Exploring the Mind-Body Connection and Holistic Health in Fitness | Trainers Talking Truth

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On this episode of Trainers Talking Truths, Jenny and Dan delve into the journey of Peter Twist, who started in fitness and worked his way up to coaching in the NHL and national teams for the summer and winter Olympics.

Podcast Introduction:

Welcome to Trainers Talking Truths. This is an ISSA podcast dedicated to exploring the fitness industry and uncovering the whys and hows of personal training. To do that, we'll talk directly to the industry experts and certified trainers. We'll dig into fitness programming, business tactics, nutrition, and more. You'll even hear from current training clients who offer insight from the other side. We've got the fitness industry covered. So turn up the volume and enjoy the drive.

Jenny Scott:

Hello, world. Welcome back for another ISSA podcast. Dan, I feel like it's been forever.

Dan Duran:

It has. It has. Good to be back.

Jenny Scott:

I know. Okay, so maybe not forever for you guys because hopefully you've listened to every episode we've ever put out. But I'm super excited about today's episode. I know that's your line, Dan, but I am very excited. It's good to be back and be talking about some things that hopefully you guys can take actionable steps with, and actually implement into when you're working with clients, or maybe give you something that maybe you want to research and learn a little bit more about. Now, Dan, you actually know our guest. Can you give us a brief rundown on how you know our guest, Peter, today?

Dan Duran:

I do. I am super excited to have Peter Twist here today. And I know before we started recording, I was trying to play back the first time I actually met him in person. And I think it was in London about 10, 12 years ago. But as I mentioned pre-recording, Pete was my first man crush in the fitness industry. And my wife and I were both crushing on him. Yeah, I'm going to say it, Peter. Y'all can't see it whether or not he's turning red.

Peter Twist:

I got it with both of you. Yeah.

Dan Duran:

But just a pioneer in our industry. And during this interview, we're going to get the opportunity to learn why I say that. And if we don't hit on everything that I want our listeners to learn about, I've got a few questions of my own that I'm going to drop in there just to keep us all thinking. So thank you, Jenny, for teeing this up.

Jenny Scott:

Absolutely. Well, yes, let me give a quick background about Peter, you guys. He's a renowned expert in the field, like Dan just said. He's done research and writing for decades. And he's been dedicated to exploring brain-body connection, 3D movement skills, which we'll talk about today, mindset, motivation, and holistic health.

He has an impressive background in education. He's authored, get this you guys, over 1,200 papers, 20 books, 44 DVDs, and 22 certification courses. So he is deep in it. He's also coached in the NHL for over 11 years and contributed to the training and rehabilitation of China's national teams for the Summer and Winter Olympics. Wow, Peter. Thank you so much for joining us. Mr. Peter Twist.

Peter Twist:

Jenny, and Dan, and Madison behind the scenes, and the whole ISSA team, thank you very much for having me on today.

How did you get started in fitness and to where you are now?

Jenny Scott:

Absolutely. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey, Peter? How'd you get started in fitness and how did you get to where you are now?

Peter Twist:

Yeah. I think your listeners will appreciate that my journey was not really in fitness, but it was pertinent and parallel to the roots of the ISSA name in sports sciences. So I was on a parallel path in sport which, at the time, was a completely different universe than the fitness industry. And my path was in academia, and research, and strength and conditioning at the university, and pro levels, and so on in that sports science side. And then, bringing that to fitness eventually. I didn't really know much about the fitness industry at that time and over many years. And I was invited to speak at fitness conferences.

And the number one thing that caught me was, there was a kind of a disconnect at the time in how we train, and how we move, and how we perform activities on Earth in gravity. But as well, what really I noted in the fitness industry was the incredible enthusiasm and passion. And in sport and sport conferences, sport science, people are passionate, but it's pretty buttoned down, kind of like a university professor style. And fitness industry was hyped up. People love coming together. And that really spoke to me. And then from there, I had, I guess the timing and kind of the creative thought of positioning and timing.

I introduced the world's first three functional training certifications, which at the time in fitness and in sport, about 50% of people got really mad about that because it was contrarian to everything they were doing. Fortunately, the other 50% had epiphany after epiphany, and just got it. So we kind of went on a rocket ship through fitness on that and started to tie in products. And then, I got deeper into the fitness industry, Jenny, with that education in hand and that following. Then, we introduced BOSU in Canada, TRX in Canada, et cetera. So we're kind of the early adopters with the product tie-in. And it's been a great, great journey.

Jenny Scott:

That's awesome.

Dan Duran:

I love it. And you heard DVDs. Jenny mentioned DVDs.

Jenny Scott:

Yeah.

Dan Duran:

Yeah. And I had some of those. I finally went, "Okay, DVDs." I don't even use a DVD player anymore, but that shows you how far back Pete's been doing education. And Pete, I'm glad you mentioned-

Peter Twist:

I started in the industry when I was four years old.

Dan Duran:

Yeah, you did.

Peter Twist:

To clarify my current age.

Dan Duran:

And I'm glad you mentioned the functional part. Well, quote, unquote. I was not involved at all at that time, but I can remember when you and then some others, the Gray Institute, Gary Gray, and Michol, and so forth started talking about this. You coined link strength, but functional movement and so forth, and how it was boo-hooed and poo-pooed. I remember that. And it's really cool to see that evolution and where we are now.

Peter Twist:

Yeah, it really brought kind of a niche community together. Michol who invented ViPR. His partner Simon was our master teacher and host of our functional training certs on loaded movement and link strength. And so, we were together sort of methodology there and support him. And then, there's been so many genesis. I think when we started, Dan, in a trade show at a conference, there was us and maybe a couple other booths with anything, any product or education that was functional. And now, it's every single booth. So it's been rewarding and meaningful just to see it kind of adopted en masse. And for better or worse, anything that grows in scales, the iterations and quality of it kind of go all over the place. But people are pointed in the right direction, I believe.

With your background in coaching in the NHL and working with Olympic teams, can you share some of the most significant challenges you've faced in these roles and how you overcame them?

Dan Duran:

Absolutely. So let's jump back into the NHL background and how you started, with your extensive background and experience coaching in the NHL. and for the listeners out there, I probably would've needed to know this if I didn't know Peter, the National Hockey League, if I'm not mistaken. In working with national teams, summer teams, Winter Olympics, et cetera, what are some of the most significant challenges you face in these roles and how did you overcome them?

Peter Twist:

Great. I'll mention a challenge that's not really a common challenge or not really a unique challenge because it's everywhere. And I'll just drop really quick for the listeners, so that they believe in what's possible. They believe in themselves. Super quick version. I started out launching some ice hockey camps that turned into multi-directional sport camps, soccer, basketball, football, rugby. When I really started, I had a whistle, and about six cones, and an idea. And that's all I had. And I started running seasonal summer camps. Then, I started the education, started the products out of my garage. And when I started academically, I came out to Vancouver, Canada, and for a little while on campus, I slept in a station wagon.

And I did what I have, do what you have, how things are the way it is right now, and try and take positive strides. Don't wait. And that went to 12 training centers in four countries, product and education distribution to 33 countries, NHL, Olympics, and stuff. But I don't mention those things more except to don't be shy on pointing your compass high and get started. Where you are today doesn't determine where you're going to be five years from now. Believe in yourself. Follow your passion, on the NHL. And then, I was very honored to be selected by the China Olympic program to help modernize their Summer and Winter Olympics. That means modernizing how are they training and preparing, how are they restoring, how are they rehabbing, develop the programming, and then place coaches, therapists, sports med doctors. So massive project.

And I had gone through that before in the NHL as the point in the spear modernizing things. So I'll mention for our time two main challenges. The challenges I had in China. People can think of, well, it's pretty long commute. I was going back and forth couple times a month, and communist society, Mandarin. Out of 8 billion people, I'm the worst in languages. I got that trophy solidified. So, my hope with Mandarin is not great. But those weren't really the difficulties, because in the NHL, we had about eight different primary languages on the team, and guys from different countries, cultures. That's everywhere. And we learned to collaborate, do that well. The two main challenges, [one] is getting people on board.

When you're bringing in something and initiating something, you have a proposal for a health club, you want to bring in new program, and you want to approach things differently. In the NHL and the Olympics, it was the president, the general manager, the head coaches that learn what they know in 1940, and by their coach. And so, getting buy-in. And that's a process.

The other is with the players. And to know who are the key people. And this would be the same as a team within any business or a big health club chain. But in the Olympics and NHL, there's the players. You got to have on board the leaders. You got to get them on board or you're not getting anything accomplished. And that means leaders in the NHL would be, who are the highest paid? It would also mean who are the most skilled. It would mean who are the social leaders. And you've got to have the social leaders of the dressing room on board. If you do that, you're on your way.

If you don't have that, there's going to be two or three players that don't want to buy into anything. And that's a chance to dip into your toolbox, your motivation toolbox, try out different things. Don't shy away from anything. Go to where the heat is. The most difficult situations that you're going to face, that you don't want to be there. It's not pleasant. Step into it. And that's where you learn, and grow, and figure out how to get it done. But you get your leaders on the team on board. And then, all the guys that sit on the fence. It'll go either way. They're all on board. Yeah. And be patient. Change in progress and innovation, and just implementing the new idea, it takes a while to get everybody aligned on there.

How do you help get buy-in from everyone?

Jenny Scott:

Yeah. What were some of the ways that you helped get buy-in? Did you educate? Did you do something specific?

Peter Twist:

Yeah. Most of my first tries are all team oriented and so on. But the first thing I did, the first hour I was formally started with the China Olympic program, we brought all the coaches together and some of the key athlete. And I did a presentation like you would at a fitness conference, just to give them an overview and buy-in. And then, we set individual meetings. So it's conversational, it's educational, and respectful in that way. And then, you identify who are your early adopters on there. You can't get it done alone. Even if we're sitting around a boardroom with 12 people, and I'm talking, and I can't get anything done. It's a triangle. It's an equation of three.

And if Dan comes on board and we start to speak the same language, then it's got a chance, but it's not enough. But if Jenny comes on board, doesn't matter if the other nine aren't, and we just need three. That's now the common language. That's how we're doing things. That's the direction we're going. People start to migrate over. So you really just got to get in and get a couple key players on board, and then stay at it, and you'll get traction. The other is, I have a big motivation toolbox. So many great examples and so many ways guys just stepped up, and helped out, and bought in right away.

But there was one athlete in major league sport that I was working with, and he wanted nothing to do. We would train in the gym at midnight after games, to get a edge on the other teams, and to give more rest before the next game. And that was just crazy to him. But he was just kind of a selfish guy. He was making about 5 million a year and didn't really care how the team did. And he just said, "You know what? I'm not going to use speed. I'm not going to use conditioning. I just kind of make my way in position. And I get fed by my hardworking teammates. And I put lots of points up. And I just kind of have that gift and it's going pretty well." And it is going pretty well. So things like a team championship and respecting your teammates. You don't know how good you could be, they're still on top there.

Jenny Scott:

Yes.

Peter Twist:

More physicality, right? Not interested. He was doing just okay. He was doing really well. And then, so it's like, okay, here's someone who's very individualistic. And how do I serve the team in a way that serves him? So we came up with a plan that his linemates, his teammates that were on at the same time as him, if they train hard, then they could feed him more often, and he could put up more points.

And so, from that day on, he was the first one in the weight room, in the training room after games. And he was ensuring his linemates were working hard. And he was there doing it too to make sure, for selfish reasons. So you need a lot of motivation pockets to reach into. And not everything works with everyone, but something will work with each person.

Jenny Scott:

I like that. I like how you involved him in the process. And then, made it feel like it was his idea and it's going to help him, gets him to buy-in.

Peter Twist:

You got to get buy-in and ownership in that for sure. And then, he became a leader. He was like my assistant coach.

What is your approach to exploring the brain-body connection and holistic health?

Jenny Scott:

Love it. Oh, yeah. I have examples of that in the college level where I coach. That's amazing. Can you talk to us… So we're going to talk to you about a couple of your different methodologies and ways that you train. So the brain-body connection is where I want to start, 3D movements. And then, of course, mindset and motivation. But can you tell us about your approach as you explore body and the brain-body connection for holistic health, so overall health?

Peter Twist:

Yeah, absolutely. Jumping forward on the holistic health. And I really use that terminology today as whole health, 360 degrees of health. I have a Western doctor, but I also have an Eastern doctor. The Eastern doctor, the naturopath is my family physician. The Western doctor is when I need a permission slip for pharmaceuticals or things that are outside the ND scope. But holistic health is 360-degree health. And certainly, utilizing and appreciating our current healthcare system. But our current healthcare system is a little bit... It's like, wow, all these people are drowning, and we got to pull them out, and save them. And holistic health is more upstream. What's causing people to fall into the river to drown? Can we address things there? What's within their control? What's at their fingertips? As well as just looking at the complete person.

So everything's science-based in holistic health that I look at. It's not some sort of fluffy, hippie thing over here. But a little bit more hippie love, and peace, and kindness might be good for the world today. It's part of that whole program. And then, the mind-body part really comes in for brain health, and mental well-being, and movement of our body, and tying it all together. There's a lot on say, social media, and Instagram, and TikTok about mindfulness, and mind-body. And all of it is pointing in a good direction. And I think it's mainly about my body, either from a spiritual standpoint or presentness, focus on your muscle, focus on your movement. Good stuff. I just lift up the hood like you do in a car, and look at the engine of the body, and how the body works. So mind-body is more based on the science.

And I believe that movement and physicality runs through the brain. And if we develop methods and overload variables and principles based on how the brain and body communicate together, then we're going to build muscle, and quality movement skill, and so on. And I believe a lot of mental well-being that's in our control runs through movement. And so, if we work our way backwards, everything starts with the brain, that operates our human vehicle. It's like the software. And anything that gets someone moving can be a good thing. However, we also know the three of us and a couple others follow the same program. And one of us isn't going to get much results at all. Someone's going to create pain and dysfunction. Someone might get injured. Jenny, you're from college sport.

You might get some good results because you know how to train a little bit better. And that Dan gets exceptional results. Well, because Dan's Dan. So it'll go well. My philosophy in the question you asked is, I don't believe there's any exercise that improves the human body. And I believe exercises can cause damage, or they can do nothing, or they can produce benefit. It's how we move inside the exercise. It's how we manage the load into the body. It's how we manage our body into the ground. So that just lends itself to quality of movement. Always put in quality. And with that mind-body aspect, we have millions of sensors and receptors, joints, muscles. There's lots of communication through our muscle fascia informing our brain. What the heck is going on right this second as we're on a snowboard going down the mountain, or as we're lifting a weight in the gym? And our brain computes that and sends information back to the muscles.

So here's the key point. Most fitness uses repetition, and simple drills, and looks to do things a lot of the time to tire people out, and produce sweat, and burn calories. And there's good in that, but it's using no one exercises. So if we all go for a walk, we don't have to think about it. No matter what people say about crosswords and any kind of exercise, walking, it doesn't do much for your brain because we're on autopilot. We can look at our phone, we can chat in health clubs. Most health clubs have rows of TVs. Well, if you can exercise and watch a TV, your brain is not required very much to the exercise party. It's too simple. And exercise neurally, because we're efficient machines, we've automated that movement. So we're still training our heart, lungs, and muscles, but not our brain.

Our brain doesn't have to do much. It's on autonomic or autopilot. So in my mind-body, I integrate strength, balance, movement, core. Four pillars. Strength, balance, movement, core. All four of those are present in every inch of every rep. And when they are, we're building them, but they each serve as an overload variable on each other. And by our research, we get over a thousand percent more muscle activation, and over a thousand percent more brain computations. So it's my methodology I believe in. There's lots of different ways to train and go enjoy. But I come back to, I want my brain in a cognitive state doing max computations with max communication to the body. And that's where I'm stimulating the most improvement overall and getting a smart brain for quality movement.

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Dan Duran:

I love it.

Jenny Scott:

I love that. That absolutely makes sense.

What is 3D movement and how does it differ from traditional movement?

Dan Duran:

Well, and let's take it a step further here, Peter. So when you're talking about the four pillars and engaging the brain, another term that was coined back when y'all came up with the concept of three-dimensional movement, can you talk more about what is three-dimensional movement? Why are those skills so important? And how do they differ from traditional movements?

Peter Twist:

Yeah, absolutely. And 3D, if we get into physics and geometry, someone could kind of dispute this, but 3D and first 360 degrees of movement. And quite simply, our muscles that we learn in anatomy. And if traditional fitness is isolation for appearance or even some multi-joint exercises that are common. Number one, we want to train in a way that honors our anatomy and it sequences muscles in the same way. What one example are common squat jumps in boot camps and so on. And people will jump in the air and throw their arms to the ground. Right?

So you picture that. You see it. It's jumping vertically. But to jump vertically, they throw their arms back to the ground. And so, they're too in opposite. So that's kind of screwing up our blueprint from quality motor programs and so on. So we would just take that, and more like you would in college sport, volleyball, basketball, good vertical jump, arms drive overhead the same direction. So we look at linking and sequencing the body, number one, on that as we go. And with that type of movement, when you get the right sequencing as that goes, then you're getting more skillfulness as you go through there.

Jenny Scott:

Yes, that makes so much sense. By the way, when people jump and throw their arms down instead of up, I coach volleyball, so I know exactly what you're talking about here, Pete. I call it fishy jumping, like a fish that's jumping out of the water. And they usually end up flailing to some degree as well. Or when they jump with their arms down, I'm like, "Try it, and then try it with your arms." You float a little bit more with your arms. Your arms are actually part of a jump in a lot of cases. So that's really cool that you teach it that way.

Peter Twist:

Yeah. I think, Jenny, there's something with that. When we get into the right sequence, there's more of a flow, even if it's heavy loaded. And I think there's flow and rhythm of that full bodiness and brain that ties into our mental well-being. And it becomes almost like, if you think of Tai Chi, almost like a spiritual practice, but we might be loading the heck out of it. It's much more intense. And so, on that aspect. But for the listeners to understand that a program doesn't have to be all one style of training. Bicep curl, leg extension. I don't believe there's a bad exercise.

They're not bad exercises. Those are good exercises. I enjoy doing them. But if that was my whole program, maybe there's more benefit that I could get on there. And so, it's really trying to take it another step. And understanding also that if I'm looking at joint mobility, am I going to do isolation for my joint mobility? Well, I've got 300 plus joints, so that's going to take me too long. There's so much we know how to improve. And all of my education, all your courses, we offer so many ways to improve a client, it's not possible to schedule it all in each week as it is.

Jenny Scott:

Yeah.

Peter Twist:

So can I do an isolation program and attend every joint, every muscle? When you work on something, you're not working on something else. When you put something in a client's program, you have to realize it comes at the cost of not doing something else. So making really good choices on there. And so, I might have a couple joints that I do isolated mobility. I might have a couple muscle groups that need supplemental work.

So I kind of isolate maybe some weak points. But overall, I integrate, and train the body as a whole. And I also understand, last point on this and key point is it, how my muscles work in isolation is not always how they work in integration when we're up on our feet moving in 3D, 360 degrees, and inside gravity. And so, to train our body, I call it high transfer, to transfer well inside the gym into the active life that we hope to live.

Jenny Scott:

Yeah. So just curious, when you're teaching something, like you gave the example of a squat jump, using your arms and taking them up overhead as you jump. Do you train it in pieces? Would you have somebody keep their feet on the floor, and just swing their arms, hinge at their hips, et cetera? Do you teach it in pieces to get it? Or does it depend on the person how you teach it?

Peter Twist:

I hope to approach it to be able to teach it together, but cue it in isolation. So we'll do the whole movement, but focus on the arms. So I'm queuing certain segments of it to improve. We're improving pieces of it while we're doing the whole thing, so I don't overload them. But I usually do a simple readiness assessment that isn't a science lab. It's just looks like a gym exercise. So I get an indication of their ability. The majority of people, if we took a hundred people today, about 75% of them can't. If we had them jump, athletes included interestingly, they won't land with both feet at the same time.

And when they land, so their joints and their skeletal system are taking a lot of the load impact, stress, there's a high orthopedic cost, and they're not getting as much benefit to the muscle loading as they can. So with that, I don't tend to teach it in isolation parts, but I will regress. And so quite often when I'm teaching a squat jump, we do kind of, what I call, a fake jump for lack of better words. And we squat down, and load the legs and arms, and explode vertically in the full extension, right up to our toes, but the toes don't come off the ground.

That just makes it low impact. And a lot of my adult clients, I might just keep them there, because they're getting the kinesthetic positive sensation of jumping with no impact whatsoever. I can do that until they're 95 years old. What's their goal? Why do they need to jump? It's really the load and explode. The eccentric, concentric, the negative, positive phase where they're getting the benefit. They're not getting benefit while they're in the air.

Jenny Scott:

Yeah.

Peter Twist:

Right? So the more I can keep their feet in contact with the ground, but do similar movements, that's potentially a good tip or solution for folks with their clients to take away risk, take away impact, take away orthopedic cost, spend more time with the feet on the ground where you can benefit the muscles, the fascia, and still heart and lungs.

How do you define mindset?

Jenny Scott:

I love it. That's a great way to approach it. And if we want to bring it all full circle and really talk back about the brain again, because I love what you were talking about with the mind-body connection. It's so important. And a lot of people don't think about it. Like you said, they're doing other things while they're exercising. Well, you're not engaging your brain then, in that case. But you have an extensive background in mindset and motivation. How do you, Pete, define mindset?

Peter Twist:

Well, yeah, I think that's a great question. I really appreciate it because my mindset is everything. Mindset affects everything. And a big part of that is attitude. But if I broke it down into pillars for this, I think our mindset starts with the lens we see through, the perspective. You know it's said, "Change the way we look at things and the things we look at change." That means, Jenny, you can say something to me, and I can take it or choose to look through a lens where I take it personally, and I feel begrudgement. Or I can look through a different lens, with a different perspective, and it's just fine. Or another lens, I'm actually appreciative, and grateful, and what I'm listening to. So changing the mindset is the lens you see through.

Number two, the self-talk you create. A lot of people still don't understand. They create and are in control of their self-talk. They think it's just some other entity outside themself that generates it. And so, the ability to press pause, and unwind, and create more positive, or advantageous self-talk. Then, our lens we see through our self-talk is mindset. Then, that affects the words we choose to share with other people and the actions we take or do not take. The lens we see through, our self-talk, the words we use, the actions we take. And then, that results, that shows up for people with a certain attitude, a certain energy, a certain communication style, and ability, and so on.

I think that's the framework for what it is, how it works. And then, for listeners to realize that mindset is really, it's as trainable as your muscle and your cardiovascular fitness. So it's teachable, it's trainable, it's a lifelong skill that is going to get worse or better depending whether you focus on it and nourish it. And there's a lot of strategies. Mindset is a skill. It's strategies for becoming resilient and adaptable. A lot of mindset works in pairs that are dichotomous. So resilience and adaptability, grit and grace. And these are all opposites that help each other. And we learn strategies for using them together. To be resilient, you need to be adaptable. To be adaptable and creative, you need to be resilient, and so on.

So mindset are those strategies and skills that we deploy that helps us handle change, have the courage to embrace opportunity. And I think in any challenge or difficulty, which everybody has all the time, bring a level of graciousness. Not to get on that subject, but the pandemic happened. And I thought that was our time that people could improve their mindset to show up kinder for each other, and whatever our beliefs, help each other through. And it seemed to go the opposite direction. So let's get North America on a mindset program and if we can up level that. I think we’d have that. And it does produce a high EQ, which I know there's somehow controversy over social, emotional skills. And if that makes someone angry, they probably need the course. That's what I'll suggest.

But I do know the Fortune 500 companies, the corporations. When they recruit, they probably assume everyone they're recruiting has high intellect and education, but the number one thing they look for is high EQ. And your high EQ comes from your mindset. And can we cooperate and communicate constructively, respectfully, and positively and so on? So my mindset comes first. I would suggest if you're on some kind of a fitness program, good for you. I applaud you. And keep going. But if you're not feeling positive, and peaceful, and kind, and respectful, and those type of things, look at your program, it's missing something. And that's a key slice of the pie that you want everything to affect well.

How does leadership style tie into the mindset and self-improvement, and the lens by which you view your surroundings?

Dan Duran:

Wow. I love it. I love hearing you speak, Peter. I'm going to steal one of your quotes and feed it back to you, that I've been sharing, it seems like a lot lately. And it would be great if you could tie it into exactly what you just spoke to, which is basically, self-improvement. It starts with you. And that quote is, "Leader of one, leader of many. If you can't lead one, you can't lead any."

Jenny Scott:

I love that.

Dan Duran:

How does that tie into the mindset and self-improvement, and basically, the lens by which you view your surroundings?

Peter Twist:

Great question. Thank you for framing that up. And it's funny, I'll share kind of a funny thing from lectures I've given. And we all probably have opinions on how a company is led, how a health club's led, and how the country is led, and we have better ideas. So I asked people in a lecture room, well, leadership then, "Do you think you could lead this room?" There's a thousand people here. And they're like, "Maybe." Could you lead a team like a sport team of 20 people? Oh, yeah. I could do that. And well, how about one then? Could you lead yourself? And everyone's like, "Well, no, no. I've been failing at that for years. I'm doing so many things to disadvantage myself."

So it really is getting down, how you do one thing is how you do everything, and just being cognizant of better every day. Can lead myself? And if I lead myself and I'm on a path of improvement, then I'm in a position to lead other people. It also infers, Dan, the quality of that. And I try not to myself ever wave a busy badge of honor. I've got the busy flag, and I want recognition for that. It's like, well, 8 billion people are busy, so pick something more distinct. And some people are dodging bullets. They're busy dodging bullets. Other people are busy walking 5K for clean water. So everybody's situation is real. Everybody's stressed, and overwhelmed state, and so on is real.

We can give each other care and empathy. But busy isn't really a valid badge of honor, even though we all feel it. And so, that lends itself too because we all have a lot of young parents, and parents, and so on. And they, potentially, if they have a job, and a business, and young kids, and a home, very, very busy on that aspect. But the leader of one really encourages people not only to lead themselves and build those leadership skills, but gives them permission to lead themselves, and encourages them too for the sake of everyone. I'm going to use the word selfish. I don't believe it's selfish, but it's memorable in saying this, helps people remember it. You've got to be selfish to be your most generous.

Meaning, nobody wants me to show up tired, stressed out, sick, impatient, grumpy. They want me to show up positive, peaceful, clearheaded, present, energized. And so, to take ourselves with permission to be a leader of one, and work on our nutrition, and our fitness, and get into nature, and do things for ourselves that seem to work for our mind, our body, our spirit, then we can show up for our spouse, our kids, our friends, our clients, our teammates at our best, and be our most generous to them. That's how we give the best love, I believe, by taking care of ourselves. The most simple version is on a plane, the oxygen mask comes down, you put that on first. If you apply that to everything, then you're going to show up strong for everybody.

Jenny Scott:

Ooh, how is that for perspective? That's amazing.

How can listeners connect with you to learn more?

Dan Duran:

Well said, Pete. So our listeners, I'm sure, are going to want to follow you or learn more from you, whether it's education or philosophy. So what are the best ways for our listeners to be able to follow you or get in touch with you?

Peter Twist:

I'll just give two ways to keep it simple. And I'll say from one social media platform, I pick Instagram, Coach Peter Twist. And they can come there and learn from me. But I would encourage them to engage, so I can learn from them. There's 8 billion people in the world. Every single person knows how to do something I don't. They've all had an experience I haven't. And so, bringing that context. And from my community, I'm very grateful to have a respectful community, 99.9% positive, which is wild in today's era.

And a lot of pro athletes; college athletes; former athletes; pro coaches; trainers; therapists; active, educated, smart, healthy adults. And I learn so much from people's perspectives. So, Coach Peter Twist. And then, to contact me, or leave a message, or more information, I'll say, twisteducation.ca. The .ca is like a .com, but it's Canada. So, twisteducation.ca. You can remember that. And I think that's two good pipelines there. Thank you for asking that.

Jenny Scott:

Amazing. So I have a question though too. So I know you have contributed to a lot of different works, papers, DVDs, books. Do you have one or two papers or books that if you could get every trainer out there or every fitness professional out there to read it, for whatever reason, what would those be? Do you have one or two that are your babies, your brain children?

Peter Twist:

Yeah. I'm going to mention, we've got some research on ResearchGate on brain-body, and measuring the brain activation, muscle activation from an applied science like in the trenches, practical methods. I'm going to stay with recency and mention Functional Physique. And it's something I write about a lot on Instagram. And it's a training program, a training system that we have for folks as well. And I mentioned that because I was going to write this for about a decade, but I kept resisting. If people want to do physique training, that's not me. And there's lots of great coaches and teachers out there for that. And that can be a very empowering process for people, but it's not so much my world focusing on that.

And then, Functional Physique was bringing really, how do we train to move better? We know when we move confidently pain-free, it literally expands our world. Dan and Jenny, you can invite me to do something even if I haven't done it before. I can say, "Yeah, I'll hang out that day." You can do what you love with people you love, and expand your experiences, and bring the energy that comes from that back home. But if I don't have the movement confidence, or I'm in pain, or dysfunction, and I'm sure we've all had times with injuries or illness, our world literally shrinks. And we have to say, "No, thank you," to most things. Hard to have a great attitude and enjoy life quality as much.

So the functional in Functional Physique is all about training movement. I've got 30 functional patterns, eight roles that muscle play, 10 ways to manage a load, and 12 overload variables. It's a training system that's actionable. But as a byproduct, all of the principles and guidelines build musculature. And I'm recommending that because it's a way for people who want a nice bod, their best bod, get back to their best body and physique. Or if they're in physique and isolation, they haven't done functional, it still serves both worlds, and it introduces it. And there's a lot of people doing functional training. Maybe it's a little bit light for what their age needs to sustain muscle and bone density. So it also brings in the physique side to that. Well, Functional Physique, and they can get that in bites on Instagram or a full program and training system. That's the most focused, succinct, but comprehensive, look at both worlds together.

Jenny Scott:

Amazing. I've already found the links while you were talking. I found them.

Peter Twist:

Yep.

Jenny Scott:

So I'm going share the links. We'll make sure we'll put them in the description.

Peter Twist:

You know what? I will say I went from being reluctant to create that, to it being my favorite training system. So I've got this excitement to it, because I wasn't fully bought in when I started it. And when I finished it, it's like, "This is it. This is it." So.

Jenny Scott:

I love it. So we will definitely link that. I'm going to check these out as well because you resonate so much with me, Peter. Everything that you were talking about today is absolutely phenomenal. I love it. And I've learned a lot about these types of things that you're talking about that makes so much sense over the 15 years of my career now. And I'm intrigued. I'm very much intrigued. So expect to see a little bit of me following you, the random shadow. If you feel like you're being watched, you're probably being watched.

Peter Twist:

Jenny, thanks a lot. And that's even more meaningful coming from you. Thank you, Dan, as well. And allow me to please just take a moment to thank ISSA for having me on, but even more so, with all your teammates for the positive impact you make and all the meaningful work you do in the world, building leaders of fitness, and so on. Thanks for all you’re doing there.

Jenny Scott:

Yes.

Dan Duran:

Thank you.

Jenny Scott:

Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us today, Peter. It's been a really, really great conversation. I'm super excited to share these links and your contact information with our listeners. I think they'll get a lot out of it. So I'm looking forward to it. And Dan, any last words for our listeners? Anything for Peter?

Dan Duran:

You know I always have something, so I've got two.

Jenny Scott:

Okay.

Dan Duran:

First of all, I want to repeat that quote, which again, is one of my favorites. I always give full credit to Pete, and I say it a lot, "Leader of one, leader of many. If you can't lead one, you can't lead any." Write that down. Think about it, regurgitate it. When you're in doubt, when you're feeling lazy, when you're not feeling motivated, whatever the word is you want to use, think about that.

And then, the other thing is something I learned from Pete through his social media stuff. Smile. Smile at random strangers. Not in a creepy way, of course. But thanks to mirror neurons, and neuropsychology, or whatever you want to call it, neuroscience, and the effect of smiling. Next time you're in an elevator, next time you're waiting for the light to turn red and walk across an intersection, you're randomly near somebody you don't know. Watch the power of just smiling, genuinely smiling. And I do that a lot thanks to what I learned from Pete.

Peter Twist:

That's a great winddown. That's a universal language. Everyone understands it. So, thank you for wrapping up that way. I've enjoyed being on. And thank you for allowing me to share a few things with your listeners. And I hope we can team up again.

Dan Duran:

Excellent.

Jenny Scott:

Absolutely. We'll be in touch. You'll definitely be hearing from us. This has been amazing. Thank you so much again, Peter. And thank you guys for listening. As always, go out there learn. This has been a great opportunity to learn. And we've given you links. Check out the description. There'll be some more links to learn more. Keep learning you guys. So go out there, be fruitful in the world, and make good choices. We'll be talking to you soon.