BARREFLOW - KARLI TAYLOR

"Do everything you like. Do the things that you like, but be smart about it and balance it out with things that are exactly the opposite." Karli Taylor, creator of BarreFlow

PREVIEW:

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ABOUT KARLI TAYLOR:

Karli Taylor is the owner and creator of BarreFlow, teaching a variety of workshops on posture, alignment, and corrective programming. BarreFlow combines yoga, pilates, barre, and classic strength training to incorporate strength, endurance, and flexibility into one invigorating workout. Karli joins the podcast to talk about how she came up with this innovative workout program, teaching others, and what her thoughts are on the future of the fitness industry.

ON THIS WEEK'S COMPANION SHOW:

This week on Science we talk about some mysteries in deep space. The second ever discovered repeating fast radio burst is being analyzed and the TESS spacecraft has found its third exoplanet. Then meet Chris Alston, the Death Star of the Week. On the new 'pop goes the culture' segment, Dustin talks about his love of Assassins' Creed Odyssey and Jeff is excited or season 2 of The Punisher on Netflix. Then, get ready to roast some questionable fashion as Jeff and Dustin find out about 'meme fashion' on The Roast. New mug details and the first look at issue number 3 of Odinforce comic coming from Death Wish Coffee are revealed on The Update 

TRANSCRIPT:

Jeff: Karli, thank you so much for joining us on the show. And I just want to kind of start by having you talk about what it is you do.

Karli: Well, thank you so much for having me. What I do, I'm I guess a fitness professional is the easiest way to put it, but I own a small business that's getting bigger called BarreFlow, and I certify other fitness professionals.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: So I train personal trainers. I teach people to teach group exercise.

Jeff: Wow. This is all stemming from yoga, correct?

Karli: Yoga's a piece of it. It started years ago with me just being a personal trainer and actually a spinning instructor, it started, but yeah.

Jeff: Oh, okay.

Karli: Then it grew into yoga.

Jeff: Okay.

Karli: And then it grew into ... I bought a yoga studio.

Jeff: Oh, wow.

Karli: Yeah. I, one day, just bought a yoga studio and-

Jeff: As one does.

Karli: That's what people do, right?

Jeff: Yeah, of course.

Dustin: How do you come to the decision of just like, "I need to buy a yoga studio now"?

Karli: So honestly, I didn't need to buy it, and I didn't really want it. And it was there, and it wasn't being taken care of. I was like, "These people need a place to go. I kind of know what I'm doing. I'm going to do it."

Dustin: Kind of like something needs to be done. Nobody else is going to do it. I might as well get it done.

Karli: Exactly.

Dustin: Cool.

Karli: Yeah, so that's how it started. Barre is this kind of emerging trend in the fitness industry, and every yoga studio has a barre.

Jeff: That's B-A-R-R-E, correct?

Karli: Yeah. Bar with an E. Extra R and an E.

Jeff: Can you explain a little bit about, because I am literally a novice when it comes to this kind of stuff. Can you explain a little bit about what barre is?

Karli: Sure. It comes from ballet, actually.

Dustin: Interesting.

Karli: It comes from Lotte Berk, New York City Ballet years and years ago. It's basically fitness using the ballet barre.

Jeff: Okay, I get now.

Dustin: Oh, okay.

Karli: So there's the barre with the E, and it's the barre on the wall. Honestly, it has nothing to do with dance, so you don't have to be a ballerina. There's a reason my mother didn't name me Grace. It's honestly really hard.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: It's harder than you would think. It's kind of deceiving, but it's a great workout to balance out whatever else you do, whether you're a runner, a cyclist, a Crossfitter. It's a good balance.

Jeff: So now you're saying that you're teaching this and certifying other professionals in teaching this. Are you creating your own curriculum? Is that what's kind of happening from this?

Karli: Yeah. So what happened was I bought the studio, and I needed to find a barre program that I could kind of get behind. I come from kind of a corrective exercise background. I'm really picky about form and making sure people are safe. And I couldn't find a program that I liked. I mean, I traveled. I took barre in Seattle. I took barre in San Francisco. I took Barre ... You name it, I took barre there. And I couldn't find a class that I really liked everything about, so I was like, "I could hate on it and say I'm just not going to do it or I could do my own."

Jeff: Wow. So what ... This might be a loaded question, but what sets what you do apart from what someone like would go into New York or Seattle and go into a barre thing?

Karli: I guess, first and foremost, it's not better. It's just different, right?

Dustin: Right.

Jeff: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Karli: It's Vinyasa style, so here's where the yoga comes in.

Jeff: Okay.

Karli: Vinyasa is a type of yoga, and it means it flows from one thing to the next. It's literal translation is it's placing movement with intention. So it's not like you do one set of eight and then you take a break, and then you do another set and you take a break. It's you do one movement to the next to the next without stopping so your heart rate goes up, but also, all those little muscles that stabilize are working harder-

Jeff: Oh, wow.

Karli: So the actually movements aren't the big deal-

Dustin: Right.

Karli: It's how you get from point A to point B that's the big deal.

Dustin: So I'm guessing this is something that's done barefoot?

Karli: Yes.

Dustin: Yeah-

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: ... because that's a really important part of it, right, is foot strength? From what I hear, yoga, that's one of the best benefits of yoga is foot strength and that's where all of energy starts to come from is from the ground.

Karli: Oh, my God, absolutely! And we neglect our feet.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: I mean, we think we take care of them because we wear really expensive shoes-

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And super supportive-

Dustin: With weird arches. Yeah. Yeah.

Karli: Yeah. Super supportive sneakers and all sorts of crazy stuff to take care of our feet.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: But really kind of making them worse and weaker in the long run.

Dustin: Yeah. So for somebody like me, I regularly power lift. Where would something like this help me out?

Karli: So all the small stabilizing muscles in your hips and your glutes, that's where your power comes from.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: So it also helps to stretch those muscles and things that get tight, so if you're doing a lot of squatting.

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: If you're doing a lot of overhead pressing ...

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: You're putting a lot of stress on your joints, on your shoulders and your hips.

Dustin: Yeah. I can feel it sometimes. It's a little, yeah-

Karli: So these little tiny movements help to strengthen the muscles around the shoulder girdle and the hip socket.

Male: Right.

Karli: So you can generate more power with the big muscles without putting stress on the actual joint.

Dustin: So this is something that you probably hand off to a lot of trainers that then put it in their program, right?

Karli: Yeah. A lot of people don't necessarily teach my program.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: But they take the exercises and weave them in kind of like active recovery.

Dustin: Okay.

Karli: So you do some heavy sets of squats or heavy sets of snatches or clean and jerks and-

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: ... then you put these little tiny hip mobility exercises in between.

Dustin: So like something that I do a lot is like hip cars-

Karli: Oh, yeah.

Dustin: Are you familiar with that?

Karli: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Dustin: Is that like a movement that you work with a lot?

Karli: It's similar.

Dustin: Yeah. So a lot of big rotational stretching, opening up.

Karli: Big rotations, stretching, but also little tiny ranges of motion.

Dustin: Okay. Interesting.

Karli: So you go from like the top end to the bottom end, but just a small, like inch at a time. Yeah. So it's just stimulating the muscle in different ways and really working on getting the connective tissue to be more pliable.

Dustin: What do you think, so if like a strength trainer comes to your class, what do you think is the most important thing that they walk away with once they learn something? A general thing from you?

Karli: I don't know if I really want to be associated with this or not, but everybody always says that they learn so much about their pelvis.

Dustin: Okay.

Karli: Their neutral pelvis and I have this whole workshop called What The Tuck.

Jeff: Nice.

Karli: So it's all about keeping your pelvis tucked in a neutral position. Because we sit all day.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: So we're sitting now and look at the way that our hips go.

Dustin: Yeah, right. Kind of slumps down, puts pressure on our lower back.

Karli: Exactly.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So if you take that posture and you don't address it and then you go and throw a weight on your back and do squats or things like that, you're just putting undue pressure on your lower back.

Dustin: I mean, most people would talk about that in core strength, right?

Karli: And it is part of your core, but there's so much more.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: So all the things that pull on your pelvis, it's not just your abs and low back. I can see you're trying to figure it out.

Dustin: Yeah, I know, right?

Karli: It's your hamstrings and your quads and your hip flexors-

Dustin: Right.

Karli: ... and your glutes. And even your lats. All of those things, if they're not working together properly, then you're gonna feel the pain in your low back.

Dustin: Right. I never thought about the pelvis as ...

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Of course, now it's the thing I'm walking away with.

Karli: Right. See everybody [crosstalk].

Dustin: You're the pelvis person now.

Karli: Exactly. I should not have said that.

Jeff: But so, I mean, this sounds like this industry is constantly changing. When did you start this iteration of what you're teaching?

Karli: I think it's been growing for years. I've always been really into safety and really into longevity of a practice.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: So I don't want you to be able to work out for two years and then have to take two years off because you're injured.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: So everything I do, I try to weave that into it. I'm a distance runner, a marathoner, I've been injured so many times. So-

Dustin: Yeah. Especially probably your feet, too, most of all, right?

Karli: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Feet, knees, hips, everything.

Dustin: Yeah. Yeah.

Karli: From the striking the ground-

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: ... to the imbalances.

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: So a lot of my own injuries kind of played into it, but this barre, it's been about three years.

Jeff: Wow. And do you find yourself still adding to what you're doing and still changing and everything?

Karli: Every day.

Jeff: Every day.

Karli: I mean, this is a 10 million dollar industry. Fitness.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: I know. It's crazy.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: 'Cause everybody's looking for bigger, better, faster, stronger-

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: Quick fixes.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So there's so many things out there that are counterproductive. So we have to keep thinking of ways to fix what people break.

Dustin: Yeah. How many people come to you with injuries and-

Karli: A day?

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Like three or four a day.

Dustin: Really?

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: But we do stupid stuff, right?

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And we get obsessed with one particular kind of workout, because it works for us.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: At that time and we just think, because of who we are, we think more is better.

Dustin: Yeah. I mean, I got that way with like jujitsu.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Where it was like, "Oh, this is a great way to stay in shape and it's a lot of fun, so let's do it every day." And then once I turned 30, then my knee went and then my shoulders started to go-

Karli: Elbows and shoulders, yeah.

Dustin: Elbows and shoulders so bad. And my neck. And my back. And everything started to wear and tear and that's kind of what you run into.

Karli: Yeah. More isn't necessarily better.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So it's like one thing might work, but don't do it every day. So I'm not, I would never say, "Do this workout every single day."

Dustin: Right.

Karli: Do everything you like. Do the things that you like, but be smart about it and balance it out with things that are exactly the opposite.

Dustin: So like a push pull kind of mentality.

Karli: Yeah. Absolutely.

Dustin: Interesting. Why does that work so well?

Karli: Well, if you think about it, the way the body is designed and the way it's supposed to be happy is the front of the body and the back of the body each have 50% power.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: So it's equal. That's what holds all our bones in place, right? Everything is just held in. It's not like when have pins and things holding us in.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Skin, but it's not that strong. So the muscles work together. They're like 50%, 50%. Well, as we sit and do things like this, the front of our body's tight.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: The back of our body is getting weak, because the front of our body is taking the power away.

Dustin: Interesting.

Karli: So we keep giving the power to this and forgetting to give power to the back.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And that's when it creates problems. So if you can do, just like you said, push pull, you're constantly stimulating the two different sides, and then you have balance.

Dustin: Interesting.

Karli: Yeah. It makes sense and it's one of those things that it's easy, but it's not easy.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: So you now have been wrapped up into the yoga world and one thing that I see is like kind of like a controversial thing is the spirituality built into yoga. What's your stance on that?

Karli: So yoga itself is the spirituality.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So it is the breathing and it is the mindset and I think a lot of people have this misconception that the spirituality in yoga is a religion.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And they're like, "Well, I am Catholic. I'm Christian. I'm Jewish. I can't do yoga, because it's a religion."

Dustin: Have you heard that before?

Karli: Oh, my God.

Jeff: Wow. Really?

Karli: Oh, my, oh.

Dustin: Yoga's the devil.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: Yeah or, you know, "I believe in Jesus. I can't do this." I'm like wait.

Dustin: Jesus did yoga.

Karli: Yeah, I mean.

Jeff: Yeah. He looked like he did.

Karli: Right?

Jeff: [inaudible]

Karli: But, no, but seriously, it's not a religion. The spirituality thing, it really, if it resonates with you, great, and you can find some type of yoga that doesn't get into that kind of really in-depth spirituality.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But it's still the mindset. It's still being grounded.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And being present and all that stuff is good for us, no matter where we are.

Dustin: Do you think it's necessarily irresponsible for yoga practices to be extremely spiritual?

Karli: I think it can be.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: I think there's a lot of practices out there and a lot of practitioners out there who-

Dustin: Wanna call'em out while we're on here?

Karli: No. No. But you know who I'm talking about.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But people think that they're gurus.

Dustin: Yes.

Karli: And I think that that's dangerous.

Dustin: It is very dangerous.

Karli: I really do. I don't think any single person should have that kind of power over their disciples, so to speak.

Jeff: That's true.

Dustin: Yeah. It gets weird.

Karli: It does get weird and I think it's irresponsible and dangerous.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So yoga is it's an exercise program, it's a way of life. It's not a religion and you don't need a guru to do yoga.

Dustin: Right.

Jeff: So as we get into this new year, I know a lot of people are always thinking, like, "Oh, new year, new me. I'm gonna be better. I'm gonna be healthier." And what would be your advice for someone that has never done any of this before and to wanna try and get into it? What would be your advice?

Dustin: I would say go easy to start.

Jeff: Go easy.

Karli: Not only go easy as far as don't push yourself too hard, but don't be so hard on yourself.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Because especially with New Year's resolutions, people are like, I'm going all in.

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: I'm not gonna eat any sugar. I am not gonna have dessert. I'm not gonna drink anything. I'm gonna exercise every day. Starting January first.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: How long do you think that's gonna last?

Jeff: Until January 2nd?

Karli: Maybe. Yeah.

Dustin: I feel like that mentality kinda sets you up for failure, because as soon as you have one thing, it's like-

Karli: Totally.

Dustin: "Oh, well, I lost. So I give up now."

Karli: Well, that's exactly it and I think last year they said New Year's resolutions lasted 11 days.

Dustin: Wow.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: That's the average. 11 days. So go easy. Change one thing at a time. Be nice to yourself.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: And maybe wait until the fifth of January so there's not so much pressure.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: Or better yet, start today. Whatever it is.

Jeff: Do you find now that you've been in this industry for a handful of years, do you see that happening in January, like every year?

Dustin: Do you see the fluctuation?

Karli: Oh, my God. I mean, if you're thinking industry and business-wise, if you don't make your money in January, you're done.

Jeff: Oh, wow. It's that crazy.

Karli: It's crazy. Everybody's gonna go online and buy the quick fix and the diet things and the energy drinks.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: And the cleanses.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: And any kind of gadget that you can imagine. And they don't work.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: Because either A, that's all you do and you think one gadget is gonna change your life. Or you do what we talked about earlier and did every single day and you're so sore and you hurt yourself.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And you're done.

Dustin: Since we're on that topic, because it's been something that I've kind of struggled with and I've heard a lot of different trainers talk about it, of that soreness, meaning that you've kind of gone too far. What's your feelings on that? 'Cause I think at this point I have a regimen that kind of makes it so I can go regularly and I'm not completely destroyed by the time I come into work because I did 100 dead lifts in an hour or anything like that. Now I have something that's not ... But I still get a little bit more sore. What do you think that that middle ground is, that happy area?

Karli: So there's so many things that contribute to your soreness.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: A little soreness is great.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: If you're not sore, it doesn't mean that you didn't work out hard enough.

Dustin: That's how I feel sometimes.

Karli: I know it's like-

Dustin: How do I get rid of that mentality?

Karli: ... you almost get addicted to the soreness.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Oh, I didn't work hard enough. I gotta push harder.

Dustin: Yeah. Yeah. Like that thought that that soreness means progression.

Karli: Not necessarily.

Dustin: Oh, yeah.

Karli: Sometimes it just means something different. Sometime the soreness means that you weren't properly hydrated or you didn't sleep enough, so your body didn't function properly.

Dustin: Yeah. Interesting.

Karli: If it's a brand new movement, you're gonna be sore.

Dustin: That makes sense.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: You know, if it's something that you've never done before, you're kind of breaking it in. Yeah, it's gonna hurt a little bit.

Karli: Absolutely. If you haven't done it in a while, you're going to be sore. If you're really over trained in one area and you're trying to train the opposing muscle, you'll probably be sore.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But if you're debilitated, that's not good.

Dustin: No.

Karli: Yeah. I mean, you don't want to work so hard that you can't move for five days.

Dustin: Yeah. So more isn't better.

Karli: No. More isn't better. You want to wake up the day after or even better two days after and be like, "Oh, I did something."

Dustin: It's so tough, because there's just that mentality of like, you know, if you hurt today, it doesn't matter. Get in there.

Karli: Oh, yeah. No pain, no gain.

Dustin: Get the work-

Karli: Oh, yeah.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: It's hard.

Dustin: How do we just dispel that? That's just so ... And it makes since that like, "Okay, one is good. Two must be better, but ... "

Karli: Well, the sad part is most people don't get over it until they get hurt.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And then you have to.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: I mean, that's how I found yoga.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: I was a crazy insane runner, like more miles is better. Oh, my knee hurts. I'll keep going.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Oh, my foot hurts, I'll keep going. Until my body was like, "No, you're not."

Dustin: And we're seeing that a lot with running now, because we've gone from marathons to ultra-marathons.

Jeff: Oh, my God.

Dustin: And we're seeing hundred mile, 250 mile and now they're talking about 500 mile races. What's your take on all that?

Karli: I couldn't even imagine.

Dustin: I can't even imagine, either.

Karli: First of all, every time I run a marathon, I'm like, "I'm never doing this again."

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And then someone talks me into doing and that's the story of my life.

Jeff: Do you still run?

Karli: I do.

Jeff: You do?

Karli: Yeah, but-

Jeff: What's the longest marathon you've done?

Karli: Just a regular old full marathon. 26.2.

Jeff: There it is.

Karli: That's enough.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: That's enough. Yeah, the ultra is, I think, running can be an addition just like anything else.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And more is better.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Right? And while you're running and training for these things, you can't focus on anything else.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: You can't deal with anything else.

Dustin: There's one part of me that kind of cringes at the whole thing, like how could people do this to themselves? But there's another huge part of me that is noticing people discovering the potential of the human body, because I think probably 20 years ago we thought we would never be able to run 500 miles, but there's a whole group of people doing it now.

Karli: Absolutely. I think it's such a fine line.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: I think it's amazing what the body can do, but you also have to take care of it, because we only get one of them.

Dustin: Yeah. That's true.

Karli: So it's a really hard line and it's a mental thing. Okay, I can push this hard, well, I can push harder.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: And if he can do it, I can't do it.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And you have to know when to back off and again, be nice to yourself.

Dustin: So do you think these ultra-marathons might be an unhealthy statement to the public, giving them unrealistic ideas of what they can and can't do?

Karli: I think if it's on your bucket list, then do it once. If you're not gonna feel complete unless you do it, do it once.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But I don't think that it's a realistic expectation for your average person to do.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: Because your average person has responsibilities and things to do during the week and they can't spend their entire life training.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: And the thing that your average person doesn't consider is professional athletes, it's their job.

Dustin: That's all they do.

Karli: And what they do when we're sitting here doing our job, is they recover.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: They get massages and they have whatever they do. Ice baths and massage and yoga and stretching. They have a team of people to help them recover.

Dustin: A nutritionist making sure-

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: ... that they get all the right nutrients to feel better the next day.

Karli: Absolutely.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So what the average person fails to consider is they don't have those resources, so their body can't really preform that way or shouldn't.

Dustin: Is ultra-marathon on your bucket list at all?

Karli: Absolutely not.

Jeff: Yes. Good.

Karli: Absolutely not.

Dustin: If somebody said you had to do it, how would you prepare?

Jeff: Run away.

Karli: Yeah, I mean, if I'm being 100% completely honest, I-

Dustin: Knowing full well it's completely unhealthy, but how would you get out the other end alive?

Karli: I just ran two marathons last year without training and all, because I told a friend I would do it and then just didn't have the quote unquote didn't have the time.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Didn't make the time.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: To train. And I just did it. Because if I had to do it, just do it.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: It's not gonna kill me.

Dustin: Right.

Karli: Definitely it's not gonna make me feel good.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: No.

Karli: But if you told me I absolutely had to do it, there was no choice, I don't think I would do much different than I was doing right now, but I would definitely try to take care of myself a little bit better.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: My nutrition. Hydration.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Sleep.

Jeff: Yeah.

Dustin: Interesting.

Karli: Those are more important than pushing to train harder. I think that's ... We fail to realize that.

Dustin: Interesting. That's okay.

Karli: Yeah.

Jeff: And on the other side of it, you said at the beginning of this that you bought your own studio and you teach there but this industry now and what you do in the industry has given you a lot of chances to travel and to do a lot of that kind of stuff. How much do you travel for to teach and stuff like that?

Karli: Well, I don't a studio anymore if that answers the question. Yeah, I'm on the road too much. I sold my studio last year. So now I am on a couple trade show circuits and I travel all over the country and I teach this BarreFlow class to fitness professionals and just to regular people.

Jeff: So do you go to other people's studios and teach there? What exactly is like a trade show environment in this?

Karli: So just like in any industry, you go to a trade show and the people have their booths and they're showcasing their products. But in a fitness trade show, people can take classes.

Jeff: Oh.

Karli: So there are booths and people showcase their products and their certifications, but there's a full schedule of classes all day. So I'm going to Washington, D.C. in January, New York City in February and I'll be teaching master classes.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: To large groups of fit pros.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Do you get a good reaction when you teach classes like that? Are they like-

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: "Oh, I never thought about the pelvis before."

Jeff: There it is again.

Karli: There's that pelvis. I mean, I put myself out there by advertising things like What The Tuck.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But I think people that go to those shows, go hungry to learn.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: And it's such a great environment to teach in, because they just want to leave with as much information as they can.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: So it's definitely a different world. Yeah.

Jeff: And I think that the fitness industry as a whole has become a different world, within even the last five years, people are hungrier for information. There's much more information out there to consume.

Karli: Yeah.

Jeff: Where do you see this industry going from here?

Karli: I think you're gonna see a heck of a lot more virtual?

Jeff: Like AR kind of stuff?

Karli: Oh, yeah.

Jeff: Really?

Dustin: Oh, I never thought about that.

Karli: Oh, yeah.

Dustin: Interesting. So you could be taking group classes in your living room.

Karli: Wait for it. Yep.

Jeff: Wow.

Karli: Yep. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Dustin: Is that something that you'd be ever interested in getting into?

Karli: Maybe not to that extent, but why not?

Dustin: Right.

Karli: I mean, I don't have any plans to do it, but I do livestream. I do teach classes from my living room.

Dustin: So how do you teach a livestream, like where do people log onto to see something like that?

Karli: On YouTube.

Dustin: Oh, you do it right through YouTube.

Karli: Yeah, I do it through YouTube.

Dustin: Do you have a good pile of subscribers that sit in and ...

Karli: We're just working on it right now, but yeah.

Dustin: Okay. Cool.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Very cool.

Karli: It's growing. So it's fun. Right now it's a free one while I'm getting the kinks out and then soon to be a subscription based.

Dustin: So people subscribe and then whenever you do a live feed, they get the notification, they hop on and then they do a class with you, pretty much?

Karli: Yeah. Yeah. And they can go back and see all the ones that I've done already.

Dustin: Wow. That's cool. And what kind of classes are you usually teaching?

Karli: They're mainly BarreFlow. Some yoga.

Dustin: Okay.

Karli: And they range from 10 minute express classes to a full 45 minute classes.

Dustin: Do they need like equipment at home? At all?

Karli: Just a mat.

Dustin: Just a mat?

Karli: Just a mat.

Dustin: Really?

Karli: Yep. I try to make it as accessible as possible.

Dustin: Interesting.

Karli: So anybody can do it. Yeah.

Dustin: That's very cool.

Jeff: And that's why I think that the fitness industry is such an interesting, I don't know, organism now, because it's constantly growing, it's constantly evolving and technology, even for something like BarreFlow, where literally all you need is a mat, technology is allowing you to literally reach everyone in the world.

Karli: Yeah. It's such a crazy industry now and I think more people work out with virtual trainers and work out online and with apps and all the fitness devices now. The gadgets. The FitBits and iWatches and all that stuff. We never would've thought about that 10 years ago.

Jeff: That's really, really cool. So the question we get to on this show with every guest and I'm very curious with you, is through all that you've learned in the industry since your beginnings, to getting hurt, to then finding yoga, and everything you've done, what fuels you to keep doing it? What fuels you to keep being an innovator in this field?

Karli: I think the people that walk away with that aha moment. That "Oh." Especially people that have been injured, that have been through something themselves, if I know they leave my class or my room or whatever if I'm lecturing, if they're like, "Oh. All right." And just to see that look on somebody's face, that, not that I've changed their life, because that goes back to that guru thing.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But that I made a difference.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And that they're gonna take something that I said and hopefully share it with someone else, who can share it with someone else. So I think that that's what keeps me going.

Jeff: Very cool.

Dustin: How often do you watch like a training class or people lifting weights and you cringe? Like, "Oh, my God. They're gonna destroy themselves."

Karli: I often joke that when I go to the gym to work out myself, that I wanna take out my contacts.

Dustin: Oh.

Jeff: Just to see, just people-

Karli: So I can just be in my own little bubble.

Dustin: Well, that's always the scariest thing when somebody thinks they know what they're doing. They go in, there's nobody watching them.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: And things go haywire really quick.

Karli: And that's my fear with the whole idea of this going virtual.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Because your computer doesn't watch you.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And your app doesn't tell you that you're doing something that's contra-indicated. So part of me, in my heart, wants to be old school and have people just work with another human all the time.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Because that would be safer.

Dustin: Well, don't you think if you build technology in order like maybe it has sensors all over you-

Karli: Totally.

Dustin: And it knows that something's maybe out of sync, it would let you know.

Karli: Yeah. And I'm sure that we could, but-

Dustin: We're not there yet.

Karli: And your average Joe couldn't afford that.

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: Yeah, that's true.

Karli: My hope is that fitness could be accessible and enjoyable for everyone and not overwhelming and stupidly expensive. So you don't need any crazy equipment. Just get up and move.

Dustin: Yeah.

Jeff: It's very inspiring, especially to hear you talk about it. Have you ever thought about writing a book?

Karli: Yeah. Totally.

Jeff: Yeah?

Karli: I have a couple started.

Jeff: Good.

Karli: Bits and pieces. It's just-

Jeff: Good. Because you seem to be a wealth of information about this and like I said, within this industry, it seems like there's such a hunger for information now and people really wanting to know all the ins and outs and am I doing this right? Outside of the other side of that are people at the gym just not doing it right, but-

Dustin: Well, they'll find out real quick-

Jeff: Right.

Dustin: And they'll get to a situation where they'll be turning to people like you to be like, "Well, I can't go anymore and I'm getting out of shape and I'm scared I'm gonna hurt myself again."

Karli: Yeah. And it's scary that there's so much information out there that isn't great. And there's so many, I mean, if you look up anything online, you're gonna get 15 different answers to the same question.

Dustin: I think it's kind of important to find the right people in that virtual world that do have good credentials and are teaching the right things, not just some schmo on YouTube showing you how to clean and jerk. That's scary. That's very scary.

Karli: Well, that's the thing. Any videos that you watch or articles that you read, check out where they're coming from.

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: Who's paying for them?

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: And who the person is that's talking, because and the yoga world is awful and I can say that because I'm part of the yoga world.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: But like the Instagram yogis.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: In these crazy poses in these beautiful places.

Jeff: Right.

Karli: And then people are like, "I don't look like that. I can't do yoga."

Jeff: Right.

Karli: But that's not what yoga is supposed to be. And there's 10 billion people in the world, right? So there's 10 billion versions of every single yoga pose.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: Everybody is different.

Dustin: Yeah. That kind of reminds me of something that Dali Lama said. And he said, "There are 10 billion people in the world, there should be 10 billion types of religion."

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Because everybody's different.

Karli: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dustin: They all have different needs. They all have different setbacks and abilities and you need to find what works for you and not force yourself into somebody else's ideals.

Karli: Absolutely. And that really applies to the body, because we all do different things with our body every day.

Dustin: Yep.

Karli: Not only do we sit in different ways or do different things physically, but we eat differently, we sleep differently. Our nutrition, our hydration, the way we sleep.

Dustin: Our every day stresses.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: Yeah.

Karli: It's totally different, so how can I expect my physical body to look like a professional athlete who all they do all day is yoga?

Dustin: And it's tough with like Instagram out there.

Karli: Oh, it's hard.

Dustin: Everybody posting their muscles or their lean bodies with big butts.

Karli: Yeah.

Dustin: And it's, "Oh, I want that. They have that. I can have that." It's like, "Well, maybe that might not be realistic."

Karli: And that's their highlight reel, right?

Jeff: Yeah.

Karli: Social media is their highlight reel and we're comparing our whatever's on the floor in the cutting room to their highlight reel.

Jeff: Of course.

Dustin: That's a good way to put it.

Jeff: Well, I feel inspired and I hope our listeners and watchers do as well.

Dustin: Jeff's gonna start doing yoga tomorrow.

Jeff: Not at all.

Karli: Nice.

Jeff: And I want, what is, speaking of either social media or not, but what is the best way for people to find out where you're gonna be and how to follow what you do?

Karli: So the best way would be follow BarreFlow on Instagram and on Facebook.

Jeff: Okay.

Karli: Our website is Barreflow.net.

Jeff: Okay.

Karli: And any of those places. BarreFlow on YouTube, as well. You can catch some of the live streams.

Dustin: Excellent.

Karli: Or some of the things that we've already recorded.

Jeff: Excellent. I'll put all of that in the show for everybody. I can't thank you enough for coming in. This has been-

Karli: Thank you.

Jeff: ... an incredible conversation.

Karli: Great. I enjoyed it so much.

Jeff: Awesome. Cheers.

Karli: Cheers.