Pursuing Health

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Julie Foucher MD, MS is a four-time CrossFit Games athlete and family physician. Her passion lies in bridging the gap between fitness and medicine to empower individuals to live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Every third Tuesday, she shares insightful content from a diverse lineup of guests, including medical experts and elite athletes.

Episodes

Monday May 25, 2020

2019 Third Fittest Woman Jamie (Greene) Simmonds PH145

Monday May 25, 2020

“I love competing and testing. You know what you were like the last time you competed, or the last time you did this sort of training block… and I just like building on trying to get better. So there’s that. I also like… I know growing up what my parents and my sisters put into me to try to help me build something like that, so it’s not just for me, I’m doing it for them. And also when I compete at different places they come see me. So I don't get to see my Mom, Dad, my sister Becky much, so they always travel over to the Games, or they’ve come to Madrid a few times and the motivation to train, to get them to watch me to compete is motivation in itself.”
- Jamie Simmonds

Jamie Simmonds, formerly Jamie Greene, made a huge splash in the CrossFit arena when, as a relatively unknown athlete, when won the 2016 CrossFit Open.

Since then, she's gone on to compete at the CrossFit Games four times, and stood atop the podium twice: first as a member Team CrossFit Yas in 2016, and most recently, as an individual at the 2019 CrossFit Games.

Perhaps even more remarkably, Jamie didn’t even start CrossFit until 2013. Her background as a gymnast and rugby player helped propel her from a novice athlete to a force to be reckoned with.

Jamie’s journey to becoming the third Fittest Woman hasn’t always been easy: along the way she’s been challenged by a ruptured Achilles tendon, a team disqualification, and a dislocated shoulder, but her commitment to constantly improving herself has shaped her into a formidable competitor.

Jamie is a native of New Zealand, but since 2014 has lived in Abu Dhabi where she coaches and trains at CrossFit Yas. She and I recently caught up to chat about her experience at the 2019 CrossFit Games, what her 2020 training season has looked like so far, and how she stays motivated and committed to her training in the face of challenges.

In this episode we discuss:

What the COVID-19 pandemic experience has been like in Abu Dhabi
Jamie’s childhood in New Zealand
How her Mom introduced her to CrossFit
Jamie’s experience with rupturing her Achilles’ tendon
Her move to Abu Dhabi, and what prompted her to become a CrossFit competitor
Jamie’s training environment at CrossFit Yas
Why Jamie believes she excelled at CrossFit so quickly
The transition from team to individual competition
What Jamie does to train her mindset
Her approach to the 2020 CrossFit Games season
How she met her husband, Elliott
What Jamie does to stay motivated in the gym
The inspiration for her Feel Better Friday tips
How she’s grown as a person, athlete, and coach while at CrossFit Yas
Jamie’s plans for the future
Jamie’s approach to nutrition, and why she likes fasting
What her training looks like while self-isolating
Three things Jamie does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on her health
One thing she thinks could have a big impact on her health, but she has a hard time implementing
What a healthy life looks like to Jamie

You can follow Jamie on Instagram

Links:

Related episodes:

Ep 104 Physical Therapist & CrossFit Games Athlete Amanda Barnhart

Ep 130 - Kristi O'Connell on Training for Joy and Balance

If you like this episode, please subscribe to Pursuing Health on iTunes and give it a rating. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below and on social media using the hashtag #PursuingHealth. I look forward to bringing you future episodes with inspiring individuals and ideas about health every other Tuesday.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for general information only, and does not provide medical advice. We recommend that you seek assistance from your personal physician for any health conditions or concerns.

This post was originally published on May 25, 2020.

Monday May 11, 2020

We Work Until It’s Done: Caity Henniger on Rogue Fitness and its Response to COVID-19 PH143

Monday May 11, 2020

Everybody puts their boots on the same way. And what that means is, it doesn’t matter your title here. It could be the people on our leadership team, Bill and I, or it could be the person coming in their first day on the job on the assembly line...everyone is the same. And everyone is going to be treated the same. And it goes back to that first [value], we work until it’s done. If there are boxes that need to go out the door, or we need to make more barbells, you’re going to see the top leadership down going out and helping right now. We did get overrun before we could hire some people- we have everyone in our office right now, they’re doing shifts on our production floor. And that’s really what this is all about, and you see people getting experiences that you normally wouldn’t have. To go out and build a barbell, and maybe you’re in our IT department, a lot of places you wouldn’t have that opportunity, but we live by that standard. Everybody puts their boots on the same way.”
- Caity Henniger

Caity Henniger has been a lifelong athlete. In high school she led her basketball team to victory in 91 out of 102 games, was voted MVP of the 1998 Junior Olympic AAU circuit, and was a two-time state champion in both shot put and discus. She went on to play collegiate ball at Ohio State where she averaged 15.4 points per game and set the school single-season record for three-pointers, with 106, earning her the Edward S. Steitz Award as the nation's best three-point shooter. In 2005, Caity joined the WNBA as a player for the Charlotte Sting.

After multiple leg surgeries led Caity to retire from basketball, she was drawn to the competitive side of CrossFit. In 2008, with just a few months of CrossFit experience, she took first place at the 2008 CrossFit Games. Caity would go on to become a fixture in the production side of the Games, working as an ESPN commentator and as a representative of Rogue Fitness.

Shortly after Caity's 2008 CrossFit Games victory, she began playing a huge role in helping Rogue Fitness grow from a small e-commerce site to a major powerhouse in the fitness equipment industry. With a focus on manufacturing quality, American-made products from local sources, Rogue now employs over 900 people at their massive 600,000 square foot campus in Columbus, Ohio.

Recently, when Ohio issued a stay-at-home order in response to COVID-19, Rogue quickly pivoted their manufacturing processes to make Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers, a decision that is not only helping to keep healthcare workers safe, but is also helping to keep their local community employed.

I had to opportunity to sit down with Caity to learn more about the mission and values Rogue was founded on, and how those principles are driving their business during this time of uncertainty. We chatted about her days as a competitor, how she balances her role as an executive with her own personal health, and we were even able to steal a few minutes from Rogue's Director of Product Development, Ahmik Jones, to learn more about the processes behind shifting gears from manufacturing fitness equipment to manufacturing PPE.

In this episode we discuss:

Caity’s athletic background
The history behind Rogue Fitness and their partnership with the CrossFit Games
What led Rogue to branch out into manufacturing equipment for other sports
Rogue's new facility and the Industrial Revolution 2.0
Rogue's three core values and how they implement them
The story behind Don’t Weaken
Rogue’s early response to COVID-19
How Rogue came to have a doctor as their Director of Product Development
How Rogue made the decision to manufacture PPE for healthcare workers, and what the development process has been like
Measures Rogue has taken encourage employees to embrace fitness and the positive impact they’ve seen as a result
How Caity manages her time to allow for her own workouts and downtime away from work
The mentors who helped Caity grow into a strong leader
What a typical day looks like for Caity
Stand-out moments where Caity has felt especially proud of the work Rogue is doing
Three things that Caity does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on her health
One thing she thinks could have a big impact on her health but she has a hard time implementing
What a healthy life looks like to Caity

You can follow Caity on Instagram and Twitter.

You can follow Rogue Fitness on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Links:

Related episodes:

Ep 51 - Dick Costolo on Taking Risks and Finding Fitness

Ep 90 - CrossFit Games GM Justin Bergh: The Man Behind the Magic

Ep 101 - Dr. Joe Janesz on Building a Champion Mindset

This post was originally published on May 11, 2020.

Monday Apr 27, 2020

From the CrossFit Games to Pregnancy with Annie Thorisdottir + Camille Leblanc-Bazinet PH141

Monday Apr 27, 2020

“Being a professional athlete, it’s a really selfish lifestyle that you need to lead. You’re number 1, 2, and 3. You think about yourself - it’s your life. Like Cami said, it’s that extra percent that you put in that people don’t see. It’s the sleeping during the night, the recovery in the evening, the food that you eat, the meal prepping, the training. It is everything, it’s the whole package. So, all of a sudden - my body is my work tool and all of a sudden it’s not mine anymore. I’m sharing this with someone else, and my body isn’t going to come first anymore. She’s going to come first, no matter what, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s definitely something that you… It’s weird. It’s a weird feeling. It’s an incredible feeling, but it’s also really, really strange.”
- Annie Thorisdottir

Known as “Iceland Annie,” Annie Thorisdottir is a two-time Fittest Woman on Earth (2011-2012) and ten-time CrossFit Games veteran. With a background of gymnastics, pole vaulting, and boot camp, Annie made her Games debut in 2009 at 19 years old. Since then, Annie has been a staple in our sport and she is known to train hard and always compete with a smile. After placing second in the world in the 2020 CrossFit Open, Annie declined her invitation to the 2020 CrossFit Games as she prepares for her next big event: she and her long-time partner, Fred Aegidius, are expecting their first child in August of 2020.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet began her Crossfit Games journey in 2010, and she has competed every year since, ultimately earning the title of “Fittest Woman on Earth” in 2014. In 2019 she made the transition from individual athlete to team competitor and took home silver as a member of Team CrossFit Krypton. A former gymnast and Level 1 Seminar staff member, Camille has also been a member of the Canadian National Olympic weightlifting team and holds a chemical engineering degree. She and her husband, Dave Lipson, recently announced that they are expecting their first child in September of 2020.

Annie, Camille and I recently caught up for a long overdue chat. We compared notes on how their pregnancies are progressing, talked about how their training routines have changed, and discussed how their experiences as competitive athletes are helping prepare them for motherhood. And, of course, we shared lots of laughs along the way!

In this episode we discuss:

Camille’s intention to retire from competition, and Annie’s desire to compete again
Camille’s pregnancy experience vs. Annie’s pregnancy experience so far
How they shared the news with their partners
How Camille and Annie’s training has changed since becoming pregnant
How every woman’s pregnancy is different and the importance of listening to your body
Lessons Annie & Camille have applied from their competition days to support their pregnancies
What it’s been like to experience pregnancy alongside their exceptionally fit and supportive partners
The lessons they hope to instill in their children

You can follow Annie on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

You can follow Camille on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Links:

Related episodes:

Ep 14 - Camille Leblanc-Bazinet on Moving Forward, Engineering, and Body Image

Ep 57 - Annie Thorisdottir and Fred Aegidius on Team Work and Individual Performance

Ep 81 - Postpartum Training and the Road Back to the CrossFit Games with Lindsey Valenzuela

Ep 82 - Training during Pregnancy and Healing Diastsis Recti with Lisa Ryan

Ep 83 - Pelvic Floor Health for Athletes with Julie Wiebe, PT

Ep 110 - Kara Saunders on CrossFit and Expecting Baby She-Bear

This post was originally published on April 27, 2020.

Tuesday Apr 14, 2020

Stress: The Elephant in the Room with Dr. George Slavich PH139

Tuesday Apr 14, 2020

Dr. George Slavich is a leading expert in the conceptualization, assessment, and management of life stress and it's relationship to poor health. He is the founding Director of the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA whose goal is "to advance the science of stress and health to help prevent disease and improve human health and resilience worldwide."

Since beginning his career as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Slavich has been researching the relationship between stress and health for over 20 years. His area of focus is psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the effect of the mind on health and resistance to disease. By integrating tools from psychology, neuroscience, immunology, biology, genetics, and genomics, Dr. Slavich’s research has provided new insights into the inflammatory response to social stress and helped to pioneer a new field of research called human social genomics. He has also developed the first online system for measuring lifetime stress exposure called the Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN), and proposed a new theory called the Social Safety Theory, which hypothesizes that developing and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental organizing principle of human behavior and that threats to social safety are a critical feature of psychological stressors that increase risk for disease.

Dr. Slavich completed undergraduate and graduate coursework in psychology and communication at Stanford University, and received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. After graduate school, he was a clinical psychology intern at McLean Hospital in Boston and a clinical fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He subsequently completed three years of NIMH-supported postdoctoral training in psychoneuroimmunology at UCSF and UCLA. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, a Research Scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, and the Founding Director of the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. His research has been covered by many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Scientific American, TIME Magazine, HBO, NPR, U.S. News & World Report, and others.

In this episode, we talk about the science behind how stress impacts our body down to the level of gene expression and immune system activation, what type of stressors seem to have the biggest impact on our health, some of the things we can do to mitigate the negative impact of stress, and how measuring stress may improve our ability to address it on a large scale. We also talked about how Dr. Slavich's work provides insight into the current coronavirus pandemic including the impact of stress on chronic systemic inflammation, why we should be practicing physical distancing instead of social distancing, and how best to communicate with others during this time to preserve the protective effects of social bonds on our health.

Bio adapted from uclastresslab.org

In this episode we discuss:

How Dr. Slavich got into the field of stress research and what motivates him
Psychoneuroimmunology: what it is, and how it can be used to study health
What happens in our body when we are exposed to an external stressor
Which types of stressors most negatively impact health
Social Safety Theory
Social genomics
Physical distancing vs. social distancing
Whether connecting via technology can have the same impact as connecting in person
The impact of stress on our biology relative to other lifestyle factors, and what we can do to influence our stress response and reduce chronic inflammation
Tools for reducing the impact of stress on the body: mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy
Quantifying and measuring stress
Three things Dr. Slavich does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on his health
One thing he thinks could have a big impact on his health but he has a hard time implementing
What a healthy life looks like to Dr. Slavich

Links:

A Cold Fact: High Stress Can Make You Sick, Sheldon Cohen
The Media Equation, Clifford Nass & Byron Reeves
Social Safety Theory
UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research
The Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN)
Donate to UCLA Stress Lab Research

Related episodes:

Ep 105 - Sleep, Stress and Brain Health with Dr. Nate Bergman

Ep 116 - How Healing Works with Dr. Wayne Jonas

Ep 135 - Immune System Strength with Dr. Leonard Calabrese

Ep 138 - Pursuing Health Pearls: Our 10 Favorite Ways to Combat Stress and Anxiety

This post was originally published on April 13, 2020.

Tuesday Mar 17, 2020

Immune System Strength with Dr. Leonard Calabrese PH135

Tuesday Mar 17, 2020

“What we’re talking about is systemic, low-grade inflammation where the body’s barometer for this inflammatory response is turned up just modestly. This contributes to a whole host of diseases. Diseases of chronic inflammation that range from type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease with heart disease and stroke, neurodegenerative disease, fatty liver– which is now epidemic in our society– as well as autoimmune disease. So, now these diseases which are non-communicable– you can’t catch them– they are the leading cause of death on our planet right now and they’re being driven by chronic, systemic low-grade inflammation” – Dr. Leonard Calabrese

Dr. Leonard Calabrese, is a rheumatologist, immunologist, and doctor of osteopathic medicine. He is the head of Cleveland Clinic’s Section of Clinical Immunology and manages the Clinical Immunology Clinic. After graduating from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, Dr. Calabrese completed his internal medical training at Cleveland Clinic, followed by a fellowship in rheumatic and immunologic disease.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Calabrese has authored more than 300 publications and become an internationally recognized HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C researcher. He is also passionate about utilizing lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, sleep and stress management to reduce inflammation, control disease, and bolster immunologic function. Based on growing scientific evidence that environment and behavior play a large role in immune function and gene expression, Dr. Calabrese is leading the charge in educating physicians and empowering patients so that they can feel confident in using wellness behaviors to help strengthen their immune function and improve their overall health and happiness.

Dr. Calabrese and I recently sat down to chat about the basics of the immune system and what practices we can implement in our day-to-day lives to reduce inflammation and lower our risk of chronic disease.

In this episode we discuss:

Dr. Calabrese’s medical background and what drew him to immunology
How the field of immunology has changed over the years
The role of our immune system: how it interacts with our body and our environment
How the immune system can become overactive
What inflammation is, and what causes contributes to it
What we can do to reduce our inflammation
Diet, intestinal permeability and their effect on the immune system
The role of diet, exercise, sleep and stress on the immune system
Social genomics and how we can influence which genes express themselves
Dr. Calabrese’s thoughts on the impact of gratitude practice
Habits that Dr. Calabrese implements in his own life to manage stress, diet, exercise and sleep
Dr. Calabrese’s vision for the Immune Strength program and how he hopes to help patients on a broader scale
Three things Dr. Calabrese does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on his health
One thing he struggles to implement that could have a big impact on his health
What a healthy life looks like to Dr. Calabrese

You can follow Dr. Calabrese on Twitter and via his CME courses.

Links:

Related episodes:

Ep 22 – Brigid Titgemeir on Functional Nutrition

Ep 42 – Against All Grain’s Danielle Walker on Advocating, Healing and Celebrating

Ep 78 – Lifestyle & Brain Health with Dr. David Perlmutter

Ep 103 – What to Eat When with Dr. Michael Roizen

Ep 105 – Sleep, Stress and Brain Health with Dr. Nate Bergman

Monday Feb 17, 2020

Healing Through Functional Movement with Dr. Amy West PH132

Monday Feb 17, 2020

What does good movement mean? And what are the principles of good movement? And sometimes people have a hard time articulating that, physiatrists, physical therapists included. Because we focus a lot on, is this person strong, do they pass these … Continued

The post Ep 132 – Healing Through Functional Movement with Dr. Amy West appeared first on Julie Foucher | Reebok CrossFit Games Athlete.

Tuesday Feb 04, 2020

Dave Castro on Changes in Life and the CrossFit Games PH131

Tuesday Feb 04, 2020

Im still the Director of the Games. Im still Director of Training, also. I still have that responsibility to conduct it. I still have a lot of freedom to conduct it the way that I see the direction that I … Continued

The post Ep 131 – Dave Castro on Changes in Life and the CrossFit Games appeared first on Julie Foucher | Reebok CrossFit Games Athlete.

Tuesday Jan 21, 2020

Kristi OConnell on Training for Joy and Balance PH130

Tuesday Jan 21, 2020

We, ultimately- we love CrossFit, but we also view CrossFit as a way for us to be fit and do things outside of the gym. And do them together. We always try to continue reminding ourselves of that, so, in … Continued

The post Ep 130 – Kristi OConnell on Training for Joy and Balance appeared first on Julie Foucher | Reebok CrossFit Games Athlete.

Tuesday Jan 07, 2020

Improving Your Fitness from the Ground Up: Nutrition Basics with Nicole Aucoin PH129

Tuesday Jan 07, 2020

I believe something as fundamental as nutrition shouldnt be complicated, and if you keep it simple, and you help people make changes, and you encourage them and find bright spots- find positive things in what theyre doing Theyll make those … Continued

The post Ep 129 – Improving Your Fitness from the Ground Up: Nutrition Basics with Nicole Aucoin appeared first on Julie Foucher | Reebok CrossFit Games Athlete.

Tuesday Dec 24, 2019

Dr. Jeffrey Geller on Loneliness and the Power of Groups PH128

Tuesday Dec 24, 2019

But if my model works, I am positive people can copy it. And group visits certainly have been part of the solution. You see a lot of patients, you provide more services, you overcome barriers, you do it in a … Continued

The post Ep 128 – Dr. Jeffrey Geller on Loneliness and the Power of Groups appeared first on Julie Foucher | Reebok CrossFit Games Athlete.