TicFit: Training & Tourette Syndrome
by Raquel Cunningham
A movement approach to a movement disorder. The TicFit podcast looks at how tics impact our bodies and how we can find meaningful movement to address tic related pain, develop body awareness, and use the gym as a place to tic freely.
Episodes
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Episode 20 - Anna Gieselman of Beyond Functional: What do we know about how we move
In this episode, Anna Gieselman of Beyond Functional shares her personal journey from resisting conventional medicine to blending it with applied neurology and functional range conditioning in order to manage her own critical health diagnosis. She also shares how her decades of professional...
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Episode 19 - Dr. Kevin Black: Movement Disorders Neuropsychiatrist on Tourette
Dr. Kevin Black is a neuropsychiatrist recognized for his expertise in Tourette syndrome and related movement neuropsychiatric disorders, with a career dedicated to advancing research and improving patient care. His work integrates clinical practice and neuroimaging to better understand and treat...
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Episode 18 - Dr. Jeff Spencer: Resilience can be Learned
In this episode, host Raquel Cunningham sits down with Dr. Jeff Spencer; Olympian, performance coach, and mentor behind 8 Tour de France winning teams and over 40 Olympic gold medals. Dr. Spencer shares his unique perspective on the mind-body connection, explaining the difference between a rigid...
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Episode 17 - Kathy Giordano: Education Specialist — Rage, Rhythm, and Education
In this episode, we dive deep into the world of Tourette Syndrome with Kathy Giordano — a dedicated educator with over 35 years of experience as a Tourette Education Specialist, middle school teacher, mother, and now Global Education Committee Chair for TTAG. Kathy opens up about her work…
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Episode 16 - Just Remember LUKE
LEARN how you UNDERSTAND movement, KEEP going and it will be EFFECTIVE. How do we develop new movement patterns? Do we copy what others do, listen for intricate instructions, just try it out, or do we dive into the mechanics? The big four learning styles in the gym are visual, auditory,...
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Episode 15 - Katie St Clair: Empowered Performance
Muscles move our bones and bones move our bodies. In this conversation with strength and conditioning coach Katie St.Clair, we explore the fluidity of rotational movement and how each individual can expand their movement options. Tics are anything but fluid, however, by understanding movement...
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Episode 14 - Meghann Koppele Duffy, Co-founder of The Neuro Studio
What is the difference between a tremor, a spasm, and a tic? They are all neurological symptoms so what influence do voluntary movement choices have on each one? How do we create sensory safety in the body when your body moves without you asking it to? In this discussion with Meghann Koppele…
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Episode 13 - Robert Linkul, Training the Older Adult
Robert Linkul is no stranger to adversity, and his journey—both personal and professional—has fueled a powerful mission: combating sarcopenia in older adults. Tourette Syndrome is still largely thought of as only a youth neurological condition, which is a misconception. In reality, many adults...
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Episode 12 - Dr. Kelly Starrett & Juliet Starrett: We are built to move
Why do we even care about mobility work? Kelly and Juliet offer rich, deep explanations on the influence of your "non-training" hours. Our training hours should allow us to move and do the activities that we love throughout our lifetime, especially those activities we love outside of the gym.…
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Episode 11 - Jill Miller: Fascia, tics, muscles, and breath!
Fascia, tics, muscles, and breath! Whether you have tics, are a clinician in the Tourette and tic community, or are fascinated by movement; both voluntary AND involuntary, this discussion helps drive that narrative that tics can be intriguing but they are not entertaining. Jill Miller brings...
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Episode 10 - Ben Mooney: Sleep Specialist
Sleep. We all need it yet most of us struggle with it. Enter Ben Mooney, occupational therapist specializing in sleep science, here to make it all make sense. As someone with Tourette Syndrome himself, his genuine compassion and curiosity for each individual helps him guide others. His 25 years…
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Episode 9 - How to Build an Exercise Program with Tic Considerations
This is a compilation of everything I have learned in the past 20 years about training with Tourette Syndrome, for both myself and others. I debuted this presentation at the National Tourette Conference, Tic-Con, in 2024 to be a resource that we can continue to build upon. I explain the…
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Episode 8 - Ronald Gonzales-Trujillo, trainer & actor
We welcome our first fitness professional, trainer and actor, Ronald Gonzales-Trujillo. We do a movement break down spotlighting hinge progressions/regressions and how they might be applied towards lower body tics with CBIT principles in mind. We also discuss how progressive overload, programming...
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Episode 7 - Dr Christine Conelea: The Tourette Brain
What is going on inside our brain when we have involuntary tics? Where does movement come from voluntarily? We speak with clinical researcher, Dr. Christine Conelea about circuits, brain circuits not circuit training. She is Director of the Minnesota Tic and Compulsivity (MnTiC) lab and is…
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Episode 6 - The Music Episode
In this more personal episode, we look at music and it's influence on the co-occuring conditions to Tourette, like anxiety, insomnia, depression, and OCD. We discuss how music affects Raquel's co-occuring conditions and what she did about it. Just like tics manifest in unique patterns, so do our...
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Episode 5 - Debi Hinerfeld, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA: A Deep-dive with an OT Pro
Dr. Debi Hinerfeld shares her wealth of knowledge in the field of occupational therapy, health science, and CBIT. We cover a lot of ground around life with tics while discussing internal sensory systems and co-occuring conditions to Tourette Syndrome. Throughout this episode we talk about the...
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Episode 4 - Shannon Floyd, OTR/L: What is CBIT?
In our first guest interview we welcome Shannon Floyd, OTR/L! Shannon is an experienced occupational therapist who specializes in CBIT, the only evidence-based non-pharmaceutical treatment for Tourette Syndrome. We discuss the many different ways an OT can help someone with TS, what CBIT-is for...
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Episode 3 - Making 2D Workouts 3D
Moving and strengthening in different planes of motion contribute to well rounded training programs. When we look at our tics through different planes of motion, we have a new outlook to explain, describe, and understand motor tics. Using this outlook as a tool to understand ticcing mechanics can...
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Episode 2 - Can open___worms everywhere
Episode 2 discusses training muscles that are antagonists to ticcing muscles. Two books that have had a huge influence on how I train are "Becoming a Supple Leopard" by Dr. Kelly Starrett and "Body by Breath" by Jill Miller. We also cover compensatory patterns and co-contracting muscles. There's…
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Episode 1 - Morse Code & Marionettes
Hi! Welcome to TicFit the podcast. A platform to discuss how tics impact our bodies and how we can find meaningful movement to address tic related pain, develop body awareness, and use the gym as a place to tic freely. In the first episode, we discuss what tics feel like and how we hope to build...
About this show
A movement approach to a movement disorder. The TicFit podcast looks at how tics impact our bodies and how we can find meaningful movement to address tic related pain, develop body awareness, and use the gym as a place to tic freely.
Hosted by
Raquel Cunningham