Gent’s Talk: Physical Health, Quitting the 9-5 & MoveU w/ Michael Wasilisin

You’ve likely seen the videos. A very energetic guy with an elastic band, demonstrating mobility techniques on people, other times angling them as if they were mannequins. You may also be already following the popular Instagram account. After all, there’s a ton of informative and useful content for improving your physical health. That charismatic character at the center of each video is Dr. Mike Wasilisin and his story started with the dreaded 9-5. Except in his case, the ‘job’ was his own chiropractic clinic, a successful one nonetheless. That’s what made giving up this job so difficult. It required courage and unwavering confidence in himself.

See also: Gent’s Talk: From Cancer to Olympic Gold with Max Parrot

The Moment

Dr. Wasilisin moved to California to start his own chiropractic practice and was doing what every chiropractor is expected to do. After a number of years, he grew increasingly frustrated with the overall health care system. “It is built to treat symptoms. It’s not designed to help anyone fix the issue. There are some exceptions of course, but it’s mostly swayed by health insurance.”

Self-described as adventurous and thrill seeking, Dr. Wasilisin also grew frustrated with the lifestyle he was living. “I found myself working a 9-5, even though I owned it, I owned my own job.” Life is but a series of moments strung together by experiences that shape and define the future you. He recounts a particular experience where he went on a spear-fishing trip that ultimately changed the course of his life. “You’re out to sea for seven days on a boat with a few people and you’re diving in the water. You dive up to a hundred feet underwater with the equivalent of a bow and arrow and you’re basically hunting fish.”

It was during this trip that he also happened to read Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. “Between that book, the spear fishing trip, and my frustrations with work and health care in general, when I came back, I started having very strong visions, breaking down in tears. So I set off on a mission, I wanted freedom.”

MoveU

Dr. Wasilisin recounts how he failed at so many other businesses that it hurt his confidence. Attempt after attempt had ultimately failed, “I tried to sell gun parts, I even had a Dr. Mike’s beef jerky business. We ate all our profits.” Because he was conscious of how yet another business venture would be perceived, he decided to initially start MoveU by himself. “I told the team in one year we are selling the clinic and going online. It was one year and two days later that it all happened. It was incredible.” For the next few years, he describes his focus as relentless.

After seeing good traction, he started seeing validation. “Once I turned the camera on and felt like I was speaking to the world, I realized I was finally being truthful with myself and the world.” Interestingly, it was another moment that confirmed that he needed to speak to a greater audience. “I was a contestant on the Price is Right. I had a national audience and I came alive.”

It wasn’t very long before movie stars and celebrities started reaching out for some work. Celebrities like Trever Noah, Kelly Slater, Joe Rogan, and Gwenith Paltrow follow the MoveU Instagram account. “I started working over zoom, I flew out to work with some, I’m still friends with a few today.”

‘Fix Yo Shit’

MoveU is a total body program that helps enable people to work on improving physical health no matter where they are. One of those ways is through positional presence, a term Dr. Wasilisin lives by and says will help anyone improve physical health. “I spent hundreds of hours with NFL Wide Receiver Antonio Brown, that guy is positionally aware of what every part of his body is doing.” A common misconception on physical health is that being mobile equals decreasing pain. However it’s not that simple. “People that are tight think that being more mobile will mean less pain. But people who are mobile and have pain think they need to get stronger. There’s actually little research that suggests that increasing mobility will automatically decrease pain.”

You can’t have a conversation with someone like Dr. Mike Wasilisin and not learn some important features. So for the readers of Gent’s Post, he offered five key things to focus on that will help you live a better life.

• Core Brace – alignment of the hip and ribs along with proper breathing activates the deepest core muscle. This is the most important of the five.
• Ground Force – the ability to align your ankle and grip the ground with your feet to roll your ankle in and out followed by outwardly rotating your upper thigh.
• Hip Hinge – the ability to bend at your hip joint. Many people make the mistake of bending from their backs.
• Shoulder Scoop – the shoulder blade guides your arm. The ability to pull the shoulder blade down and slightly press it forward around the rib cage. You can’t align your posture until you get your shoulders out of the way.
• Head Pivot – rotate the head around the pivot point of the spine without sticking your neck out like a bird.

Each of these skills are to be learned individually and through strength exercises. If you can’t do any of the proper exercises because of pain, you should use mobility exercises to build up the ability to do the strength pieces. This entire process, when done well, could take up to a year. As daunting as that sounds, it’s like learning to ride a bike, once it’s learned, you will always know how to do it and your body will thank you for it.

Lessons Learned – Path Forward

As the program continues to gain traction with mainstream audiences, Dr. Wasilisin describes how he wants to improve the connection with his clients. “I’m seeing just a few patients in person but I’m looking to get a practice back so I can get a pulse on things. If I could do it over again I wouldn’t have sold the clinic, but then again it was selling the clinic that led to MoveU.” Despite a growing number of followers and program users, he feels a sense of disconnect that he’s looking to resolve. “A video with a million views is great, but working closely with one person and changing their life is more meaningful.

In terms of what’s next, he talked about launching the company’s first physical product in the next few months. It will be an at-home core strengthening and back strengthening, and lengthening, strap. This product is three years in the making and will add a new layer to MoveU’s offerings. They will also be rolling out multiple new training programs within their mobile app. Finally, this coming summer will see in-person seminars and workshops that will focus on getting people feeling better. A genuine character on and off camera, expect to see more great things from Dr. Mike Wasilisin and the entire MoveU group.