Most runners are one bad training week away from an injury they never saw coming, and the way they think about shoes, strength, and recovery is probably making that worse.

Dr. Drew Short specializes in working with runners at PhysioRoom, and his approach to running injury recovery starts somewhere most people wouldn't expect: months back in an athlete's training log. The culprit behind most injuries isn't a single bad run. It's accumulated load, under-fueling, or a strength gap that quietly grew until something gave out. When the mechanical picture looks clean, Drew digs deeper, sometimes all the way to blood work and nutritional consults. Multiple tendon issues flaring up in different parts of the body at once? That's a systemic story, not a mechanical one.

The calf conversation is worth sitting with. Runners stretch it religiously and almost never strengthen it the way running actually demands. The soleus does significant work during each stride, but only when the knee is bent, which is almost never how people train it. A calf that always feels tight is probably asking for load, not length.

On the trail running vs. road running question, the differences go deeper than terrain. Strength demands, stability requirements, and pacing strategy all shift in ways that catch road runners off guard when they head onto the trails. And carbon-plated shoes? Both Drew and Dr. Ficks agree they have a place, but earning them matters more than buying them.

Quotes

• "The downside to under-fueling is you're going to hit a brick wall. The downside to over-fueling is maybe a rumbly stomach…I'd rather be on that end of the spectrum." (14:58 | Dr. Drew Short)
• "You might meet the rep scheme on a calf raise, but whenever you start making it more ballistic and you start using the tendon more, it doesn't like that. The rate of fire is just a lot slower on that side." (25:50 | Dr. Drew Short)
• "Stiffer tendons or more robust tendons — that's just free energy. If you're able to use that elasticity like a rubber band whenever you hit the ground, that's less that the muscles are having to push off." (33:19 | Dr. Drew Short)
• "If your calf always feels like it needs to be stretched, honestly, your tendon probably needs some load. You probably do need to be doing some heavy slow resistance through that tendon. Otherwise, you just keep stretching it all day every day." (34:32 | Dr. Drew Short)
• "If I'm doing a long effort and I can still breathe just through my nose, I know I'm gonna be fine at hour three, hour four." (48:26 | Dr. Drew Short)

Connect with Dr. Drew Short: https://www.instagram.com/thenamesdrew/

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Sleep isn't a luxury you negotiate with; it's the biological foundation every other health habit is built on, and most people are getting far less of it than they think.

Dr. Andrew Fix revisits one of the show's most foundational episodes for Better Sleep Month, and the timing feels personal. A new baby at home has a way of clarifying just how much everything falls apart when sleep does. Drawing from Matthew Walker's landmark book Why We Sleep, this episode makes a compelling case that sleep deprivation isn't just fatigue. It's a direct line to cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, weight gain, and a compromised immune system.

Here's a question worth sitting with: if you went to bed at 10 and woke up at 6, did you actually get eight hours of sleep? Probably not. Time in bed and time asleep are not the same thing, and that gap is where most people are quietly losing ground.

Dr. Fix gets practical without being prescriptive. A consistent sleep schedule, a cooler and darker room, cutting caffeine earlier than feels necessary, and keeping alcohol away from bedtime are the kinds of shifts that build real resilience over time. He also draws a connection that often gets overlooked in fitness culture: sleep is where recovery actually happens, and poor sleep throws off the hormones that regulate hunger, making weight management an uphill battle no matter how clean your diet is or how early you get to the gym.

What would change about your daily habits if you treated sleep as seriously as your workouts or your nutrition? That's the real question this episode leaves you with.

Quotes

• “I think it's a shock to nobody that sleep is the most important thing in our lives. If we don't get enough of it, pretty much every major function of our body is going to suffer.” (02:37 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• "The amount of time that you spend in bed that you think you are asleep does not equal or correlate to the amount of time that you actually sleep." ( 06:27 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “I do have a change in my sleep quality when I cut that caffeine out earlier. So, avoiding caffeine and nicotine, in theory, will help with your sleep quality.” (13:52 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “You want your brain to be planning to go to bed when you get in bed. You want your body's cycle to be just so in tune with, ‘Oh, this is where I come when I want to go to sleep.’” (20:19 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “All of the professional athletes that we watch on television and whatnot, I can tell you that they are putting a much higher emphasis on sleep than we do in our normal lives.” (31:59 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

https://www.sleepdiplomat.com/

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Aging gets blamed for a lot of things that may have more to do with disuse, fear, and incomplete advice than the number of candles on your birthday cake.

Dr. Andrew Fix talks with physical therapist Eileen Kopsaftis about pain, aging, and strength through a lens that challenges the usual story of decline. Eileen questions the idea that weakness, balance issues, loss of independence, and chronic pain are simply part of getting older. Some of these changes may be common, but are they truly normal?

Andrew and Eileen unpack why pain often points to a bigger movement story. A shoulder issue may trace back to an ankle. Foot pain may connect to the hips. A limitation may have less to do with the part that hurts and more to do with the way the whole body works together.

They also talk about strength, stairs, muscle loss, and the subtle ways convenience can speed up physical decline. What happens when we stop taking the stairs? How much of aging is shaped by what we believe our bodies are capable of? This episode is a smart reminder that the body is a system, and aging can look very different when we keep building capacity instead of accepting decline as destiny.

Quotes

• “You have to believe that your body was designed to perform based on how you work it, based on how you feed it, based on how you live your life.” (Eileen Kopsaftis | 16:04)
• “There is a choice. If you believe you're gonna decline no matter what you do, you're not gonna do anything.” (Eileen Kopsaftis | 18:20)
• “The human body is not designed on a cellular level to decline. When you're doing the right things the right way, your body responds. doesn't matter how old you are.” (Eileen Kopsaftis | 26:45)
• “But as soon as that person stops having to climb stairs, they decline.” (Eileen Kopsaftis | 40:43)
• “It's important for people to remember that they're a whole body and they're not a body part.” (Eileen Kopsaftis | 56:37)

Connect with Eileen Kopsaftis:

Have Lifelong Wellbeing

Subscribe to Eileen's YouTube

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An injury can sideline one limb without giving the rest of your body permission to quit.

When you’re in a sling, boot, or on crutches, the instinct is often to stop everything until you’re “cleared.” But what does that pause really cost? In this episode of The Code, Dr. Andrew Fix breaks down cross education and why training the uninjured side of the body can help preserve strength, limit atrophy, and support recovery on the injured side.

This conversation challenges the all-or-nothing mindset that often shows up after injury or surgery. Many people are told what not to do, but not what they can still do. That missing guidance can lead to lost habits, lower motivation, and a harder return to activity. With the right modifications, safe movement can keep the body and brain connected to the larger goal.

The bigger message is simple: recovery does not have to mean disappearing from your routines, your community, or your goals. Consistency still matters. And sometimes the best question after an injury is not, “How long until I’m back?” It’s, “What can I still do today?”

Quotes

• “The body is a fantastic machine. And it's smart enough to know that when we have an injury where we have something that's bothering us, we can't just stop moving. We need to keep moving.” (Dr. Andrew Fix | 01:23)
• “Continue to train the movements that you would do with that injured limb if it wasn't injured.” (03:27 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “One of the missed opportunities when it comes to rehabilitation and training is maintaining the consistency when something happens.” (04:09 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Your goals don't stop just because something happened to you.” (06:42 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “The worst thing you could do is use that time to do nothing.” (09:01 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

https://www.google.com/search?q=cross+education+body+injury&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS987US989&oq=cross+education+body+injury&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRifBTIHCAYQIRifBTIHCAcQIRifBTIHCAgQIRifBTIHCAkQIRifBdIBCDU2NDNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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Hope is a beautiful liar when it convinces you that tomorrow will change what you refused to change today.

Dr. Andrew Fix offers a clear challenge to anyone who has been leaning a little too hard on hope. This episode asks what happens when hope feels good but preparation never follows and action never comes. Whether the issue is your health, your habits, your pain, or your relationships, how long can you expect change without doing something that supports it?

Across the conversation, he brings the focus back to personal responsibility in a way that feels honest and practical. What are you trusting time to fix? What outcome do you say you want, and what are you doing right now to make it more likely? The message is simple, but it lands: hope has value, yet real progress asks for preparation and action.

There is also a grounded reminder here about how life actually works. No one is perfectly balanced in every season, and some areas will get more attention than others. Still, the parts of life we neglect rarely improve on their own. This episode is a strong invitation to take a closer look at what you have been wishing would change and to consider what your next step could be.

Quotes

• “Hope is not a strategy.” (02:24 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “To make the strategy, what plans are you putting into place? What preparation are you doing? What action steps are you taking in order to make sure that this works out better than it did before, rather than just hoping.” (02:40 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Hoping for an outcome of a race is not a strategy. What are you actually doing about it? Like what preparation are you putting into place?” (03:18 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Ask yourself, what am I actually doing so that I can rely on something other than hope? What am I actually doing that's going to make that outcome more likely?” (05:56 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “What can you start doing today rather than just hoping? So you can make that thing a reality.” (06:19 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

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For athletes and high performers, the toughest opponent is often the voice in your own head.

Dr. Andrew Fix sits down with Krista Juerling of Speakstone Counseling for a thoughtful conversation about mental performance, identity, and the pressure that can come with chasing excellence. What happens when the habits that fuel success also leave you depleted? Who are you when an injury, career shift, or major life change forces you to rethink the role that once defined you?

Krista brings a clear and compassionate perspective to the way high performers relate to themselves. She unpacks why self-criticism can feel useful even when it chips away at confidence, and why support can feel risky for people who have built their lives around staying sharp, staying strong, and staying ahead. The conversation also explores the difference between treating symptoms and getting honest about the deeper patterns underneath them.

This is a grounded look at the mental side of performance and the very human side of ambition. You will hear about identity beyond the job title or sport, the tension between the inner critic and the inner coach, and the kind of self-awareness that can make growth more sustainable. Where does your edge really come from? And what could change if you stopped treating pressure like proof that you are doing everything right?

Quotes

• “I think that it is important to expand your identity versus just like one thing, because I see that a lot in my clients actually.” (27:25 | Krista Juerling)
• “If the inner critic shows up, it's usually there to try to protect you from something.” (40:12 | Krista Juerling)
• “Your inner critic is a teacher. It's just there to show you what you really need.” (42:28 | Krista Juerling)
• “We feel like if we don't say that to ourselves, then we won't push ourselves. But that's actually not true. The research shows us that the criticism is hurting your performance.” (43:03 | Krista Juerling)
• “You always have to go deeper than the symptom for sure.” (54:26 | Krista Juerling)

Links

Connect with Krista Juerling: www.speakstonecc.com

https://www.instagram.com/speakstonecc/

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A lot of workouts leave you exhausted, but the real question is whether they actually make you stronger.

Dr. Andrew Fix takes aim at one of the easiest traps in strength training: mistaking effort for progress. Feeling wiped out after a session can be satisfying, but that does not always mean your training is building useful strength. He makes the case for more intentional lifting by choosing loads that fit the reps, taking enough rest, and paying attention to whether you are truly challenging yourself.

The conversation also gets at a bigger idea about capacity. How different does life feel when your body is prepared for real physical demands? What shifts when being strong has less to do with appearance and more to do with resilience, confidence, and durability? It is a grounded reminder that strength training can shape far more than what happens in the gym.

Quotes

• “You can never go wrong getting strong.”(01:40 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “If they were training for strength, you need to be picking a rep range or a volume, like the weight that you're using and the number of sets and reps that you're doing that is actually challenging you.” (03:48 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “I'm talking about lifting challenging weights, using rest time in between so that you can actually push yourself so that you're getting a different stimulus to the tissue, to the nervous system.” (05:52 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Injuries occurring from a weight training perspective are so much lower than in many of the other things that we do in life.” (08:52 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “If your goal is to get stronger, you're not really giving your body, physiologically, the best opportunity to do that if your training and if your load is not challenging enough for you at that given point in time.” (10:06 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29112055/

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The hardest part of growth is not finding the next big move; it is staying loyal to the basics when your ego wants a shortcut.

Backup plans can become excuses. Change creates pressure. Discomfort has a way of showing you whether you are serious about growth or just interested in the idea of it.

Dr. Andrew Fix reflects on a recent conference and brings the lesson home in a clear way: most progress comes from doing the basic things well and doing them long enough to matter. He also digs into a harder question. Who are you around, and are those people pushing you to raise your standard? This conversation is a reminder that real growth usually feels uncomfortable before it feels rewarding, and the people who move forward are the ones who keep getting back up.

Quotes

• “There is no magic formula. There's no magic bullet. There's no Harry Potter magic wand that is gonna help you get from point A to point B or accomplish whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, you need to master the fundamentals. You need to master the basics.” (03:20 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “If you are always the smartest person in the room, if you're always the fittest person in the room, it is going to take a ton of effort and intention to continue to challenge yourself.” (05:02 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “It's easier to just stay the same, but it's so much worse, right?” (07:33 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Change is very, very hard. It's hard mentally, it can be hard physically, it can be very stressful.” (08:15 | Dr. Andrew Fix)
• “Getting back up is the only backup plan you need.” (10:58 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyd5kmngrOU

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