Dr. Susie Spirlock

One of the hardest parts about talking online about chronic illness is people assuming THEIR experience is THE experience.

(Bean Soup Theory or What-About-Me-ism anyone??)

But chronic illness, disability, pain, fatigue, hypermobility, POTS, endo, autoimmune issues, etc. exist on MASSIVE spectrums.

What is accessible, doable, helpful, or empowering for one person may be impossible for another. Both can be true at the same time!!

Someone sharing their experience doesn’t invalidate yours!!

Different bodies. Different limits. Different capacities.

Some chronically ill people can. Some can’t. Both are valid.

Accessibility includes variability.

Not being able to relate doesn’t make it harmful.

And if you don’t resonate with a specific piece of content, guideline, exercise routine, whatever? Then that specific content wasn’t made for you, and that’s okay!!

Nuance belongs in these conversations. ALWAYS. 🫶🏼

Respectfully, some of y’all deserve financial compensation for the rehab advice you’ve survived 🙂

1. Getting handed a sheet of exercises with clipart figures

Because nothing screams individualized rehab like a blurry PDF from 2007 with zero explanation, progression, or context. Extra scary when you’re expected to magically return to lifting afterward.

2. “You’ll never squat again with that MRI”

Ah yes, the classic “your spine/knees/hips are crumbling” speech based on imaging findings that are also found in tons of pain-free humans. Fear-based care deserves jail time.

3. Random “corrective exercises” with no actual loading plan

If your rehab never progresses into gradually exposing your body to actual strength, capacity, and the thing you want to return to… what are we even doing here, gang?

4. “Just stop lifting for 6 weeks”

Sometimes temporary modification is appropriate! But blanket rest for every ache and pain is how people end up weaker, more deconditioned, and terrified of movement. Congrats on the fresh new fear avoidance.

5. “Lifting weights is dangerous for people with hypermobility”

Actually, appropriately dosed strength training is often one of the BEST things for hypermobile humans. The goal isn’t avoiding movement forever — it’s building strength, stability, tissue tolerance, and confidence within YOUR capacity.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk 😚

Which topic(s) do you want me to expand upon more??

*squeals in excitement*

This woman has been putting in WORK behind the scenes 🥹

She’s been on a whole health journey with her pelvic floor PT and registered dietitian, with me popping in as an occasional hype squad & to answer questions.

And today, she asked to workout with me & put a barbell on her back.

A BARBELL.
MY MOM.

Do you understand the magnitude of this moment???

This is someone in her late 50s, currently going through menopause, post decades of being told to just walk more, maybe do some light cardio, avoid anything “too heavy,” finally being introduced to things that actually change the trajectory of her health & longevity.

Yes, menopause can be an absolute bitch for a lot of women, showing up like “hey I’m going to be ✨spicy✨ in every way I can.”

And sometimes that phase is also the wake-up call for change.

The “oh… I actually need to DO something different for my health now” moment.

Lifting weights is one of the highest ROI things you can do to:

🥩 maintain and build muscle
🦴 support bone density (hi osteoporosis prevention)
🦵🏽improve balance and reduce fall risk
💪🏼 help with insulin sensitivity and metabolic health
💃🏼 build actual, usable strength for real life

I’m not talking in a “get shredded for summer” way, but in a “stay independent, capable, and strong for the next 20+ years” way!!

So if you’re sitting there thinking:

“I’m too old to start”
“I missed my window”
“I should’ve done this years ago”

WRONGO.

My mom started barbell training at age fifty eight.

You can start wherever the hell you are.

Anyways, I’ll be crying in the corner over my mom’s lifting era because I’m so fu***ng proud of her 🥲

How old were you when you started lifting?Let’s prove to the ladies it’s never too late!!

In case you need this today, too 🫶🏼

Here’s why it works 🤓

Hips popping up out of the bottom of a squat is commonly referred to as the ‘good morning’ squat since the ascent of the squat looks similar to a good morning — hips shooting up while bar stays in the same place.

This sequencing error can potentially mean that your posterior chain — ie your ham bams, rump rounds, and low back — are stronger than your quadsies.

The quads essentially work AROUND the barbell rather than with it, while shifting the work to the relatively stronger muscles in the back, especially as you go through your working sets and/or weight of the barbell starts to increase.

From the side, you will likely see the bar now overtop of the toes as it loses position over the mid foot you had during your descent.

Now, a little bit of this IS inevitable as load increases & it’s not like it’s horribly bad & you should stop squatting at all costs before you internally combust 😱

We do NOT need a PERFECT squat, we just need an efficient one where the bar can stay over mid foot as much as possible 👏🏼

Quad strength aside, you may see good morning squats from someone who is newer to the barbell. In this case, the cue still applies, but they simply just need more practice learning a new motor pattern.

For a more efficient lift, we want hips and the bar moving up at the SAME rate out of the bottom of a squat.

When you start the ascent during your squat, think about pushing your BACK INTO THE BAR so the bar and the hips are able to rise up TOGETHER, as besties!

I’ve used this cue time and time again with myself, 1:1 clients, and group training members in Supple Strength!

Giver her a go and lmk what you think!

Questions? Drop em in the comments!

Need some more help?
👉🏼Join my group training programming, Supple Strength
👉🏼Or apply for customized 1:1 Rehab & Fitness Coaching

Optimize your setup, smash your lifts 💁🏼‍♀️

Welcome to the 10 Step Lift Mastery Series where I break down the big lifts into something that makes them less daunting for you!

My mission is to get as many people loading as possible. Yes, that can be with dumbbells, kettlebells, machines, whatever! But most people shy away from the barbell because it seems ✨scary✨

I’m here to change that 😊

The conventional barbell deadlift is an absolutely powerhouse of a movement that absolutely smokes your posterior chain aka glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae, lats, and more.

If you want to get good at picking heavy things up off the ground, this lift is your girl 💅🏼

As someone who’s coached thousands of people & teaches courses for Barbell Rehab, I’ve noticed a very common theme with the barbell deadlift: if your setup is solid, your lift will be solid.

Most people focus on the ex*****on of conventional deadlifts when it comes to “form faults”, but 9 times out of 10, if you clean up the setup, the ex*****on magically cleans up as well!

These may seem like a lot of steps at first, but once you groove the motor patterns for the deadlift, you’ll be able to put them all together in just a couple seconds without even thinking about em 🤓

1️⃣ Stance hip width with toes pointed forwards or slightly out
2️⃣ Bar over mid foot
3️⃣ Ribcage stacked over pelvis
4️⃣ Grip shoulder width apart outside the legs
5️⃣ Shins kiss the bar & bend the bar around your legs
6️⃣ Knees in line with elbow crease
7️⃣ Pull upwards on the bar to take out the slack keeping arms long
8️⃣ Push the floor away
9️⃣ Stand up straight & exhale
🔟 RDL to your knees then control drop

What do you seem to struggle most with when it comes to conventional barbell deadlifts??

What other lifts do you want to see on my 10 Step Lift Mastery Series?!

Most people treat rotation like a bonus feature in training, when it’s actually baked into how your body is supposed to function.

This drill isn’t just about “loosening up your back,” but restoring how your ribcage, spine, and pelvis are supposed to work together.

Your thoracic spine is designed to rotate.

Your ribcage is designed to expand, shift, and move with your breath.

And your pelvis (yes, including your pelvic floor) is constantly responding to all of it.

When your ribcage gets stiff and your thoracic spine stops rotating well, a few things can happen:

🙃 losing the ability to expand your ribcage in multiple directions

🙂 breathing becomes more shallow and upper-chest dominant

🙃diaphragm loses its full range of motion

🙂pelvic floor stops getting that natural lengthen/shorten cycle from pressure changes

So now instead of your system sharing load and pressure, you get a lot of gripping, bracing, and “why does everything feel tight?”

Enter: arm bar thoracic rotation

This variation lets you move your shoulder blade around your ribcage while keeping your pelvis relatively stable, which is huge for re-learning how to separate those regions instead of moving as one stiff block.

And the reach at the top adds in some sweet, sweet serratus anterior action.

When you reach and load the serratus, your diaphragm has better movement, which can improve pressure management.

Better pressure management = your pelvic floor doesn’t have to overcompensate or stay constantly “on.”

So now you’ve got:

✔️ More thoracic rotation
✔️ Better ribcage movement
✔️ Serratus doing its job
✔️ Diaphragm that can move
✔️ Pelvic floor that can respond

And zooming out even more, this is about movement variability.

Your body isn’t meant to live in one position, one strategy, or one plane of motion.

The more options you have, the more ways your system has to move, breathe, and handle load.

Have you tried these before??