Becoming Pain-Free: Lenny Snyderman Of Helix Fitness On How to Alleviate Chronic Pain

An interview with Maria Angelova

Don’t ignore your glute medius. This ties into working laterally, but this muscle is one that most people neglect and it is absolutely crucial for knee health and stability. I’m not a doctor, but I’ve observed people go from knee pain so severe that they can’t walk upstairs to pain-free knees in under one month by targeting the glute medius via lateral trainers or side lunges, side leg raises, etc. Pilates is also great for this.

So many people suffer from chronic pain. Often people believe that they have tried everything, and that there is no real hope for them to live pain-free. What are some things these individuals can do, to help reduce or even eliminate their pain? In this interview series, called “Becoming Pain-Free: How to Alleviate Chronic Pain” we are talking to medical professionals, pain management specialists and authors who can share their insights and strategies about how to alleviate chronic pain. As a part of this series we had the pleasure of interviewing Lenny Snyderman.

Lenny Snyderman is the CEO of Boston-based Helix Fitness. A longtime competitive cyclist with an engineering background, Lenny is the inventor of a relatively new cardio modality called Lateral Training. Lateral trainers were originally designed for fitness and are used by pro athletes like the New England Patriots and the LA Lakers, but they’ve been more recently adopted by the sports medicine community for their ability to fix chronic knee, hip, and low back pain.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

I wish I could tell you stories about all the celebrities we’ve sold our products to (I could make a lot if I wanted to leak inside info to the tabloids!), but mum’s the world. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to live and work in Europe. It was a fascinating experience that taught me so much and I’m so happy it happened early in my career. I travel a lot internationally visiting customers, clients, gyms and factories and it’s been fascinating. I’ve learned to appreciate karaoke, to shut my eyes while drivers ignore every traffic rule (like going the wrong way on one-way highway onramps) and to eat things that are straight out of that old show Fear Factor. The most interesting parts of my career have truly come from travel and doing business Internationally.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I invented lateral trainers, I thought that they would revolutionize the fitness industry. I wasn’t interested in pain or PT — fitness was my interest and my focus. Early on, a renowned orthopedic surgeon operated on my shoulder and asked to see my products. This surgeon teaches at Tufts Medical School and is known as an expert in the field of joint preservation. He looked at it the Helix for 30 seconds and told me that it could revolutionize treatment for chronic knee and hip pain. I ignored him. Big mistake!

I’m not going to say we didn’t have success with fitness, because many gyms and professional sports teams use Helix products, but we didn’t set the fitness world on fire as I’d hoped. When we pivoted to market our products for chronic pain, that’s when our business was transformed and I also started to feel immense personal satisfaction that I was really changing lives, but it took me almost 20 years. The process taught me to be much more open to not just go down the path you thought you were going down, but instead to be open to pivoting. And that surgeon? He’s now on our Medical Advisory Board.

When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I’m genuinely passionate about health and wellness and have always been proud to make products that made people fitter, but when I realized the link between lateral training and its ability to address chronic pain, I realized I’d invented something that was literally life-changing. For some people, our products are the difference between leading a normal, happy life…or being miserable. We hear from customers who can walk their dog for the first time in a year, or who have finally planned to meet their grandchild for the first time because they can now travel without pain. The impact we’re having on the one in 4 people who suffer from chronic knee pain is enormous — so much greater than when we were ‘just’ a fitness company. It’s incredibly satisfying to know that.

Let’s jump to the main focus of this series. For the benefit of our readers, can you please tell us why you are an authority on the subject of chronic pain?

Well, I’ve been on both sides of the chronic pain issue. As a competitive athlete all my life, of course, I have my own experiences with recovery from sports injuries and chronic pain. I started with football, then became a serious bodybuilder, and then segued into competitive cycling and cyclo-cross — you can’t do those things without learning about how to deal with chronic pain! But I got truly immersed in the subject when I invented a technology that I’d intended for fitness, but that turned out to be even more effective for chronic pain. We had to conduct clinical studies, and we assembled a medical advisory board that’s made up of some of the top sports medicine experts in North America — so they’ve given me an amazing education in pain, its causes, and different novel approaches. It’s been incredible to learn from them and to use that to help others in pain.

Can you please share with us a few of the most common causes of chronic pain?

Knee pain is probably the area I am most well-versed in. It’s incredible to think that 25% of the adult population suffers from chronic knee pain. Its most common causes are related to age, injury, or repeated stress on the knee. Of course, arthritis is a major issue for knee pain, but so is inactivity.

There are many different types of pain that people struggle with. Which specific form of pain would you like to focus on in this interview? Why that one?

I’d love to talk about arthritic knee pain because there are so many misconceptions about it. Many people just don’t understand about the positive role that the right kind of activity can play in helping slow down degeneration of the knee joints and in reducing pain and inflammation. People — especially those with severe arthritis and bone-on-bone conditions — are afraid to move and that fear likely causes them more pain.

Here is the main question of our interview. Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey toward becoming pain-free?

1. The first lifestyle tweak is not exactly groundbreaking: get more exercise. It’s just so clear that it’s crucial for healthy, pain-free lives. My former neighbor is the most perfect example. He died recently at age 99. He was still playing doubles tennis well into his 90s. I think his secret was that he prioritized physical activity. Up until the week before he died, he’d probably never missed a day of walking for exercise and it meant he never had to stop being active.
2. Second tweak: it’s essential to incorporate lateral motion. Our bodies were intended to move in all three planes of human activity, but nearly all of us, including those who work out religiously, spend our lives moving in one plane: front to back. This leads to strength imbalances that can lead to injury and pain. It also leads to balance issues as we age. We need to move laterally either with a lateral trainer or by incorporating lateral movements into our routine. Skate skiing, rollerblading, Tai Chi, swimming the breaststroke — these all will do wonders.
3. Eat more like Tom Brady! There’s a lot of evidence that certain foods can cause inflammation which can make pain worse. Tom avoids processed meats, dairy, sugar, gluten, caffeine, and refined carbs. Personally, I never eat meat — I’ve been a pescatarian for close to 30 years. I also limit dairy, sugar, and caffeine, but you don’t have to swear off these things forever. Just try to limit them –meatless Mondays, swapping out oat milk for cream in your coffee, etc.
4. Don’t ignore your glute medius. This ties into working laterally, but this muscle is one that most people neglect and it is absolutely crucial for knee health and stability. I’m not a doctor, but I’ve observed people go from knee pain so severe that they can’t walk upstairs to pain-free knees in under one month by targeting the glute medius via lateral trainers or side lunges, side leg raises, etc. Pilates is also great for this.
5. Lose a little weight. Excess weight can cause pain or make pain conditions worse. Obesity puts extra strain on your knees, hip joints, and spine. Even carrying around an extra ten pounds will add the equivalent of 30 to 40 lbs of force on your knees. There’s no question that being closer to your ideal weight can’t hurt when it comes to pain conditions — and will likely help, maybe a lot.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Easy: start moving laterally! Think about moving your body in all three planes of movement instead of just front-to-back. Get off the bike and the treadmill and the elliptical and consider going sideways with a lateral trainer, or with activities like Pilates, Tai Chi, skating, or rollerblading. You’ll recruit more muscles every second you move laterally, which means you’ll burn more fat and calories in the same amount of time as whatever else you used to be doing. This will lead to better fitness and easier weight control. Less pain. And for all of us over 45, it will mean you can preserve your balance to reduce your risk of falling as you get older. Falling is the #1 cause of injury in older populations, and guess what those injuries lead to? Chronic pain.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

You can see our products and why they are so incredible for pain and for health at www.HelixFitness.com or www.Scoopfit.com. We’d especially love for people to check out the clinical studies at each of those sites.

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

About the Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA, is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher, and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a finance director and a professional with more than 17 years of progressive corporate experience in the telecommunications, finance, and insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.