Episode 33

Crystal Johnson: STEP Program

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Crystal Johnson: STEP Program
  55 min
Crystal Johnson: STEP Program
Keiser Human Performance Podcast
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In this episode of the Keiser Human Performance Podcast, Crystal dives into the development and impact of the STEP program, designed to support active aging and improve quality of life for older adults.

The conversation highlights how structured, accessible programming can empower individuals to stay active, build confidence, and maintain independence — especially in communities where guidance and resources may be limited. Crystal also shares insights into the importance of simplicity, consistency, and education when implementing programs that truly resonate with both participants and facilities.

From practical application to broader industry impact, this episode showcases how the STEP program is helping redefine what effective, inclusive fitness looks like for aging populations.

0:00:00.080,0:00:04.640
All right, Crystal, good morning. How you doing 
today? I'm good. How are you doing today? I'm

0:00:04.640,0:00:09.360
doing great. So, I understand that you're heading 
out west to British Columbia, maybe returning back

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home. What's your favorite part about being out 
there? Well, it's I miss the mountains probably

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the most and the freshwater lakes. Um, they're 
just you can't beat a glacierfed lake with a

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sandy beach in the middle of some mountains. And 
that's essentially where my hometown is nestled.

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So that part of going home is always like super 
restorative and just gets me excited to head back.

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Oh yeah, sounds terrible. Who wouldn't want that? 
So I'm excited to dive into our conversation today

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about STEP and the STEP program and you've really 
been at the forefront of it. You've been part

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of its creation, part of the implementation and 
going out and meeting with these community leaders

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to help implement STEP. So you know, you're the 
expert and we're really excited to hear from you.

0:00:55.360,0:00:58.880
So for someone that may be listening 
in today who has no idea what step is,

0:00:58.880,0:01:05.600
could you please describe to that listener 
really what is step? Yes. So step stands for

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stronger together empowering performance. It is 
our turnkey fitness solution for senior living

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and was built in alignment with our commitment 
to raising the standard for wellness for older

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adults. It is a vehicle to deliver our world-class 
equipment, evidence-backed research as well as an

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implementation framework so that when communities 
have step on site, they have the tools for their

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staff to be educated, they have the tools 
to market it, they have the tools to track

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the data and the outcomes. And so it's not just 
delivering a program, it's ensuring that we're

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delivering all the tools that a community might 
need to actually make that program successful. Oh,

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that's awesome. So it sounds like right not just 
selling equipment, not just providing equipment to

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an actual community and not even just stopping at, 
hey, here are some programs to go along with that,

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but a little bit more than that. And you mentioned 
really educating and empowering those communities

0:02:04.960,0:02:10.480
to really enhance performance for their 
population. So what was the inspiration for

0:02:10.480,0:02:19.840
this? Yeah. So you know when I moved into working 
primarily in our older adult market know like

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Kaiser's known in the older adult market. There 
are communities that have had Kaiser for over 20

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years. And the common thread that I was seeing was 
they love Kaiser. They love the way it feels. they

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would they're very brand loyal and they understand 
it's just so beneficial for their community

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members but a lot of the time they didn't fully 
understand how to use the equipment to its fullest

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and then I also saw a gap in the understanding of 
kind of basic training principles or at least the

0:02:51.760,0:03:01.760
application of them and so my first kind of move 
was to um design a pilot project where we could go

0:03:01.760,0:03:07.040
into a few of our communities and then that helps 
me understand the needs of our partners as well,

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but also to see what kind of results we might get 
by really taking training principles as well as

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our equipment as well as some on-site education 
and working handinand with these people to see

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what the outcome would be. My expectations were 
that it would go well because uh just because

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it's you know planned planned and it's evidence 
back. So you know that was my my my hope but I

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also was excited to see how it was adopted not 
just by the residents but by the staff that were

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on site. So that led to the pilot project and 
after you know consulting with all kinds of

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people either out in the um space in communities 
but then also on site at Kaiser learning about

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the origin of STEP because STEP this is an 
updated and rejuvenated and revised version

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of STEP but STEPP was actually first pioneered in 
30 years ago and it was pioneered by Keiser. It's

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our program that we're bringing back and making 
even better. All right. So, a revamped program,

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which is super cool. I'm curious to know more 
about this pilot program. Where did this start?

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Where did this begin? And what was some of the 
feedback from the pilot program? Yeah. So, we went

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into two communities here in North Carolina. Um, 
and two different kind of communities actually.

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one that was um just the community. No. Um they 
weren't open to uh outside membership. Uh it was

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just the community. We had uh 20 residents at that 
community. And then we were at uh Riverlanding at

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Sandy Ridge was the name of the community. And 
then the other community was Duke Center for

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Living Living at Galloway Ridge. And they're a 
um community. Galloway Ridge is the community,

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but they're partnered with Duke Center and 
they have a membership base of about 1500. So,

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we had a mix of mostly the membership was a part 
of the program. It was a 12week pilot project and

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we tested beginning uh midpoint and end with 
these communities. And we had amazing like it

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was great to see the numbers. Like I like I love 
to see the numbers and see somebody's leg power

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improve by 80%. We had a 72year-old woman um have 
an 80% increase in her leg power from beginning

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to end. But the average increase across all uh 
the participants was 17.9% in the power which

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was great, right? I mean that's only 12 weeks 
you know in my head it's like after that it

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really fueled a lot of the efforts to bring step 
to a fuller offering but you know the big part of

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that which was so powerful was actually being 
on site at the end of that 12 and hearing the

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stories from the residents. So, it's like, yeah, 
the numbers are great and that's wonderful. Um,

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but you know, there was a resident and one of the 
questions I I kind of posed to him was like, "What

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are you looking forward to in the future now?" Um, 
cuz he said um he was just feeling so much better.

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and he actually broke down um in tears because he 
didn't really have a plan for his future because

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he was in so much pain before he started. And so 
he kind of felt like I mean he was 83 years old,

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you know, so he was kind of felt like his life was 
coming to a close and he was having so much pain

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every morning he got up and went to the kitchen 
or to just get out of bed and do anything. and

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he had this entirely new outlook on what might 
be possible for his time moving forward. And so,

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you know, for me that's just like fuels my 
passion to bring this to as many people as

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possible because yes, the numbers are great, but 
that personal story where this man has seen such a

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huge improvement in his quality of life is really 
what it's about. Yeah, it's great. Thanks for the

0:07:26.080,0:07:29.920
share. I mean, it's great to see the alignment 
between the two, both the objective improvements,

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but then also anecdotally, just how people 
are self-reporting, how they're feeling,

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and what that can do to inspire them. You 
mentioned testing and that you tested everyone

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over this 12week period. What was that test? Was 
leg press. What machine were we testing on? Yeah,

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we for the pilot project, we used the leg press. 
We did a leg press. We did the five time sit to

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stand. We did a gate speed. And then we did a 
did we do a we did not do a balance test. We

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did a a self-reporting test on on confidence and 
falls. Now we've we've changed that testing for

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the actual step program and we've added in the 
upper body power. So it will be a chest and a

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leg press power test in our new protocol. But 
yeah, for this one we just use the leg press.

0:08:18.080,0:08:25.360
Very cool. And you mentioned before that you saw 
about an 18% increase over those 12 weeks. Is that

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correct? Yeah, average improvement of 17.9 across 
all residents. And you know, we we excluded data

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from that because we had an attendance policy. 
We actually had more people um participating,

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but we did exclude some of the data. I mean, 
the results like it's just so cool to go back.

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A lot of these people had never participated 
in structured programming that really targeted

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strength and power. You know, maybe a bit of 
strength in what they're doing, but you know,

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not in that kind of structured way where they're 
committing to, you know, a schedule and they're

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committing to an attendance policy and and all of 
these things that So, it was exciting to see that.

0:09:11.120,0:09:17.680
Okay. like and for them it was exciting to see you 
know for them it was exciting to see the changes

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that they could have and um we had this guy he was 
also in his 80s and he said during his debrief we

0:09:26.960,0:09:32.480
were chatting about it and he used to live in the 
Pacific Northwest so he loved talking about Canada

0:09:32.480,0:09:41.280
with me so he was telling me he goes well you 
know I I can go up a pound on these machines So,

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I can go up a pound each week, you know, and 
it's not too much. And at the end of a year,

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that's 52 lb. And I thought it was so Mhm. Well, 
just nice to hear like he's thinking about I need

0:09:54.960,0:10:00.320
to challenge myself. I need to progress these 
loads in order to see a change. And what was

0:10:00.320,0:10:05.520
great is afterwards I was kind of debriefing 
with the staff and I was like, hey, you know,

0:10:05.520,0:10:11.520
Bob was saying such and such. And one of the 
staff member was was like, "Ah, finally he

0:10:11.520,0:10:16.720
got it. He got it." He's like, "I've said that 
to him." So, it was wonderful to see one that

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the staff are reinforcing the message, but that 
the residents are picking it up and running or

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actually he wasn't a resident. He was a member at 
the at the space. And and to see him like take it

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and actually internalize it and then give it back 
to me was like, "Okay, now we're really cooking

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because he's taking this and actually applying 
it himself as his own knowledge." Yeah. And you

0:10:39.120,0:10:43.520
shared this story about this one individual who's 
thinking about the rest of his life. And we know

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that, you know, we're trying to have both lifespan 
and health span parallel with one another for as

0:10:51.760,0:10:56.800
long as possible, right? That's the goal here. And 
then you also mentioned strength and power. So and

0:10:56.800,0:11:04.480
we know with age power is one of the first things 
that declines. So step as I understand it really

0:11:04.480,0:11:09.520
addresses powerpia and is really focused on power 
and strength and you had mentioned that as well.

0:11:09.520,0:11:18.080
So tell us why is power so critical for these 
people? Yeah. Well critical and misunderstood

0:11:18.080,0:11:23.920
as well or just not thought about. Again, I think 
you're dealing with a subset of the population. I

0:11:23.920,0:11:28.880
mean, look, for the most part, people don't know 
about power. Like, if I just go into the gym,

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somebody my age isn't necessarily thinking about 
power or thinking about that they're training for

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power or even thinking about what is considered 
power, like what is a power movement, you know?

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And so a big part of the implementation or I 
think the success in any program with any client

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is being able to like pull apart these things and 
actually give them like explain to them what this

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means, you know, and for so I I focus a lot of 
my education around that because you know we know

0:12:04.160,0:12:10.640
that power drops off the earliest and the fastest 
when it comes to power, strength, and muscle mass.

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So, if we know that that's dropping off the 
earliest and there's like specific things we

0:12:17.120,0:12:25.280
can do trainingwise to address that, then we're 
going to see you can actually one, we can measure

0:12:25.280,0:12:32.400
it on our equipment, which is great. Um, two, 
then we can actually apply a method or a program

0:12:32.400,0:12:39.360
intervention that is going to help improve that. 
But the other piece is, well, why do you even want

0:12:39.360,0:12:47.040
power? You know, like for these people, look, if 
you need to go upstairs or get up out of a chair,

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you need muscular power. If you want to play 
pickle ball or you are concerned about falls

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when you go to trip, you need power. And so 
there is a there's part of that challenge of even

0:13:02.800,0:13:10.640
communicating and and getting the understanding 
through to the participants or the older adult

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or the client or whomever it is in front of you. 
But it is also with the wellness person whether

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it's wellness staff or a trainer or whatever. It's 
having them help understand like actually we need

0:13:23.600,0:13:34.560
to train power and that actually requires a speed 
component and a lot of the stigma and education

0:13:34.560,0:13:41.440
or belief that is in you know especially in the 
communities that I was in. Um, and I think it's,

0:13:41.440,0:13:48.480
you know, I would make a guess that most, you 
know, most communities are under this idea that

0:13:48.480,0:13:55.840
they need to train slow. It's safe to go slow and 
that they need to go slow in order to actually get

0:13:55.840,0:14:02.320
a training effect. And so there was the safety 
piece. So that required a lot of support from us

0:14:02.320,0:14:08.240
when we were delivering the pilot project. a lot 
of support from us of it is completely safe on

0:14:08.240,0:14:15.280
this equipment to move fast and if we're going to 
increase that power score which for the residents

0:14:15.280,0:14:20.640
like that was or the participants in the project 
that was a big deal to be able to see that power

0:14:20.640,0:14:26.320
score because it drove their intent like when 
they're looking at that score and you're pointing

0:14:26.320,0:14:31.920
it out I'm queuing them this number right here we 
want that to go up and there's two ways we can do

0:14:31.920,0:14:38.800
that we're going to increase the load and we're 
going to get you to move fast. And it didn't take

0:14:38.800,0:14:44.400
that much time because when they're staring 
at that number and trying to make it go up,

0:14:44.400,0:14:50.960
then you know it's like I don't actually Yes, 
I've explained the importance of power. Okay. Yes,

0:14:50.960,0:14:56.400
I've educated on that. But then when they get on 
that natural competition, that natural like, oo,

0:14:56.400,0:15:02.000
what can I what can I do? Can I can I surpass 
that? Can I beat that? That just came out.

0:15:02.000,0:15:07.840
And I think that really drove the intent of 
the entire program because when they got on,

0:15:07.840,0:15:13.920
that's what they're looking at. They're looking at 
load and they're looking at the power score. So,

0:15:13.920,0:15:20.000
it was really fun to go back, right? Cuz I was not 
on site for the 12 weeks. I was there on week zero

0:15:20.000,0:15:26.080
and I was there on week 12. And it was so fun 
to go back on week 12 and see how competitive

0:15:26.080,0:15:34.480
they were. like to see them looking at that number 
and just driving after a better score, you know,

0:15:34.480,0:15:40.560
um so much fun. Yeah, I bet. And you know, it's 
not too different than working with a population

0:15:40.560,0:15:45.440
of athletes where the moment you get them on, you 
know, a machine and there's three or four or five

0:15:45.440,0:15:49.920
of them or a whole group and they're looking at 
this number on the screen, this piece of objective

0:15:49.920,0:15:54.720
data becomes very motivating for everybody within 
the group, not just to compete against each other,

0:15:54.720,0:15:58.800
but to compete against theelves, which is no 
different than what you experience there with

0:15:58.800,0:16:04.720
the pilot program and in these communities. So, 
I like what you hit on saying that look, it's

0:16:04.720,0:16:09.040
not just training for power. It's not just the 
program and the machine that can do this, but the

0:16:09.040,0:16:17.120
understanding of why power is important. And as we 
know, power is really specific to the individual,

0:16:17.120,0:16:23.360
right? An athlete jumping, you know, 25-year-old 
basketball athlete, his or her power is going to

0:16:23.360,0:16:27.280
be very different than an older adult in their 
80s trying to get out of a chair. So, it's very

0:16:27.280,0:16:32.880
task specific, but also individual specific, which 
I think you hit on, which um is really great. So

0:16:32.880,0:16:38.400
well and like the best programs you know that's 
clear in the research like the best programs you

0:16:38.400,0:16:45.200
know or the programs that are most successful have 
um are attended by uh or guided by professionals

0:16:45.200,0:16:50.720
and are individualized and when you I don't 
I'm not sure if you've seen this that video

0:16:50.720,0:16:55.600
you probably have but one of the participants was 
talking about you're competing against yourself

0:16:55.600,0:17:03.520
you know and she no one told her that that's the 
attitude she naturally adopted by looking at a

0:17:03.520,0:17:11.040
score on a screen and being supported to go in and 
get a better score. And everybody adapted to that

0:17:11.040,0:17:15.440
a little bit differently. So, they get to bring 
themselves into that and you get to see what they

0:17:15.440,0:17:20.800
do with it. So, it's fun. for communities that 
have never had Keiser. before that now bring in

0:17:20.800,0:17:25.920
equipment into the facility and begin with step. 
What is what's the feedback you're getting from

0:17:25.920,0:17:34.240
those participants about how the Keiser. pneumatic 
resistance feels for them? Yeah. So, you know,

0:17:34.240,0:17:39.040
I am not sure that I've been in a community where 
they've never had Kaiser. Like I've certainly

0:17:39.040,0:17:43.040
talked to communities that have never had Kaiser. 
I've talked to wellness professionals that have

0:17:43.040,0:17:49.040
never Kaiser and get on Kaiser. But when it comes 
to actual residents, they will talk like residents

0:17:49.040,0:17:55.760
that have Kaiser or access to Kaiser or older 
adults that have access to Kaiser, they will

0:17:55.760,0:18:03.360
talk about the difference. Um, so we had um we 
had one of the participants, he was had been in

0:18:03.360,0:18:09.280
a hospital setting training and he had just been 
using regular iron mass in his rehabilitation from

0:18:09.280,0:18:16.400
I'm not sure what. And he he had the comments of, 
"Man, this just feels different. This just feels

0:18:16.400,0:18:22.800
better. I really like this." And and he didn't 
need any education on that at all. I mean, like,

0:18:22.800,0:18:28.640
we could give him all the education on pneumatics 
versus mass. like we could do all of that, but for

0:18:28.640,0:18:35.040
him, he found I just naturally move toward this. 
Uh it feels so much better. It's so much easier

0:18:35.040,0:18:40.960
to adjust the weight. Um and I've heard that time 
and time again from uh from different residents

0:18:40.960,0:18:46.720
that might be using other kind of mass-based 
resistance in their community because they might

0:18:46.720,0:18:52.080
have access to some of that. uh Duke Center for 
Living has a ton of Kaiser equipment, but it also

0:18:52.080,0:18:58.720
has some traditional equipment and they can't 
always put their finger on why it's different,

0:18:58.720,0:19:04.720
but they have a preference for it. So I, you know, 
I and sometimes I go into the education of it for

0:19:04.720,0:19:09.840
sure with them, but it wouldn't matter if I did 
or didn't, they would still move toward the Kaiser

0:19:09.840,0:19:17.760
because it feels so good to them and it feels 
smooth. It feels so smooth is the report. Got it.

0:19:17.760,0:19:24.160
And earlier you had mentioned the safety aspect 
of it. So can you hit on that too? I know that's a

0:19:24.160,0:19:29.840
barrier when considering a lot of different types 
of equipment to bring into these communities. So

0:19:29.840,0:19:38.880
can you talk a little bit about or expand on the 
safety aspect of it? Yeah. So that was something

0:19:38.880,0:19:45.360
when I started doing more education here of like 
how do I get this like how do I communicate this?

0:19:45.360,0:19:53.120
How can I? Because it is a barrier. It's like this 
idea that moving fast isn't safe. And and one they

0:19:53.120,0:19:58.560
need to lean on your confidence, you know? So, as 
a wellness professional, being confident in what

0:19:58.560,0:20:05.760
you're actually prescribing makes a very big deal 
in how willing the people that you're leading are

0:20:05.760,0:20:13.280
to follow. And so, that was a big piece of it. But 
the other piece is it's not it's not speed that's

0:20:13.280,0:20:20.560
unsafe. It's the equipment that isn't isn't able 
to handle speed safely that's really important

0:20:20.560,0:20:26.960
and our equipment handles speed completely safely 
whereas you know and I talk about this like that

0:20:26.960,0:20:32.880
is can be a challenge with power if you're using 
traditional methods is I wouldn't recommend it

0:20:32.880,0:20:40.320
like it isn't going to be safe. So like in some 
ways like yes that's true and here's why it's

0:20:40.320,0:20:47.040
not true in this circumstance. you know, we're 
not, you know, doing power cleans here. We're on

0:20:47.040,0:20:54.240
a piece of equipment that is very much limited 
in its degrees of range of motion and we have,

0:20:54.240,0:21:00.720
you know, a resistance method in pneumatics 
that is safe to handle that speed, making

0:21:00.720,0:21:07.120
it so much safer on the joints, which is again 
points at what these residents and clients are

0:21:07.120,0:21:15.040
talking about of it just feels better. It just 
feels smoother. Well, yeah, because we don't

0:21:15.040,0:21:22.160
have inertia playing in because we're working with 
pneumatics. So, it's definitely a barrier and not

0:21:22.160,0:21:27.280
just with the residents, with the staff as well, 
you know. But once they once they commit to it,

0:21:27.280,0:21:35.600
and again, when they started the um by staring 
at that number and trying to get a better score,

0:21:35.600,0:21:42.640
they naturally just started moving faster, right? 
So, and safely, right? Because they weren't having

0:21:42.640,0:21:47.200
they weren't getting tremendous amounts of muscle 
soreness either after their training, right? So,

0:21:47.200,0:21:51.920
now they're training, they're getting these great 
results. They're not having all of this, you know,

0:21:51.920,0:21:59.040
soreness around it and it feels smooth and safe. 
You know, confidence just really grew across the

0:21:59.040,0:22:04.960
time. Yeah. Awesome. Let's pivot to the staff side 
of things. I'm curious to know how this works.

0:22:04.960,0:22:09.840
Let's say I'm a fitness director at one of these 
communities in North Carolina, South Carolina,

0:22:09.840,0:22:15.920
wherever it may be, and you reach out to me about 
step. How does this program even start? How do I

0:22:15.920,0:22:25.040
how do I implement it? And how does Kaiser help me 
do all of that? Yeah. So, we have so many really

0:22:25.040,0:22:31.520
cool assets and resources that we've created to 
go along with this. And all of the things that we

0:22:31.520,0:22:38.560
have developed is Yeah. We developed it from, you 
know, all our backgrounds in coaching and and and

0:22:38.560,0:22:45.200
sport and exercise prescription and all of those 
things. Um, and from running wellness programs and

0:22:45.200,0:22:49.840
other places like all of that comes into play, 
but we actually ask the communities, you know,

0:22:49.840,0:22:57.600
how are you what what would be helpful for you? 
And and to be clear, it's a living breathing

0:22:57.600,0:23:02.240
thing. as we get more and more communities in 
this, we're going to be listening and we're

0:23:02.240,0:23:08.000
going to continue to provide the resources that 
communities need in order to make this successful.

0:23:08.000,0:23:13.520
But if you're coming in and you're like, I want to 
run this step, how does this how does this happen?

0:23:13.520,0:23:18.960
And the second um somebody decides that they're 
doing this and they decide to partner with this

0:23:18.960,0:23:27.600
on this journey this step um one they're going to 
get um they're going to get every step of the way

0:23:27.600,0:23:32.560
prior to even if they've ordered equipment because 
sometimes communities have equipment and they're

0:23:32.560,0:23:38.400
just adding step to what they already have. Um but 
what they're going to do is they're going to get

0:23:38.400,0:23:43.520
a sequence of emails that's going to deliver all 
the things that they need. First and foremost, we

0:23:43.520,0:23:51.200
have a certification, step certification that the 
staff that are on site are going to be given. Uh,

0:23:51.200,0:23:56.880
and the expectation is you're going to get through 
that certification and then when we come on site,

0:23:56.880,0:24:03.440
you're going to be primed to review and really 
get into the practical side of how we apply this

0:24:03.440,0:24:10.720
program. The other big support that we have is 
the uh Keiser. community and we have a section off

0:24:10.720,0:24:16.480
for that where there's you're going to be able 
to have ask questions to a step expert. You're

0:24:16.480,0:24:21.440
going to be able to access all the resources 
that go along with step which is going to be

0:24:21.440,0:24:27.360
the marketing resources you need to share it 
with your community successfully um and also

0:24:27.360,0:24:32.160
the resources to celebrate your success when it's 
done. It's going to have educational materials

0:24:32.160,0:24:38.320
that you can share with the residents, flyers, 
posters, pictures, videos. We've tried to think

0:24:38.320,0:24:44.560
about everything that a community might need to be 
able to promote this internally and then promote

0:24:44.560,0:24:51.040
it externally to potential new residents that are 
coming in. We want them to have the assets to say,

0:24:51.040,0:24:56.800
"This is our commitment. This is where we're going 
and we're supported by Kaiser in that." and this

0:24:56.800,0:25:03.920
program is is has you know depending on how many 
years someone's decided to commit to you're going

0:25:03.920,0:25:09.040
to get all your programming for those years. So 
that's kind of the big initial and then we come on

0:25:09.040,0:25:15.760
site and when we come on site the purpose of that 
is one to think of it as like a launch planning

0:25:15.760,0:25:20.000
like we want to relaunch your wellness space if 
it's been around for a while or if it's a brand

0:25:20.000,0:25:24.960
new wellness space we want to help you launch it 
and this program is a really exciting thing that

0:25:24.960,0:25:34.160
you can invite your members your residents to to 
kind of kick that off. And it's always, I'm sure

0:25:34.160,0:25:38.640
you experienced this in your coaching, like where 
you would tell somebody something a million times,

0:25:38.640,0:25:42.160
but then they heard it a second time from 
somebody and you were and they were like,

0:25:42.160,0:25:46.640
"Oh, I finally get it." And it's like sometimes 
the staff has been telling their residents,

0:25:46.640,0:25:52.480
"Look, we need to do this and you need to strength 
train." But then you have an outside professional

0:25:52.480,0:25:58.720
come in and say it and supporting everything 
you're saying, which then um can support the

0:25:58.720,0:26:03.760
wellness professional's efforts moving forward. 
hopefully drive them towards their wellness

0:26:03.760,0:26:09.440
initiatives with more success. So when we come on 
site, we do education of the general staff, we do

0:26:09.440,0:26:15.680
education of the wellness staff, we do education 
of the residents, and then we walk through all the

0:26:15.680,0:26:21.680
testing protocols, all the programming and all the 
resources that are available to them to be able to

0:26:21.680,0:26:26.320
implement this successfully. Yeah, I think that's 
so important. the education side. I mean, we hit

0:26:26.320,0:26:31.680
on it before, but to have this three-headed, 
you know, education piece, which is not just

0:26:31.680,0:26:36.240
the fitness leader in that community, not just the 
residents, but then also the people in charge of

0:26:36.240,0:26:39.920
that community. I think it's really important for 
everybody to understand what's going on there and

0:26:39.920,0:26:44.320
how this really impacts everybody. You have 
more buyin across the board and you have this

0:26:44.320,0:26:51.600
understanding of why, not just what, but why this 
is here and what we're trying to accomplish. Well,

0:26:51.600,0:27:01.520
100%. and and um when um like we're going to 
be the experts on Kaiser because like this is

0:27:01.520,0:27:08.080
like our this is our stuff right and education 
that's provided specifically from the vendor is

0:27:08.080,0:27:13.920
always going to be more valuable than say going on 
YouTube and hearing from somebody that is you know

0:27:13.920,0:27:18.320
they might love Keiser. might be a Keiser. champion 
you're probably going to get some good info there

0:27:18.320,0:27:25.680
but the messaging and support and education 
provided by the vendor itself is going to be

0:27:25.680,0:27:32.480
the best thing that you can get. Yeah. And I think 
you know I can speak for our company is that we

0:27:32.480,0:27:39.040
really view this as a partnership not necessarily 
just a sale. So this is an extension of the sale

0:27:39.040,0:27:43.440
is that now we get to create a partnership 
between the buyer the customer and this is

0:27:43.440,0:27:49.040
something that lasts much longer than just the 
sale transaction which I think is fantastic. So,

0:27:49.040,0:27:54.800
how about from a programming standpoint? Now, can 
you hit on or shine some light on the programming

0:27:54.800,0:28:02.320
that we've provided for this step program? Yes. 
So, there's four quarters of programming in each

0:28:02.320,0:28:10.000
year of STEP strength and power-based programming. 
We have the Keiser. uh performance index,

0:28:10.000,0:28:16.640
which is our assessment protocol. And then 
we've got um some specific programming as

0:28:16.640,0:28:22.800
well. I believe we've got pickle ball. We've got 
a golf program. We've got a couple different kind

0:28:22.800,0:28:28.880
of specific targeted goals, I guess, programming. 
Pickle ball is a big deal. One of the communities

0:28:28.880,0:28:33.520
that we did the pilot project in, they have 
a 9-hole golf course at their community. So,

0:28:33.520,0:28:39.200
golf got asked about a lot. And that library 
is just going to continue to grow, especially

0:28:39.200,0:28:43.840
as requests are made, but like especially as we 
see what the needs of more of these partners,

0:28:43.840,0:28:49.920
like we're in the beginning of step right now. Um, 
we're about to start launching this in a couple

0:28:49.920,0:28:56.240
communities this fall in a longer like in the 
year-long process which we're going to get even

0:28:56.240,0:29:03.600
more valuable feedback and be able to provide kind 
of these specialized programming pieces. But yeah,

0:29:03.600,0:29:11.760
it's exciting to see um the interest and then and 
yeah, I think it's great to see that we're really

0:29:11.760,0:29:17.520
leaning into the partnership aspect of it and 
our users to get feedback as this evolves and it

0:29:17.520,0:29:21.520
grows. And as you mentioned, this actually started 
a really, really, really long time ago and now we

0:29:21.520,0:29:25.600
have this rebirth of it. But even though there 
is a rebirth, it's still something that's in the

0:29:25.600,0:29:30.640
works, which I think is great because it allows 
us to really end up providing a finished product

0:29:30.640,0:29:37.600
that has been reviewed, that has been tested by 
these actual users and really co-created by these

0:29:37.600,0:29:45.520
users in the end. Yeah. Well, you know, um you 
mentioned like a couple things in there. One,

0:29:45.520,0:29:54.000
the partnership aspect. You know, Kaiser's vision 
is to improve human performance regardless of age

0:29:54.000,0:30:02.240
or physical restriction. it, you know, that 
doesn't that means we to me you can't just

0:30:02.240,0:30:08.080
drop off equipment then because if our goal is to 
actually improve human performance then what are

0:30:08.080,0:30:14.320
we doing to actually further that right and step 
is the answer to that you know step is the answer

0:30:14.320,0:30:20.800
to that and and an ongoing partnership because 
we know that these communities are going to have

0:30:20.800,0:30:25.440
success that they're going to get the results 
when they're applying this stuff and have the

0:30:25.440,0:30:31.520
education on even how to do that, you know. And 
then the other piece that you mentioned about

0:30:31.520,0:30:37.760
like the origins of STEP, I don't know if I said 
this earlier, but STEPP was originally helmed by

0:30:37.760,0:30:42.720
Colin Milner. And Colin Milner is now the CEO and 
founder of International Council of Active Aging,

0:30:42.720,0:30:48.000
but he used to be the Kaiser sales head 
of sales, you know, 30 years ago. And so,

0:30:48.000,0:30:53.680
it's really interesting the timing of it. It 
feels kind of like kismmet almost. But you know,

0:30:53.680,0:31:00.240
Colin was telling this story at a webinar at a 
conference or something and he was saying you

0:31:00.240,0:31:08.560
in 1996 he was in the the landmark study out of 
Tus University that was done on Keiser. or Keiser.

0:31:08.560,0:31:16.800
equipment came out and what that study showed was 
that resistance training um was very beneficial

0:31:16.800,0:31:25.840
for um frail older like frail adult frail older 
adults. So, you know, Colin tells a story of

0:31:25.840,0:31:33.200
of that study being released and we actually 
have a really cool picture of this 91year-old

0:31:33.200,0:31:40.320
woman on some old Kaiser, like an old Kaiser leg 
extension, you know, 1996. And he when Colin got

0:31:40.320,0:31:45.120
that information, he was in this cab with the head 
of the CDC and he was so excited. He was like,

0:31:45.120,0:31:52.480
"Look at this. Look at this. This is going to like 
be so important moving forward." And this guy,

0:31:52.480,0:32:00.320
the head of the CDC said, "It'll take 30 years 
for that research to kind of permeate the minds

0:32:00.320,0:32:05.760
of the people out there." And then, you know, 
STEPP was kind of birthed from there. And Kay

0:32:05.760,0:32:11.920
Van Norman of Brilliant Aging was also involved 
with the Kaiser Institute of Aging and was heavily

0:32:11.920,0:32:18.160
involved with the implementation of STEPP at that 
time. Cool. You know, you've got this backstory.

0:32:18.160,0:32:25.040
Well, this that's 30 years ago, right? So, 30 
years later, here we are. And it is very well

0:32:25.040,0:32:31.840
accepted that resistance training is important in 
these wellness programs. And yet, most wellness

0:32:31.840,0:32:39.520
programs are not implementing it effectively, 
you know. So, now we're there's that piece and

0:32:39.520,0:32:45.760
then the other piece is very few of those studies 
actually studied power. They studied strength.

0:32:45.760,0:32:51.200
They studied dynopenia, but they didn't study 
power. And so there's this thing where we're kind

0:32:51.200,0:32:57.040
of at the forefront of that because we know the 
importance of power. I think the research again,

0:32:57.040,0:33:02.720
we're going to see that uptick in the next 
however many years and decades to come.

0:33:02.720,0:33:08.000
But we have a really important place I think 
in that we have this program and we have the

0:33:08.000,0:33:13.760
education and we understand the importance of 
this stuff and we get to bring it to these people

0:33:13.760,0:33:19.040
before you know we get to bring it just like Colin 
brought step into these communities to champion

0:33:19.040,0:33:24.160
resistance training. We get to bring that back 
using modern technology things like these online

0:33:24.160,0:33:30.320
learning platforms and communities and the fact 
that we can hop on a Zoom at any time and help a

0:33:30.320,0:33:36.880
partner on this journey. But we also have the 
ability to really target not just resistance

0:33:36.880,0:33:43.520
training but power training. And so I just excite 
I think the timing is especially the timing and

0:33:43.520,0:33:49.760
the research and the 30 years is one thing but 
we're also at a time where the last of the baby

0:33:49.760,0:33:55.840
boomers just turned 65. And so the population 
is at a place where they really need these

0:33:55.840,0:34:03.280
tools and exciting that we actually have have 
them available to provide to these communities

0:34:03.280,0:34:09.200
and partner with them on the journey. Well said. 
I mean that was awesome and appreciate the tidbit

0:34:09.200,0:34:17.200
and the the the journey of Colin's words until 
now um or the head of CDC's words until now. So

0:34:17.200,0:34:22.000
um what kind of flexibility does the STEP program 
provide? I mean, let's say I'm a community fitness

0:34:22.000,0:34:28.880
leader and I only have one or two pieces. Could 
I be enrolled in step? And on the flip side,

0:34:28.880,0:34:34.240
the other end of the spectrum, let's say I had 
a bunch of Keiser and a lot of other types of

0:34:34.240,0:34:39.440
resistance training methods and equipment in 
there. Can step work for anybody? Does it have

0:34:39.440,0:34:44.080
to be Keiser only? How does this work? Yeah, 
you definitely have to have the appropriate

0:34:44.080,0:34:52.240
equipment for it. the way it's designed right now 
like we have designed the programming around a

0:34:52.240,0:34:58.880
um a specific set of equipment of 69 and 12 
pieces just based on what we understand about

0:34:58.880,0:35:04.640
resistance training and the aging population and 
how they need to train. We have some communities

0:35:04.640,0:35:11.600
that are interested in STEP but their equipment 
doesn't feature the uh power score. So, you know,

0:35:11.600,0:35:17.280
that's not going to work either. The Yeah. So 
we we do have specific equipment recommendations

0:35:17.280,0:35:21.840
we make so that the programming can be applied 
and we can actually get the results we're going

0:35:21.840,0:35:25.600
after. And then was there a second part to that 
question? I feel like I'm missing something. No,

0:35:25.600,0:35:30.720
just is a requirement for having a minimum amount 
of Kaiser but then also if I have other forms of

0:35:30.720,0:35:35.040
resistance training and and their mass space 
resistance, can that be weaved into this or

0:35:35.040,0:35:40.640
is this really specific to Kaiser equipment? I 
think I can see us moving that direction right

0:35:40.640,0:35:47.920
now. No. I think right now we're focused on um 
we're focused on the product we have and getting

0:35:47.920,0:35:54.320
it to as many people as possible. But I think as 
this kind of gets picked up uh that that might be

0:35:54.320,0:36:00.160
a direction we go where we can offer um you know 
yes you can train on Kaiser and you can train it

0:36:00.160,0:36:06.000
gets way more individualized as we start doing 
that. And so that's where the challenge arises

0:36:06.000,0:36:09.920
with the programming piece. If you've got 50 
communities and they all have 50 different pieces

0:36:09.920,0:36:15.840
of equipment, then the the programming becomes 
a little trickier. But I feel like that's kind

0:36:15.840,0:36:20.000
of one of those things I feel like we'll cross 
that bridge when we come to it. I think like we

0:36:20.000,0:36:26.560
definitely have we definitely have partners that 
take their Kaiser equipment and they have also

0:36:26.560,0:36:33.520
mass-based resistance and they create circuits or 
they create programming that involves both pieces.

0:36:33.520,0:36:38.320
And I think that's great. like you're going to 
get a different you're going to be able to target

0:36:38.320,0:36:43.040
different things that way and I think that's 
wonderful but right now step doesn't include

0:36:43.040,0:36:49.680
um you know that kind of programming. Sure. But it 
sounds like the way it's being adopted is that it

0:36:49.680,0:36:55.760
does provide for some flexibility for a community 
fitness leader. It's not so rigid and that these

0:36:55.760,0:37:00.480
principles can't be applied to other areas. It's 
their choice on you know how to use it as they see

0:37:00.480,0:37:06.640
fit for their population. So the other question I 
had was how much does testing play a part in the

0:37:06.640,0:37:14.640
programming and in the step program? Are there 
specific times throughout the program that users

0:37:14.640,0:37:21.760
are supposed to be testing? Yeah. So we encourage 
them to test quarterly. Yeah. We encourage them to

0:37:21.760,0:37:26.800
test quarterly and then we can actually get the 
feedback on how each program like what kind of

0:37:26.800,0:37:33.920
results did we get out of the programming. And I 
think if we're looking at creating engagement and

0:37:33.920,0:37:40.320
retention in the wellness programs, it's really 
helpful for the participants to be able to see and

0:37:40.320,0:37:47.840
track the changes that they're making from program 
to program. Yeah, that's great. Now, question for

0:37:47.840,0:37:54.320
you for a wellness director or executive director 
right now of a community listening in who maybe

0:37:54.320,0:37:58.640
feels stuck about the programming that they're 
providing, about the equipment they're providing,

0:37:58.640,0:38:05.040
whether that be walking clubs or just chair yoga. 
What's your message to them about why step could

0:38:05.040,0:38:21.200
be a spark for them and what they're looking for? 
Oh well, what would my message be to this person?

0:38:21.200,0:38:28.560
Power really matters. It really matters for these 
individuals. It matters for their quality of life.

0:38:28.560,0:38:35.600
It matters for them to maintain their physical 
capacity as long as possible because a person

0:38:35.600,0:38:39.920
that's going to maintain that physical capacity 
and that functional independence as long as

0:38:39.920,0:38:46.560
possible is a person that is engaging with your 
community that is able to contribute their,

0:38:46.560,0:38:51.840
you know, their natural skills and gifts to the 
community that gets to be able to live life on

0:38:51.840,0:38:58.720
their own terms longer. Um, and if we're not 
addressing these very very clearly evidenced

0:38:58.720,0:39:05.680
things of power and strength and muscle mass, 
you know, that we can, you know, acquire through

0:39:05.680,0:39:11.120
through doing more structured programming like 
this, then we're really missing out on a big piece

0:39:11.120,0:39:17.600
of the challenges that aging brings. Um, you know, 
we want, you know, older adults that participate

0:39:17.600,0:39:26.400
in wellness programs typically stay independent 
2.7 years longer. That matters. That matters.

0:39:26.400,0:39:34.160
That means that person that matters from a from 
the person that's experiencing 2.7 years longer,

0:39:34.160,0:39:41.280
but it matters on the back end for how vital your 
community is, right? I mean it's there there is a

0:39:41.280,0:39:47.920
reframing of aging that is happening right now in 
the sense of agency and bridging the gap between

0:39:47.920,0:39:55.600
age and agency and this idea of the narrative of 
the last third of your life. Right? That idea of

0:39:55.600,0:40:02.720
health span extending our health span to actually 
meet our lifespan. And older adults are have a far

0:40:02.720,0:40:09.120
greater expectation now more than ever that they 
want access to that and that they want to stave

0:40:09.120,0:40:15.680
off these things. And so yes, being active is 
important. And I think walking clubs are great.

0:40:15.680,0:40:20.560
Those are great social things that we can engage 
in and they're great ways to build community. You

0:40:20.560,0:40:25.760
know, a lot of these other programs are wonderful 
for those things. But when it comes to actually

0:40:25.760,0:40:32.080
tackling this idea of functional independence, we 
have to have power training in the mix. I think

0:40:32.080,0:40:39.440
it's our responsibility to do that. I don't you 
know wellness professionals and people in these

0:40:39.440,0:40:45.040
communities they don't get into this because 
you know it's this fancy excite you know like

0:40:45.040,0:40:49.440
thing. they get in cuz it's a heart centered 
profession for you know these are people that

0:40:49.440,0:40:54.960
really you're in a community and you're seeing 
these people every day you know you're in their

0:40:54.960,0:41:02.480
lives you know you're in their homes providing 
providing these services and I think there is a

0:41:02.480,0:41:09.200
responsibility there to really go after what you 
you know understanding one what your limitations

0:41:09.200,0:41:15.120
are and going after the the knowledge the 
skills and the resources to be able to provide

0:41:15.120,0:41:20.560
that for these people and I think as a vendor 
it's our responsibility to make sure that we're

0:41:20.560,0:41:27.200
um communicating that message and offering 
it as well. So that's I guess what my message

0:41:27.200,0:41:32.400
would be. I can tell how much you love you know 
being a part of these communities and visiting

0:41:32.400,0:41:36.880
it. It's clearly coming out in the way you speak 
about it. So it's really appreciated and awesome

0:41:36.880,0:41:43.840
to hear. It matters. Aging is not easy and being 
in these communities like you know I was talking

0:41:43.840,0:41:49.760
with a wellness professional and they had lost 
you know in one year think about this how many

0:41:49.760,0:41:55.920
losses have you had and we don't have to get into 
it and it's personal but in one year how much loss

0:41:55.920,0:42:03.040
do you experience in like important people in your 
life that pass on you know it's not it's not very

0:42:03.040,0:42:11.360
much typically especially yeartoyear but in this 
community. I think they had something they had 40

0:42:11.360,0:42:18.240
um community members die in a year and this 
wellness assistant had personal interactions

0:42:18.240,0:42:26.880
and personal connections with 30 of those. So 
30 losses she experienced that year. You know,

0:42:26.880,0:42:33.200
these are 30 people that she saw semi-regularly 
probably. that's you're you're dealing with loss

0:42:33.200,0:42:41.520
regularly and you're at this important time of 
life where dignity really matters. And I think in

0:42:41.520,0:42:48.560
our wellness spaces, we have the opportunity 
to offer really empowering programs that

0:42:48.560,0:42:55.680
um that hopefully create that independence 
longer to be able to live with that dignity

0:42:55.680,0:43:01.920
even longer. Yeah. Well said. Well said. We spoke 
with Pat Van Galen a few months ago too who works

0:43:01.920,0:43:05.680
in those communities out in Montana. She's doing 
a bunch of great work too and she always talked

0:43:05.680,0:43:10.160
about this image sticks with me about health span 
and lifespan and manipulating the trajectory of

0:43:10.160,0:43:14.720
those things, right? So having them, like I said 
earlier, run parallel with one another and then

0:43:14.720,0:43:20.320
you really want it to fall off a cliff at the end. 
You don't really want it to be this slow decline

0:43:20.320,0:43:26.080
um you know downwards with both of those. But 
really lifespan, health span, maintain, maintain,

0:43:26.080,0:43:31.520
maintain or increase and then off the cliff at the 
end. So it's kind of an image that has stuck with

0:43:31.520,0:43:36.640
me and throughout this conversation too. Something 
I've been thinking about. So looking forward and

0:43:36.640,0:43:41.760
we mentioned STEP is a newer program or newly 
rejuvenated program. What excites you most about

0:43:41.760,0:43:48.240
the future of power training and step and where 
do you really see this in 5 to 10 years from now?

0:43:49.520,0:43:58.160
That's a that's a big one. So, this has expanded 
just so many times for me. Like I I did not expect

0:43:58.160,0:44:03.600
I I did not set out with I'm going to build this 
program or I'm going to champion this program

0:44:03.600,0:44:09.280
at Kaiser at all. It's something that I could 
see there was a need for it. I could see that

0:44:09.280,0:44:15.840
we had a history in this and I can see that it 
worked. So, how can we up the Annie? you know,

0:44:15.840,0:44:21.840
in the future in five to 10 years, I would 
love to see this program everywhere. I want

0:44:21.840,0:44:26.560
to in every single community that's 
out there, I want people to understand

0:44:26.560,0:44:32.480
um that power training isn't a nice to have. 
It's a mustave and I want to see this globally.

0:44:32.480,0:44:39.600
I have a a meeting with a community in Australia 
coming up. And how cool that we are championing

0:44:39.600,0:44:45.280
this and raising the standard and leading 
our own narrative for what this can be,

0:44:45.280,0:44:52.080
for what aging brings, right? Because often, 
you know, we're looking at aging as like or

0:44:52.080,0:44:58.880
the experiences of aging. And really, it's 
deconditioning more than anything, right?

0:44:58.880,0:45:04.080
like we if we've never resistance trained 
like we're just deconditioned and yeah that

0:45:04.080,0:45:10.080
falls off even more as we age with the shifts 
that naturally occur with aging but you know

0:45:10.080,0:45:17.680
where I want to see this go is I want to see 
a complete shift in how we approach training

0:45:17.680,0:45:24.720
the older adult and I want to I want people to 
look to Keiser as a thought leader in the space

0:45:24.720,0:45:32.080
you know that's that's my No, that's great. 
And I got one fun question for you as we wrap

0:45:32.080,0:45:41.520
up here. Okay. You've been on a lot of pieces of 
Keiser equipment. What's your personal favorite?

0:45:41.520,0:45:46.880
I can tell you my personal least favorite is the 
runner, but I really enjoy it. That's a tough one.

0:45:46.880,0:45:52.320
I get on the leg press a lot because I do a lot of 
testing on that. So, that's a lot of fun to me. I

0:45:52.320,0:45:57.520
love the functional trainer because of the vers. 
See, I can't just answer one. I love a functional

0:45:57.520,0:46:03.440
trainer because it gives so much versatility, 
but the other one that I absolutely love is

0:46:03.440,0:46:14.080
the four-way hip. Love the four-way hip. How come? 
Um, so I think with my athletic background, so I,

0:46:14.080,0:46:19.280
you know, I never trained on Keiser when I was an 
athlete. uh I never had access to it and I was in

0:46:19.280,0:46:27.280
a pretty dogmatic kind of school of thought where 
that didn't even I just didn't even know about it.

0:46:27.280,0:46:31.520
You know, I remember seeing it at a school and 
thinking like, "Oh, that's interesting." Like,

0:46:31.520,0:46:36.560
"What's that about, but I was not an 
athlete anymore at that point." And so,

0:46:36.560,0:46:44.240
I have injuries from all the years of training 
like an animal because Gabe, I was a complete

0:46:44.240,0:46:52.720
animal. I was a complete animal. And so I have 
definitely some injuries and just niggles from

0:46:52.720,0:46:59.840
different things that had a long time resolving. 
And so the four-way hip just feels amazing. Like

0:46:59.840,0:47:07.360
it just feels so good when I do it. I have this 
kind of long kind of standing thing disc issue

0:47:07.360,0:47:12.640
in my back that seemed to be really great with 
that. The other thing I like is I'm going to

0:47:12.640,0:47:20.800
keep talking here. Okay, the the leg extension 
pro and the hamstring curl. What I liked about

0:47:20.800,0:47:27.120
those is with some of that kind of disc stuff, 
I have discrepancies and leg power on one side

0:47:27.120,0:47:33.840
versus the other. And so to be able to train them 
independently um and see those differences and

0:47:33.840,0:47:40.240
then actually close the gap on those differences 
made such a huge difference and it actually

0:47:40.240,0:47:45.200
shifted some of the symptoms that I was having as 
far as pain. So that was really cool. But one of

0:47:45.200,0:47:52.480
my light bulb moments with Keiser that really 
really changed things for me was doing bench

0:47:52.480,0:47:58.320
press and doing a combination of air and mass on 
bench press cuz I didn't even realize that I had

0:47:58.320,0:48:06.080
pain. Uh doing bench press like as an athlete you 
learn to just shut down that response or at least

0:48:06.080,0:48:14.640
I had. And I performed a couple reps with mass 
and then I did a combination of air and mass.

0:48:14.640,0:48:21.920
And the juxtiposition of those two sets, one that 
was full mass and one that was half and half was

0:48:21.920,0:48:28.240
shocking to me. Um like I have an exercise science 
background where I worked with traumatically

0:48:28.240,0:48:37.120
injured traumatically injured people for years 
and I know to not train with pain. Like I know

0:48:37.120,0:48:43.760
that I've given that recommendation. I've educated 
on that recommendation, but in my head I was like,

0:48:43.760,0:48:48.400
I always have pain with bench press. So, I'm just 
going to have to shut this down if I want to keep

0:48:48.400,0:48:54.160
bench pressing. It didn't matter what kind of 
supportive exercise, corrective exercise, prehab,

0:48:54.160,0:49:01.280
rehab, like exercise that I did for my shoulder, 
I would always have pain. And so to do uh a few

0:49:01.280,0:49:11.120
reps with mass and then to do a few reps of mixed 
mass and air was shocking to me because when I did

0:49:11.120,0:49:16.880
those reps with a combination of mass and air, I 
did not have any shoulder pain for the first time

0:49:16.880,0:49:22.960
and I don't even know how long. It shocked me and 
it was like the light bulb went on at that moment

0:49:22.960,0:49:28.000
and it was early in my journey at Keiser So, it 
was highly influential in my passion for what it

0:49:28.000,0:49:33.520
is we do and what it is we make. That's awesome. 
Thank you for the share. And last question for

0:49:33.520,0:49:41.280
you. Uh, we started this episode with your trip 
out into the Northwest here. So, as you think

0:49:41.280,0:49:46.960
about returning home, are there any food spots or 
anything you're looking forward to uh as you go

0:49:46.960,0:49:52.080
out to, you know, back to British Columbia there? 
Um, any particular restaurant that you're really

0:49:52.080,0:50:01.040
excited to have, you know? I grew up in a really 
small town. So nearest city 5 hours away. We did

0:50:01.040,0:50:06.720
not have restaurants. We did not have fast food. 
We had a Dairy Queen. That was it. So when I think

0:50:06.720,0:50:14.800
about going home, I I do not actually think of 
a single food place that I would want to go to.

0:50:14.800,0:50:26.640
It's so wild to me. Maybe some home cooking. Well, 
no, not Dairy Queen. It is. I love food and I love

0:50:26.640,0:50:31.200
to eat, but it's so funny like there are like a 
couple new restaurants that have kind of popped

0:50:31.200,0:50:36.240
up. So, I'll definitely go check them out because 
my hometown has definitely evolved. That's for

0:50:36.240,0:50:43.440
sure. But yeah, um there isn't. It's a blizzard. 
It's a Dairy Queen blizzard. Yeah. Yeah, that's

0:50:43.440,0:50:48.240
that's the answer. Well, maybe we can report back 
once you're back on on the new restaurant. So,

0:50:48.240,0:50:52.560
yeah. Crystal, thank you so much for joining me 
today on the Keiser Human Performance podcast.

0:50:52.560,0:50:56.320
Crystal is a part of our education team. She's 
an awesome part of it. If you have any questions

0:50:56.320,0:51:01.360
for Crystal or anything related to STEP, you can 
definitely visit our website www.heaer.com. You'll

0:51:01.360,0:51:05.840
see some information about step on our site 
there and you can head to our education page.

0:51:05.840,0:51:12.960
You can also reach out to Crystal. Crystal email 
is crystaljaiser.com. Correct. You got it. All

0:51:12.960,0:51:18.560
right. So, please reach out to Crystal if you have 
any questions related to STEP or Keiser at all.

0:51:18.560,0:51:24.720
Crystal, actually I I'd like to offer that we 
have a free step guide on the website on the

0:51:24.720,0:51:30.240
longevity page. So for anyone that wants more 
interest or wants more information about STEP,

0:51:30.240,0:51:34.560
that's a great place to start because you can go 
there, you can download the guide and it's going

0:51:34.560,0:51:40.800
to give you a full walkth through of everything 
that STEP offers and then we have all sorts of

0:51:40.800,0:51:46.400
amazing resources that I can share if you reach 
out via email. Awesome. Thank you for that. You

0:51:46.400,0:51:51.840
heard her. Go ahead. on our website and find 
your free guide there to step. So Crystal,

0:51:51.840,0:51:55.280
on behalf of Keiser, our team, and the many 
communities you're helping and the lives you're

0:51:55.280,0:51:58.720
impacting both directly and indirectly, 
thank you for your time. Appreciate it,

0:51:58.720,0:52:04.480
and we look forward to catching up with 
you soon. Yeah. Thanks, Gabe. You got it.

Ask our expert 
in the older adult market.

Questions? Crystal understands the needs of older adult communities like yours.

Email crystalj@keiser.com for more info or visit ksr.cm/STEP

Head-Crystal-Johnson
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Why Power Training Matters for Fall Reduction

Many communities actively run fall prevention programming that incorporates resistance and balance training. And yet, despite these efforts, falls remain the leading cause of injury-related death among adults aged 65 and above.

This is not due to lack of care or commitment. So, let’s talk about two lesser-known culprits: dynapenia and powerpenia, which may be quietly undermining your fall prevention efforts.

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How to Age Well: Strength, Purpose, and Daily Habits for Lifelong Independence

At 70 years old, Pat VanGalen delivers a message backed by both science and personal experience: "We can change the way we age. It is so malleable."

This isn't wishful thinking. Pat conducted a nine-month study with sedentary postmenopausal women that produced remarkable improvements in both function and biomarkers. Her research confirms what many fitness professionals suspect — with proper training and education, you can significantly alter your aging trajectory.

 
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