Terry Streetmen (Host): Welcome back to Well Within Reach. I'm Terry Streetmen, Marketing and Communications Representative. We're here today with Mitch Cronk, Riverside Outpatient Rehab Manager, and Ben Fightmaster, Fitness Specialist at the Riverside Health Center. Today we're gonna talk about getting fit in the new year, so thank you two for joining us.

Ben Fightmaster: Happy to be here.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah, looking forward to it.

Host: Alright, before we get into our questions, I'll take quick break and we're gonna have a message about MyChart.

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Host: Okay, we're back. I think this is both of your first time on the podcast here. Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and your roles? We'll go ahead and start with you, Mitch.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah, I am Riverside's Outpatient Rehab Manager. I oversee physical, occupational, and speech therapy services. I've been with Riverside for 12 years. I've been a PT for almost 10 years.

Host: Nice.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah, I'm happy to be here.

Host: All right, well, welcome. And Ben, go ahead.

Ben Fightmaster: Yeah, I am one of the eight fitness specialists at the fitness center. I've just joined on the crew here back in June, so about six months in. And it's been a lot of fun. I'm a former physical therapist assistant, so it's fun to regain and know Mitch over here again.

Host: Awesome. Well, we're glad to have you both here. We're moving into a new year here and a lot of people are starting on their New Year's resolutions. And I think research has shown us that most of these resolutions are related to fitness or weight loss or overall health. I'm wondering, Ben, if you over at the fitness center, if you all tend to see increased demand around these times with those resolutions?

Ben Fightmaster: Yes, yes, we do. I personally haven't experienced it at the fitness center since I just started in June, but I have been well-educated and informed that the Fitness Center does get quite the crowd that comes in for New Year's resolutions, whether it's for weight reasons or other health reasons, so it's definitely a time where the gym is a little bit more packed.

If you're a usual gym goer, you're gonna see a little bit more crowds of people coming in, but overall, the environment's very friendly and people are really in tuned to like giving time and space for at the gym.

Host: Awesome. Well, that's good to hear because I know it can be a little bit intimidating. You're coming into the gym. Maybe you haven't been in a while. So it's good to hear. It's that welcoming environment. So for those people who then are jumping into this new exercise routine with the resolutions; obviously, that's great, but what can people do to jump into their new routine safely because I imagine if you're not sure what you're doing, there might be some risks and we'll kind of hear from both of you on that one.

Ben Fightmaster: Yeah, it's definitely something to keep a good idea on when you're making your resolutions coming about, cause I mean, it happens to everybody every year where you'll get all excited. It's a brand new year. It's new to me. I'm going to get started. I'm going to do all these plans. And then something happens to where it drops off.

That's something that we as fitness specialists and personal trainers over at the fitness center, we really want to kind of hone in and like help out regaining some of those areas. So some things to think about as you're making these transitions is doing something to where it's not too much, too fast. I know there's a lot of social media out there now with these fitness guys on there, and these women that are doing all their awesome things that you see. It's like, yeah, I can do that. I used to be an athlete. I'm going to go try that at the gym. And I'm sure this will lead later on to some of our other questions, but, going from zero to a hundred is not the best idea health wise.

So it's always good to make some of your areas just easing into it, even if you're former athletes, if you haven't been into the gym in a while. It's always good just to ease back into it, because the body needs time to adjust, and as you can slowly progress into what your fitness goals are for the year, it's easier just to take small goals at first and then build them into longer long term goals. Short term goals into long term growth.

Host: Okay. Yeah, we will talk about that a little bit more later. And Mitch, I imagine from a PT standpoint, there's probably some tips and advice you might have for people who are trying to get into these kind of routines.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah, absolutely. To piggyback off what Ben's saying over here is, find that regulation for yourself, where you're starting something up, you're on fire, but people think they have to go so hard right away. And it's not the case. Especially if you haven't been in it for a while. It doesn't take a lot to get your body moving and feeling something. People think they have to lift the heaviest weight or run the hardest right away.

And that just spells burnout. It's inevitable, And so, my reminder I would put out there is, yes, take it easy, but also understand it's okay to not be sweating profusely, not to be burning the muscles, fatiguing so quickly, just real light is okay, you know, and then that's how you build a foundation and you go from there.

Host: That's awesome. That's a good reminder. Cause yeah, you see it on social media, pain is weakness, leaving the body and never miss a Monday and whatever. And like, okay, but if you go too hard now, it's only going to be harder later.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: And social media you see those models, those fitness influencers, right? And they're in such great shape and you just want to be like that. That's what you're striving for. And we just have to remind ourselves it's most times it's not reality.

Host: Yeah. Social media is a very skewed perspective.

Ben Fightmaster: When you see those type of people, it's not something that they've just jumped into right away. They have years that they've built up to that point.

Host: And in a lot of cases, it's their whole career. So they are not trying to hit the gym after 5 p. m. That's their whole day. So, yeah. Okay. Well, on sort of that same subject, I know I've, done this in the past, set a resolution and jumped in way too fast and way too hard.

And I end up with things like shin splints and strained or pulled muscles. Do you see a lot of that this time of year in like rehab and physical therapy?

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah, I would say there's an uptick. It never fails where we have the one gym goer that tried to lift too much weight off the ground and hurt their back, or run too far and cause a reaction fracture or, whatever the case may be. So, yeah. We do see an uptick. We just see an uptick in general around the year, we typically always have at least one, if not multiple patients that are in our clinics because they've had a bad experience through exercise or fitness or whatever they were doing and it just, it can be traumatic and it can be chronic, but we do get quite a bit of those.

Host: Yeah. Well, I'm wondering if either or both of you can provide some of that advice maybe, because you talked about people lifting weights, so obviously, like, weightlifting form is important. Are there things that people can do or be focusing on, whether it's stretching or technique or whatever, that can help maybe avoid some of that?

Ben Fightmaster: We can definitely, like I was saying, our team of fitness specialists over here are highly trained professionals that will be able to point out different aspects of form. And that is one thing that as you're a new incoming gym goer, you may see some of these aspects of like, yeah, I can do that and you're right, you probably can do the lifting and the movements that you're doing it, but are you doing it correctly?

Host: Sure.

Ben Fightmaster: Are you knowing which areas you're supposed to target where you're supposed to feel it? Mitch can probably talk more about this as a PT with knowing where you're supposed to feel some of the strengthening and if you're feeling pain, what type of pain is it? Is it a good pain or is it a bad pain?

Host: Yeah.

Ben Fightmaster: You know it just kind of working through those type of things which is great to have a personal trainer or fitness specialist there even if it's just for like maybe four weeks at a time hey, can you check in with me? Make sure everything looks good. Check out the form. Do it from there and then like kind of coach you about and then until you learn and understand what you're supposed to feel and then you can continue on from there.

Host: Nice.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: And I would add knowing yourself and knowing what those goals are going into it, right? You could be fresh and new and you do need that consultation, that coaching to help get you on the right path. You may be an old gym goer, that's just trying to get back into it and you remember some things, but, again, you might need somebody to talk to or some advice on how to do things correctly to prevent that injury or that discomfort from coming.

And again, let's say you're referring to the old athlete. You know, we get a lot of those athletes, they have a competitive side of them. They like fitness and it never leaves, but sometimes life gets busy. Ben and I were just talking about the kids we have, right? Like time gets hard and then our competitive instinct comes out and we want to just jump right back into it.

And we feel things differently when we get older. So, you have to put down your pride and know yourself a little bit.

Host: Okay. Well, and I think that leads in well to, uh, in a minute here, we're going to talk about primary care, but that knowing yourself and knowing your body, I would imagine talking to your primary care provider before you start any new diet, exercise, whatever routine is, pretty important.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yes.

Host: So, leading from there, before our next question, we'll take a moment to talk about the importance of primary care. Consistency is being able to count on someone to be there when you need them. At Riverside HealthCare, your primary care provider is dedicated to being in your corner, helping you and your family stay healthy and active.

Find the right primary care provider for you at riversidehealthcare.org/primarycare. From annual screenings to well checks and everything in between, having a primary care provider that you can trust makes all the difference.

Okay, so we're going to move on from there. And I think Ben, you kind of touched on this a minute ago, but like, I'll ask both of you, what signs should people be looking for to catch minor injuries before they become more serious?

Because like you said, some of that hurt is good hurt. It's, you're working on the muscles, you're building them, there's soreness, but that can become something else if you're not paying attention.

Ben Fightmaster: Yeah, absolutely. And it's something to really hone into as you're starting to work out. And if you're new goer or past gym goer, the past ones are going to have a little bit better idea of potentially of what I'm feeling, not necessarily, what it was in the past when they were first going to it. But now since they've had a little extra time away from the gym, but coming back into it just kind of realizing and remembering oh, yes, I remember this feeling. So in specifics for like different feelings like if you're getting a certain I should say the ones to avoid if you're having pain is like sharpness. That's usually a pretty good indicator that something is wrong, or a movement is wrong, and sharpness meaning like if you're somebody is sticking a fork in your back, or taking a knife to you or something like that.

Something along that end where it's very sharp, very painful, those are usually key indicators like I should stop, maybe ask somebody to come over, check to make sure my forms are going okay. Other forms were I'll hear people tell me that they just have discomfort in a area or it just doesn't feel right.

It's like, okay, well, that's when you kind of get into like, what type of feeling are you getting from this? As long as it's not sharp, but if it's just like a dull ache, or if it's something to where it's throbbing or anything like that, depending on what the movement is, you could determine what it is from there, if it depends on the movement they were doing. But besides that, it's hard to get into specifics of it without watching somebody and explaining it to it because that's one thing that, especially as a fitness specialist, you just, as you're watching and you're listening to somebody as they're describing what they're doing and watching their movement, you can combine all that together to kind of weed out some of the bad pain from the good pain.

Host: Okay. Yeah, Mitch, anything else?

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: So pain being the number one indicator that a lot of people look for, if they're doing something right or wrong. And you're right, sometimes people have a hard time discerning what that pain is or what it should be. We probably all have felt muscle soreness.

Sometimes you don't have pain right away either. You might be able to complete a workout and feel no pain, right? But then, later that night or the next day, you wake up with a pain in a certain part of your body and you're wondering, is it supposed to be there or not, you know, is this part of the process essentially?

Joints. We're not really supposed to feel pain in our joints like your knee. Sure, you can have soreness in your lower back, but soreness is different than a pain. You can have pain in the lower back, the shoulder. That's a common place to have pain as well. So again, it comes back to that knowing your body and not pushing through that pain.

The other thing is your previous injuries and your medical history.

Host: Sure.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: You know, if you have something that's preexisting and you're about to do an exercise that's going to challenge that previous injury; that's where you have to be careful and start light, kind of like we were talking about early.

Host: Yeah.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: And that needs to be an awareness to help prevent an injury from happening. So, again, low back pain, highly common. When we get into free weights, and we were talking about technique early, free weights puts a lot of stress on different areas of the body because you are in control of how you're moving that weight through space.

So, if you are not doing that correctly, you have a pre-existing injury, you're increasing the risk of having a recurrence of the injury or potentially causing a new injury.

Host: Okay, well, on that note, obviously, we're glad that we have our physical therapist here who can help people through things, but obviously if you can avoid the injury in the first place. You don't have to worry about the recovery. But if somebody does have an injury like this, Mitch, what kind of help can Riverside's physical therapy provide people to recover from these injuries?

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Sure. I mean, there's always two ways to go about it, right? It's, you try to manage it yourself and doctor yourself, use the Google engine or come to us and we will evaluate you. And I think what some people don't understand sometimes is for PT, you can receive an evaluation. It doesn't mean you have to come to PT, you know, you can say, Hey, I just need you to look what's wrong with me. Give me some advice and some guidelines, maybe a home program. And I'm happy to go my way.

Even check back in, in a few weeks. If the PT and the client decide, yeah, I think you have an injury that needs to be addressed, and we need to progress you along, we need to have our eyes and hands on you, then of course, you know, we start that therapy approach.

Host: Sure.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: I'll put my plug in here about the core. We hear that word a lot. It's a very vague term. There is so much that comes from your core and stability. It's where everything starts. And so this is something that's often missed, through therapy or, even working out in the gym. You want a stable foundation before you start doing bigger movements, you know?

Host: Okay.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: That's where we can help. We can help guide you. We can give you some advice on how you can go about that and progressing that as well.

Host: Okay. Well, you may be getting a call from me about one of those evaluations. I got, pains in my joints and I was like, oh, I thought that was just normal.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Sure. Yeah.

Host: So I think we'll leave it sort of here on a positive note with a question for you, Ben. As people are making these resolutions and getting into the gym, do you have advice that you can give on setting measurable and achievable goals. 'Cause you talked about how important that is to know what your goals are and work toward those.

Ben Fightmaster: Yeah, absolutely. One thing that I had picked up from when I was in therapy school is you always wanna have SMART goals.

Host: Mm-hmm.

Ben Fightmaster: So, okay. What does SMART mean? They're specific, measurable, attainable, realistic or relatable and then time. So when you're coming into the new year, as we are now, and you're wanting to get into the gym, you want, just want to get a healthier life.

 What are some of those goals that may look like it? Well, it may be, if you're a new person, maybe just one day a week, maybe two days a week to go into the gym. So there's a starting point there and how long you're in the gym for. Maybe it's just to get on the treadmill. Maybe it's just to walk the track. Maybe you do a few lifts where it's like 10 to 15 minutes to begin with. It may not sound like much, but building blocks. You start there and then as you go throughout the year, if you can be consistent, because consistency is key when you're starting a new goal for health for the New Year.

If you can build consistently for the first week and then okay great. We did it through the first week. Let's get to two weeks.

Host: Yeah.

Ben Fightmaster: Let's get to three. Now we got month. Okay, let's go for the second month and just so on and so forth until you get to this aspect of I'm now in a routine where I'm going to the gym regularly.

Host: Sure.

Ben Fightmaster: So now we can increase our intensity and what does that look like? Well that's what we as fitness specialists will be able to help out with. We can give you guidelines on where to do it. Even your PTs, after you go to PT for those injuries, and then you graduate, they will, Mitch, you can probably speak more on it too, but they can give you programs to do at the gym, and you'll have specialists like myself that'll be here to answer any questions that you may still have questions about.

Host: Okay.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: Yeah. And one thing to add to that is when you're done with PT, you're not really done. You've just been educated and have the building blocks now to take care of yourself. One thing we've done with the Fitness Center is partnered through their program, the MyFitRx program.

Host: Yeah.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: And so this is a great way for a lot of these patients to have access to equipment and resources that they need to continue on. PT is in the grand scheme of things, it's a short stint, and these people need to continue on working on their issues but you have to have the resources too.

So that's where they can go to the fitness center, have the gym access, have people like Ben to help continue that education and go further and help achieve those goals.

Host: Yeah. Well, it sounds like, you can't do it all at once. And so any movement is better than none as long as you're doing it in a healthy, safe way. So yeah, start with what you can do and build from there and that consistency. I understand that's really important. All right. Well, before we wrap up, do either of you have anything else you'd like to add for the listeners?

Ben Fightmaster: Well, we're always happy to have new people come to the gym. We're very open. We're excited to have all of our new gym goers coming this year and we're looking forward to it. All of our personal trainers and fitness staff are excited for the New Year's resolutions to come in. Whether it's just for a short stint or if you're ready to prolong into a more, prolonged gym going experience; we're happy to help you, and then we're looking forward to it.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: So, God forbid you do have an injury in the gym, Rehab Services is here for you, and what I want the listeners to know is that, yes, we have local clinics in here in, Kankakee, Bradley, and Bourbonnet, but we also have clinics spread out through the region, as far south as Wauzeka, and Frankfort, and Manteno, and Wilmington, we have clinics in over four different counties.

Host: Okay.

Mitch Cronk, PT, DPT, CLT: So, yes, if you have an injury and you don't live local, there are still options for you to receive help through us.

Host: Awesome. Well, I'll put in a pitch for both of y'all. I've been to the fitness center, and the equipment is great, and everybody's very friendly and welcoming. It's a great environment, and not what you might expect sometimes from a gym, where it's maybe people who are all fit and expect everyone else to be all fit already.

And then I've worked with the PT team a lot, and everybody, again, is super helpful, really knowledgeable. So, highly encourage people to check that out. Thank you two, for joining us today. If our listeners would like to learn more about Riverside Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy, they can call 815-935-7514 or visit myRHC. net/physicaltherapy.

 And for more information about the Riverside Health Fitness Center, you can call 815-929-1200 or visit RiversideHealthFitness.com. Thanks for tuning in to Well Within Reach, presented by Riverside Healthcare.

Please take a moment to rate and leave a review for Well Within Reach on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about Riverside, visit riversidehealthcare.org.