Hudson, uh,
best underrated strength move for runners,
best underrated strength moves.
A lot of, you know,
moves that people know about what's what's
under the radar.
I tell all my runners that if you
had one muscle group to train as a
runner, uh,
it would be your plantar flexors, right?
Like your calves.
The calf complex is gold when it comes
to running economy.
And that's where people need to be
training that and they need to be training
at high intensities.
Okay,
I'm gonna start doing heel lifts right now
as I do the rest of this interview.
Worst thing a PT can say to a
runner.
What's the worst thing a PT can say
to a runner?
think the worst thing that you can tell
i think honestly like athletes and runners
in general is like you're having to shut
it down right that's probably gonna be the
worst thing that you can say i think
that the way to flip the script is
this is what you can still be doing
right like there you always have to find
what you can still be doing because why
is the answer absolute rest why is shut
it down so wrong i have my opinions
but like i think we're probably aligned
from how you're talking why is hey shut
it down why is that such a bad
idea
I mean, I think A,
just from like a physiological standpoint,
right?
Like you want to maintain as much as
you can through this process of rehab to
keep that person at the highest level
possible.
So that way,
when they are ready to get back to
what they need to do,
it's not like they've had this huge
decline in capacity that they have to
build back up again.
And then from the psychological standpoint
of it too, right?
Like,
lot of runners this is their identity
right they've built this identity whether
it's performance social whatever identity
they have yeah exactly right so and if
you're taking that away from them you're
taking a piece of that individual away
from them and from you know from a
psychology standpoint that's not so great
so i think re having to rephrase that
is really really important to have them
understand that we're still doing things
we're still going to be like you know
working towards these goals and staying
very very active
But this is how we're going to do
it.
And then also being very clear about we're
going to get you back to what you
were doing at one hundred and ten percent
as well.
Plus,
they're probably not going to listen to
it.
They're going to just do it anyway.
So you might as well give them something
to do.
Say do nothing is not good because now
I don't know what to do with myself.
Give them something less than to do.
So, yeah,
saying that probably one of the worst
things.
One book every PT should read is there.
It doesn't have to be clinical either.
But is there a book, a biography,
anything?
What's a book that you think every PT
should read?
Look, every PT should read that.
So that's,
I might throw a couple up there.
Um,
I would say one that I love a
lot.
I grew up, uh,
I grew up in like the hospitality
industry, you know,
my parents were immigrants.
They opened an Indian restaurant.
I was like serving tables when I was
like eight years old.
Um,
So I've always thought about things from
the standpoint of being in the hospitality
industry.
And I think physical therapy is in the
hospitality industry.
You are working one on one with an
individual in front of you.
You're meeting their needs.
You're kind of working to cater towards
what they need and get them better and
work towards kind of like an outcome.
So I think that's the book,
Unreasonable Hospitality,
which has gotten, you know,
I think really famous in the past few
years.
I love that makes you think a little
bit more differently about how we operate
as PTs,
the business of PT a little bit more
too, right?
Going from that like typical PT clinic
stale environment to kind of thinking
about how you can be a little bit
better from the standpoint of just like
how you're providing the service as well.
So I think that's a really great book.
um and then the book my most book
read in life my most read book in
life yeah there we go that came out
right that way is uh eckhart tolle a
new earth um he's a guy that did
the power of now so it's just a
different book that he has a new earth
and i think it's just really good for
everybody it kind of thinks it really
breaks down the ego the many different
levels of the ego how it manifests so
many different ways
And just like from day to day
interactions, you know,
just kind of thinking about how staying
present can kind of really just help you
manage so many different situations.
And I think even as a PT,
it's helped me be so much better as
well.
Love it.
New York food spot.
Every out of towner should hit.
This is where you got to do the
food rec.
Oh, you're killing me on this one, man.
There's just so many.
It's just never ending.
Fire away.
So I think, you know,
I like Apollo Bagels is up there for
me.
I love that a lot.
And then I'm kind of in lower Manhattan,
too.
So they opened one down here.
And then there's also a place that's like
been here for a while called Leo's Bagels
that I like a lot, too.
Yeah,
but your parents owned an Indian
restaurant.
So where's your Indian restaurant in New
York?
You've got like your standards are through
the roof.
So what's an Indian restaurant in New
York?
Yeah, so I think my favorite,
just more traditional,
like especially our usual takeout spot in
the neighborhood is there's a place over
called Banaras,
which I like on Murray Street.
That's our kind of like local spot.
But then right now,
I think Indian food is having its like
moment in the country where it's really
coming on.
It's really kind of up and up right
now.
You're seeing a lot more of it popping
up all over a lot more.
fusion modern indian so it's been fun just
in new york city because we're at the
epicenter of it just being able to go
out and like try these like newer places
that are kind of experimenting with the
cuisine a little bit too so that that's
been really fun love it all right you're
off the hot seat that uh was stride
right uh last thing we do on the
show is called the parting shot this is
the parting shot one last mic drop moment
no pressure just your legacy on the line
Definitely want to thank our friends at US
Physical Therapy,
nationwide network of clinics focused on
developing clinicians,
not burning them out.
Leadership tracks, mentorship,
career growth, and stability.
Build your future in PT.
If you want a place that supports how
you practice, that's USPH, USPH.com.
It's USPH.com.
All right.
Floor is completely yours.
Or the track, the track, the trail.
It's completely yours.
Last thing you want to leave with the
audience of fellow PTs,
what would you want to leave as your
parting shot?
Ooh, leave is my parting shot.
I think something,
just for thinking about new grads,
I think something that's really important
to understand is as a new grad,
I see it all the time with our
students that come in,
you are underprepared for being in the
clinic, right?
Just get used to it.
I mean, it is what it is.
You're not going to be ready for the
real world.
And I think a lot of students that
we see really struggle with that,
thinking that they're not quite there.
Why am I not doing what I'm supposed
to be doing at this point?
Most the key here is that you need
to stay motivated,
you need to stay hungry and you need
to understand that ninety something
percent of your learning is going to
happen after you graduate and it's going
to stay.
It's going to come from you asking
questions and still just kind of like
having that passion to continue learning
is where you're going to become the best
PT.
So just understand from the get go that
you're going to be in a place where
you're not
you're not going to be great.
From a clinical standpoint,
you're going to be at a place where
you have a lot of growth.
I think just being able to develop great
rapport with your clients is going to
bring you levels above other people.
And then just staying kind of inquisitive
and just making sure you're learning,
taking courses,
having mentors is going to be that thing
that's really going to bring you to that
place where you feel better equipped.
I've been doing it for fifteen years.
I still feel like I have so much
more to learn.
And I think that's just from that desire
to continue to just keep being better as
well.
Yeah.
Love that.
If people want to get in touch,
we'll put it in the show notes,
but just, you know,
is there a website or people are like,
Hey, I'm in New York alone.
I want to grab a bagel,
go for a run.
Where's the website for the clinic that
you want to send them?
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
You can go to perfectstridept.com.
Instagram is perfectstridept.
My personal professional is vakashsharma
dpt.
And then our continuing education course
is runningforlife.education is the handle
for that one.
If you wanted to upgrade,
this is just a communications guy.
You could change this,
keep your running course,
but also like a post-apocalyptic zombie
breakout running for your life.
You know what I mean?
That's one of the rules in the zombie
movie.
I appreciate the insight.
Thanks for doing what you do and learned
a lot.
And I'm going to hit some of those
running trails in New York.
Appreciate it, man.
All right.
Appreciate it, Jimmy.
Awesome talking to you.
If you're in the city,
let's grab a run together, man.
I'm down.
Don't threaten me with a good time,
but slow down for me.
That's it for this one,
but we're just getting warmed up.
Smash follow, send it to a friend,
or crank up the next episode.
Want to go deeper?
Hit us at pgpinecast.com.
Or find us on YouTube and socials at
pgpinecast.
And legally, none of this was advice.
It's for entertainment purposes only.
See, Keith?
We read the script.
Happy now?