Project Summer: Meet Dr. Emily Splichal of BARE

We asked the barefoot science specialist for her go-to summer workout and her perfect summer day.

This summer, we’re bringing you inspiration from some of the top celebrity fitness teachers and athletes and sharing their summer workouts, power songs and more. Your dream summer starts here.

As a podiatrist, human movement specialist and global leader in barefoot science and rehabilitation, Dr. Emily Splichal has developed a keen eye for movement dysfunction and neuromuscular control during dynamic movement. With more than 15 years in the health and fitness industry, Splichal has dedicated her medical career to studying postural alignment, and human movement as it relates to barefoot science, foot to core activation and from the ground up programming.

We asked the creator of BARE® to share her go-to summer workout, and why she moves.

24Life: What’s your go-to source for inspiration?
Emily Splichal (ES): I live in the best city for inspiration: New York City. There is a buzz and energy here that inspires me to wake up, be awesome and do something positive with my life.

24Life: What do you teach and why?
ES: I teach BARE, which is a barefoot balance training, body weight, body tension workout I created eight years ago to help people of all ages move better and re-connect with their bodies. BARE is built off of concepts I learned as a gymnast and aerialist, but applies all the principles for functional movement and the concept of controlled strength from the ground up.

24Life: Why is fitness so important to you?
ES: To me, movement evokes the emotion of happiness and identity with self. When I’m not teaching fitness, my movement of choice is aerial work with silks straps. Aerials require total body control, while allowing me the ability to escape mentally and be one with the apparatus.

24Life: What is your ideal workout (that is 24 minutes or less)?
ES: My ideal movement is body weight and body tension movements. I start all workouts with myofascial release followed by about 10 minutes of a yoga flow/body tension series that blends into control core tension work. After my floor series I usually jump onto the bar, rings, strap or silks and do hanging work.

24Life: What is your go-to summer move?
ES: My go-to move is from the BARE workout. It’s a side lunge with core activation, and I’ve made a video to show you how it’s done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdNk6RfU7SE

24Life: What’s your greatest passion, outside of the work that you do?
ES: Aerials. I was a gymnast for 15 years, so this was a natural progression. However, I have only been doing aerials for three years. It evokes an emotion I cannot explain and pulled me out of a very stressful time in my life. My escape, my therapy has always been movement. My passion for movement exceeds just doing movement—it includes watching movement, such as dance performances by New York City Ballet and Cirque du Soleil.

24Life: Describe your perfect summer day.
ES: Because I travel so much for teaching, I get to have an almost perpetual summer, which is great! If I have the day off in any country that is warm, I love to sleep in, enjoy a nice cup of coffee while taking in the water (ocean) and then go paddle boarding. Being surrounded by friends, nice weather and movement are all I need on my summer days off.

24Life: Do you have a power food?
ES: My favorite drink is a ginger, lemon and cayenne shot in the morning followed by a chlorophyll shot in the afternoon. I notice an immediate effect from these shots, and they are the perfect way to start your day or increase your energy in the afternoon

24Life: What’s your number-one stressor and your surefire stress buster?
ES: Running a global company that now oversees the manufacturing of two products is a massive stressor. People don’t see the stress that goes into being an entrepreneur, but everything falls on your shoulders. The best stress buster is knowing when to take time out for yourself—whether that means a massage, dinner with friends or a quiet walk.

24Life: What is one thing people might not know about you?
ES: Very few people know that I grew up in North Dakota in a town of 300 people. I had a very isolated perspective of the world and life, which is ironic because I now live in Manhattan and travel the world for work.

24Life: What’s your secret to getting stuff done?
ES: Time management and waking up with my head in the game. For the last three years, every single day when I wake up I listen to 15 minutes of motivational talks such as Tony Robbins followed by power music to get myself amped for my day. I then start to fall into “flow,” or the zone needed to kick ass all day. Life is a mental game. You are either in it to win it or you are not. We all need to ask ourselves “What is our purpose?” and “How do we want to be remembered?”

24Life: What is your theme song/power song for summer?
ES: “Mi Gente” by Willy William and J Balvin.

24Life: What book is on your night table?
ES: “The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance” by Steven Kotler.

24Life: What’s your secret for a great night’s sleep?
ES: Routine. Consistency. I take my sleep very seriously because I need to have energy for my day. I get at least eight to nine hours of sleep and love to sleep in. We all have our own time clocks and instead of fighting them we need to accept them, work with them and use them to our advantage.

I go to sleep about 11 p.m. or midnight every night and have been using an eye mask, ear plugs, white noise (ocean sounds), lavender oils and very dark shades for years.

24Life: Any rituals that you have before you teach, work or train?
ES: Before I work, I have my morning ritual of motivational lectures and music for 15-30 minutes. Before I present at a conference or in front of an audience I do something very similar: I pull away from everyone for an hour before and listen to some motivational music to get myself into the zone, keeping the energy of presenting to that many people. I think the key word here is rituals. To have a successful result we need a ritual, pattern or consistency. It automatically gets the head in the place it needs to be. Now, years later, it doesn’t take much to get me into flow or the zone.

24Life: Quote you would like to share?
ES: I have two. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” –Steve Jobs

“The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” –Mark Twain

You can follow Emily Splichal on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Emily Splichal