 Hey, what's happening ladies and gentlemen, hey, welcome to the sixth episode of the King Penny's podcast big episode today, man, especially here in Longmont, Colorado, finally got a guy to sit down. We've been trying to get for a couple of months now we got him in the building and make sure when you come, man, bring gifts, man, like, you know what I mean? Like, hey, this is, this is a new thing, you know, we want to keep this in place. So when you do come, hey, bring something for us. Hey, man. So also to happy 4th of July, I'm sure you guys are here barbecuing fireworks and you know what I mean? And if I didn't get an invite, hey, look here, I'm mad at you. But now, man, enjoy it, man. Happy 4th of July. Hey, I want to take it into our guests, man, we're going to bring him in right now, man. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it, man. So let's start with the name and where are you from? Yeah. So my name is Dr. Alec Shepler. I'm from Rochester, New York, and I moved to Longmont about four years ago and started my chiropractic practice of all health and wellness with my wife, Dr. Carolyn. Oh, okay. So what made the transition? Why come from New York to Colorado? So when we were getting ready to graduate school, we went to school in New York. You start traveling around the country and try to figure out, you know, where do we want to go? We knew we didn't want to stay on the East Coast. And within 24 hours of being in Colorado, we decided that we want to be here. The mountains are beautiful. The culture is very fitness-oriented. People take care of themselves. They take care of their bodies. And we want to help facilitate that. That's a huge part of our philosophy of care is taking people from injury all the way up to performance. Yeah. Because I'm looking at you chiropractor. I'm like, hey, man, you get to snap and stuff that's over. No. But no, man, I want to know, though, like, so you studied your doctor, right? And so what is your actual degree, like your actual, like, major? So I have a doctorate in chiropractic. I got my bachelor's of science majoring in biomedical sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology. And then while I was getting my doctorate, I also got my master's in applied clinical nutrition. So I help people manage metabolic diseases with nutrition as well as weight loss, which is probably the most common thing that I deal with. And funnily enough, when people get to a healthy body, composition, the majority of metabolic diseases tend to right themselves. So what does the day-to-day look like? Like, what is? Yeah. So day-to-day, we show up at the clinic, we're working with clients in the gym through rehab, through personal training to help them achieve their goals. We have nutrition consultations going on. We also have acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic in the clinic. So I'm wearing a bunch of different hats over the course of the day, which is exciting for me and also helps me transition patients from being fixated on pain and their injury to performance, which has been shown time and time again to improve clinical outcomes. No, that's really good. So you chose this career path, whatever, like that. How did you get involved in fitness or in this career path period? Yeah. Well, when I was nine years old, I was a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z. And I was like, man, wouldn't it be cool to look like that? That's where it all started. That's where it all started. And, you know, I looked in the mirror, I was a little chubby. I was kind of nerdy. Had big, thick glasses. I have contacts in now. He said, no, it's gone. No, it's pretty fast. I couldn't see the writing on this water bottle from here, if I didn't know my contacts. And yeah, but I started doing sit ups, push ups every single day and just fell in love with training, transformation and fitness. And that's what kind of gave me momentum towards fitness and then ultimately physical medicine. I was really fortunate. I had a wonderful mentor. My wrestling coach in middle school and high school taught me how to train. He saw me just goofing around in the weight room in eighth grade and he was like, it seems like you're into this. Let's get you educated. So he taught me how to train. I was really fortunate to have his guidance. And then, yeah, things just kind of snowballed from there. No, that's cool. Because right now, you know, like you're competing in bodybuilding. Yes. I see you train others, but you're also your own trainer. Yeah, I'm a huge believer in practicing what you preach. So yeah, because that'd be crazy sometimes, like when you do see trainers and yeah. I mean, that's not to say people can't know what they're doing. I mean, my favorite example is Bill Belichick didn't really play football, but he's a fantastic coach. Whether or not you like him is a different story, but, you know, he knows his stuff. But for me, I always want to work with somebody who I know can bridge the gap between the abstraction, the knowledge and the application because there is a certain level of practicality there where you've navigated pitfalls yourself that you can actually help people through the application process of a lot of these things. And also in the fitness industry, man, it's a lot of optics. Yes. You know, like if you see like, you know, it's almost like you go into the grocery store and you're getting produce. Yeah. It's like, I want to work like that. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to leave this bruised banana over here. Yeah. We're going to go with this one. Yeah, but no. So your next show is when? July 28th and 29th. I have Nationals in Las Vegas. If I'm fortunate enough to take the overall, I'll wind up becoming a IFBB pro bodybuilder in classic physique. Amen. I'm going to give him a best shot. How are you feeling? No. I feel fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. No nerves, no anxious feelings. You just ready? Yeah. So, I mean, I've been training a really long time. I've been practicing a really long time and I've been a huge fan of bodybuilding because it's just the perfect confluence of athleticism, science, and then art, which are three things that are near and dear to my heart. So if they can all converge and I can engage with an activity that has all those elements, I'm super stoked. So for my first show last year that qualified me for the national show, it was really funny. I was expecting to be anxious and really nervous, but I got up there, it was just surreal. I was just having a blast because I knew I put in so much work to prepare. I feel like most people, when they do feel anxious or really nervous, it's because they don't necessarily have confidence in their preparation. Okay. All right. Nah, that's really good because I'm always nervous. Yeah. Even though I'm prepared, I'm doubly prepared and stuff like that. Now, you're not making me nervous, but I'm just saying, just the thought of just getting on stage and going through the grind for all that time and then, you know, because you think of different outcomes all the time in your mind, you know, like, and so my question is also too. So outside of the group lifts that I see you do or whatever like that, do you do some individual like, you know what I mean, just you? Yeah. So I do train by myself at least a few times per week. As I get closer to the show, those times will become increasingly frequent because you know, I just want to get in, get out. I still have a lot of other things to do, but I really try to include as many people into it as possible because for me, training and fitness is such an integral part of the community that we're trying to build through the practice and it's important for me to share my passion with others. Okay. I see you all the time motivating people like your brother lives with you. You know, I see Hunter, I see Pardo, other Alex and stuff like that. Like I see you all the time motivating and, hey, come on, let's get these sets in. You go this time. We go this time. Let's change the weight. Let's do this. You know what I mean? I was just wondering if you, you know what I mean? Like when you buy yourself, is it that same energy? Do you have that same like, you know what I mean? Like that. Yeah. You know, definitely not as vocal as I am when I'm training with a group of guys. But in my mind, it's pretty much the same. No, that's cool. So I didn't want to stay there though, but explain to me though, like how did evolve come about? Like, how did the whole like, you know what I'm saying? Like how did you decide to go ahead and take that leap? Yeah. So I worked for a pretty large practice down in Centennial when I first moved to Colorado, and they had a really wonderful model. They too had personal training, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, and they had that interdisciplinary approach and comprehensive approach to healthcare that really affected some awesome outcomes. So that was kind of the template. But where I felt like I could improve was as the clinicians, seeing them through more phases of that care model, right? So instead of me just being the chiropractor as I was at this clinic, I was also the rehab specialist. I was also the performance specialist and nutritionist because it gives me a more complete understanding of what's going on with the patient and what intervention is going to be most appropriate to them. And from a philosophical perspective, I feel like, and this is going to, I don't want to come off as too critical, but a lot of healthcare providers just miss, they miss the mark, whether it's intentional or not, I don't know. But they just fall short on giving patients the care that they need. I don't feel as though a lot of practitioners take the time to listen to their patients, to hear where they're coming from, hear their story, and really take the time to give them the very best intervention that's most specific to their complaint. Yeah, because a lot of your clients, you know, I've ran into a couple of them and stuff like that. They speak very highly of you and Nate. You know what I mean? Like they say, like, you know what I mean? You're accessible all the time, you're easy to talk to, he'll tell you, he'll break it down to you and stuff like that. Yeah, I really try to be. And like even Nate, he was at the gym with the Waipau and Rockies and somebody had asked him something about their hip, and you know, he gets to breaking it down. So you need to stretch this thing. Dr. Nate is one small group. He presented a bunch of research in Berlin while he was still pursuing his doctorate. So yeah, he is a really, really bright guy. We're super lucky to have him. No, also too. And I was telling him, I'm really glad that you and him come over, you know, so people can have like, you know, just access to your knowledge, your wealth and knowledge and the explanation behind things. Guys like me, I just know how to move weight, man. Look here, I'm going to tell you, hey, this is why we're doing this. Clearly. This is why we're doing this. You know, it's stuff like that, but people, they respect more people who can tell them why. Sure. Hey, this is why this is moving. This is what we're doing. Put these pinkies out for this. You know what I mean? Not everybody wants that, but the people they do, they want to value it. They want to, you know what I mean? No, me. I just, they just do it. Yeah. Move the weight, your muscles get bigger. Yeah. So you know what I mean? So having guys like you come around, man, it's just been a big help and a great addition to the... Well, I'm glad I have a place to come around, too. No, for sure, man. No, I mean, the outdoor lifting is great. It is. So how many doctors do you guys have at the practice? So we have myself, Dr. Carolyn, Dr. Nate, Dr. Olivia, and Dr. Selina. Okay. Dr. Selina is also an acupuncturist, and Dr. Olivia does dry needling. So Dr. Selina does traditional Chinese medicine, offers an alternative approach to healthcare, and Dr. Nate, Dr. Carolyn, and myself are all CSCS, NISCA-certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists. Dr. Carolyn specializes in pediatric and perinatal care. She helps a lot of pregnant women. She's web-certified, which is a specific chiropractic technique to help women through pregnancy and postpartum. And then I also have the nutrition background, and I pretty much tackle that part of the practice exclusively. So pretty much you guys just hate everything from all angles. Yep. But one-stop-shop it evolves, it evolves, man, that's cool. And you guys are up here off of 119, right, that's the town? Yep. Yep. We're right across from Longspeak Hospital, where the Iron Horse Department complex is. There's some professional buildings over there. So yeah, we're kind of tucked away a little bit, but we have a gym space, four treatment rooms, and it's a really cool spot. Okay. So outside of acupuncture, chiropractic stuff. What else do you guys offer specifically? Yeah, well, I actually, I got a, I got a flyer here. So we got chiropractic, you can just read it out, we'll post this, we'll post this up on the overlay and stuff like that, so people can see. Gotcha. But yeah, we offer chiropractic, personal training, physical rehabilitation, massage therapy, acupuncture, dry needling, electric simulation, spinal decompression. So yeah, we offer a bunch of different services, and I think that's really important, because if you're too specialized, like if you're a chiropractor and you only adjust, if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. People are a lot more complex than that, and that's not to say that adjustments can't help the vast majority of people, they certainly can, but that's just one tool we have in our toolkit, and I'm a firm believer in offering a really comprehensive model of care. Okay. So anybody trying to break into your field, say for instance you have a youngster or say for instance you have somebody else trying to break into your field, what would you suggest for them? How would they go about it? Yeah. Well, I think the first and most important thing is figure out how you want to serve your community and how your passion can align with your career. Because if you're just going to a job, you're going to be so disenchanted, right? Like if you say, I want to be a medical doctor, but you hate being in the hospital, you hate performing surgery, a blood freaks you out, then that's probably not the right career path for you, so you have to be really honest with yourself. So I'd start with some serious introspection. Figure out what you want out of your life and how you want to serve the community. If you want to get into chiropractic specifically, Northeastern College of Health Sciences is a wonderful program, that's where I graduated from. So they're located in Seneca Falls, New York on the north end of Cayuga Lake opposite Cornell and Etica. So this might be, this isn't a question that I had for you, but it just came about just now and I hit my mind. How do you, and you don't have to answer this, but how do you guys keep clients motivated or how do you, you know, sometimes clients, they go up, down, they wane, they maybe not, you know what I mean, aren't as active as you would want them to be. How do you find that, you know what I mean, that right way to push them, like, or? That's something we're constantly working towards and trying to figure out and it's always, that's the thing with coaching is you have to try to meet people where they're at and it really begins with making sure people understand, A, what they want and B, what it's going to take to get there, right? So if somebody comes in, they're like, I want to be a bodybuilder and I say, okay, well, why do you want that? You know, that first interview really gives me a lot of information about their expectations, how far off they are and their habits from being able to achieve what they say they want and then finding the best solution for them, right? Because you know, like if somebody comes in, they're like, I want to put on 20 pounds of muscle, but they don't want to eat a certain way, they don't want to train with a certain level of intensity, it's just not going to happen for them. They're going to get frustrated and they're not going to get the result that they're looking for and I think really, it's really important, I always have a very candid conversation with all of my clients, it's like, this requires a certain degree of sacrifice if specifically I'm using bodybuilding as the example, but anything can apply. But I want to know how does that, because it has the way on you, when a client kind of is dragging or kind of, you know what I mean? And you're training yourself, so you need to be like engaged in, you're in a high level of training and just to have somebody who's kind of going through the motions not really into it, I don't encounter too much of that. Most of the people who fall into that sort of low tend to just fall off altogether, because you know, they realize that this isn't the right solution for them. And then it's my job as a practitioner to find the correct solution. It's like, okay, you don't want to spend an hour, five days a week in the gym or an hour and a half or whatever. But you do need thinness, you do need strength training. I mean, weight training is going to help with metabolic disease, it's going to help with insulin sensitivity, it's going to help with bone mineral density, everybody needs to do it. So how do we find the solution that's most palatable to your lifestyle? So if that's like 20 minute circuit training, that's fine. I really try to meet people where they're at so that they do stay motivated. And you know, not everybody's going to want to like isolate a bicep curl. It's like, that's boring. I don't want to do that. Give me some burpees. Give me some thrusters. You're moving. Great. We train people in a variety of different ways. So we work with a lot of football players, high school athletes of all different sports. We work with a lot of endurance athletes as well. Dr. Carolyn and Dr. Olivia program, marathon programs to help people PR. So everybody's program looks a little different. It's always very specific to their goals. And Dr. Olivia is actually a gait specialist too. So she she'll watch people on a treadmill, take a look at their gait cycle. She can make recommendations on orthotics, on footwear that's going to help mitigate certain compensatory patterns in their gait that might ultimately result in overuse or chronic injuries for our endurance athletes. So to that end, circling back to the whole motivation thing, it's really a matter of figuring out exactly what people want and then making sure you design a program that's palatable to them and that will get them to their goal once you both come to an agreement that that goal is appropriate for them. Okay. I'm glad you opened up the door with the running thing because I want to know about the 5K. I want to know how it came out. You know what I mean? Yeah. How it, you know. Got. Dog days of summer, 5K. Hey, all Macintosh Lake. All my crew, 200 pounders up. We out there. So, you know, Camillo, Dustin, hey, you guys better be ready to go, man. We got to show out Macintosh Lake. But how did it come about? Like you guys deciding? Because I see you guys do the speed training. Yep. I see that at 6. Every Tuesday at Eagle Crest. Yeah, at 6. At 6. 6 p.m. or whatever. I see that. But how did you guys, I guess evolve? How did evolve evolve into a 5K? So, a lot of, a lot of what we do in the community outreach and those sorts of groups that we put together all stem from our personal passions. So for me, I do pose in classes. I do group bodybuilding workouts. And Dr. Caroline and Dr. Olivia are really passionate about marathons, ultramarathons. And they have a lot of clients that are passionate about those things. So we just want to bring people together. And we want to bring people together around fitness no matter what shape that takes. I have tremendous respect for anybody who push and I believe everybody should have some physical discipline that they push and they push to their fullest potential, whatever that may be. Because that kind of serves as a foundation, in my opinion, for when everything else gets tough. Yeah. When you resolve, you set about suffering to a certain extent willingly and everything else in life becomes a little bit easier. I heard somebody say like there was a statistic, I don't know the numbers, Dr. They was like, your children are more likely to be healthy if you, you know, if Boulder County isn't a good example of that with all these little kids running marathons and I mean the number of insane athletes that come out of this area, I think is a huge testament to exactly that because I mean, I see whole families out hiking, running on the track, lifting weights. It's just such a wonderful thing. And again, huge part of what attracted me to Longmont, Colorado on the first place. No, man. Look here, I'm not going to hold too much of your time up, man. I appreciate it. Like I said, you coming out, you spending time and the show is win again so we can all root for you. Yeah. It's July 28th and 29th. We'll be in Las Vegas at the Horseshoe Casino. Okay. I'll be in my skivvies, I'll be tan, I'll be oiled up and hopefully I'll do well. I'm not really looking forward to it. So you got that. Also too, let's plug in the race, the dog days of summer, that's what day is that? The dog days of summer, that's August 5th at 8 a.m. We're getting the t-shirts printed, we'll have vendors there. I'm going to sing the national anthem, it's going to be super fun. So yeah. Before I wrap this thing up, so you sing also. I do. So you sing, you cook, you draw. I do. What's something you can't do, Doc? How about we have a whole interview about that? Depending on who you ask, I can't do any of those things. It's all relative. I honestly want to commend you, man. You live a complete life, man. Thank you. Like and I, just overall, man, you're always doing something, always promoting positivity, man, always motivating. That's why it was tough to ask you the questions about, hey, man, what do you do when people kind of bring you down? Because I don't think you let it happen. I never see like, you know, but the way you push through it, man, it's just, it's inspiring, man. And like I said, you always upbeat, man, always great attitude, man. And then let's plug last one, evolve. Let's give them the address again. Sure. Evolve health and wellness. It's a 1715 Iron Horse Drive, Longmont, Colorado 80501 suite, number 145. Hey, look here, man, you heard it from the doc himself. He tunes in the King Penny podcast, and you need to as well. So we're going to get back to the 4th of July, man. We got barbecues to do. We got things to do, man. Tap in with him. I'm going to post up everything that he put that he brought and everything like that, man. We're rooting for him to get his pro card, man. He wins. We all win. It's a good look for the city, man. It shows him that we down with bodybuilding too and stuff like that, man. Thank you guys for tuning in, man. King Penny, Doc Shepp. We're out of here, man. Thank you. You take it easy.