Bobby Aldridge of BAMmetrics: Getting An Upgrade; How Anyone Can Build Habits For Optimal Wellness, Performance, & Focus
Building healthy habits are akin to building strong muscles; each day builds on the day before. Be consistent and kind. If something works well, incorporate it into your daily routine, if it doesn’t, seek a parallel course. Constant evaluation, measurement, and adjustment are critical to ongoing progress.
As a part of our series about “How Anyone Can Build Habits For Optimal Wellness, Performance, & Focus”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bobby Aldridge.
Bobby Aldridge has spent over three decades as an athlete and student of physical movement. He is a professional fitness trainer and the founder of BAMmetrics, a system that’s goal is to help clients, patients, and athletes improve their mobility with metrics-based equipment. He has a bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science from University of San Francisco School of Kinesiology, a minor in Business Management, and certifications in The Egoscue Method (I, II, and III), TPI (Titleist Performance Institute, Olympic Lifting and Golf), CSCS® (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists), NASM-CES (National Academy of Sports Medicine-Corrective Exercise Specialization), and ACE (American Council on Exercise).
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew up in loving middle-class family in Marin County; my parents and their parents were also Bay Area natives. I looked forward to Sunday morning when my mom would make dozens upon dozens of pancakes with strawberries and syrup for all the neighborhood kids. I always loved sports and could be found after school and on the weekends in the playground honing my skills with local kids. Basketball and baseball quickly emerged as my favorites, particularly because my dad played in the minor leagues in San Francisco and later became the Redwood High School baseball coach (but based on districting regulations my brother and I played for San Rafael High!). Given that I was the leading basketball scorer in the league and had the opportunity to play DI baseball and basketball in college, I dreamed of playing in the MLB or NBA after college. I quickly realized that I was neither fast enough nor big enough to compete at that level, so I began to learn all I could about exercise science, kinesiology, and performance at the highest levels.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
Because I was an avid sports enthusiast and player, and grew with a dad who loved the game of baseball, it was not a leap to study and pursue a career in Sports Science. I really enjoyed working with developing athletes as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. Although it now recounted as a joke, I recall hearing rumors that Dad told his players that if they didn’t work out with me, it was unlikely they would make the team!
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
From teachers and coaches to family and friends, I have had many mentors who believed in me and influenced my path to becoming an expert in health and wellness. But the place I needed the most help was in the launch of my business. BAMmetrics is a total fitness system that teaches clients, patients, and athletes of all levels to track and improve their mobility, increasing their performance and lessening the chance of pain and injury. The physiology part of it was second nature to me. But expanding into product development and sharable video content was new, and I found the greatest support for those efforts in my own home. My wife has become a master juggler who provides both financial stability and philosophical wings while my children, who are now teens, have always been willing to serve as models, camera people, social media directors, website designers, and onsite comedians. Our 210-pound Great Dane rescue has been and remains both mascot and security!
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
My initial manufacturing attempts in China were a comedy of errors. Not only was the language barrier profound but obtaining representative samples and quality control proved an absurd fantasy given my limited experience. I recall an incident early on when my manufacturer and I had finally agreed on the colors, design, and cost of the BAMkit and I ordered a container of products to be shipped by freight based on speaking engagements, professional teaching opportunities, and projected sales. I was so excited. While the goods were at the port, there was a shipping strike, so none of my products could be delivered. The factory went out of business and I lost both the goods and the supplies. I had to refund the deposits and the promises to purchase were cancelled, as I could not meet the contractual date. I quickly learned that humor, patience, and playing golf are the only lasting (and healthy) antidotes to insanity.
The road to success is hard and requires tremendous dedication. This question is obviously a big one, but what advice would you give to a young person who aspires to follow in your footsteps and emulate your success?
The most important advice I can offer is far from original, but has proven useful to me: stay hungry, humble and happy. Never ask anyone for something you yourself wouldn’t do. Never stop learning, always be generous and sincere, and project positivity even when everything seems to go wrong. Surround yourself with good, honest people who believe in your vision and will benefit from your success. Always keep the faith, make work fun, and learn to live on little sleep.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
There are so many books that have influenced my work, my understanding and my development as a human being; I love to read non-fiction and biographies best. I am inspired by heroism, intelligence, adventurousness, and compassion. From Mandela, Malala, Malcolm X, Mohammad Ali, MLK and RBG to Geronimo, the Dalai Lama, Anne Frank, Bruce Lee, Louis Zamperini, Neil Armstrong and Winston Churchill, I learn about sacrifice, responsibility, and power.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
As a trainer, coach, and movement specialist, I seek to have a positive influence on all my clients so that they look forward to spending their time with me even when I ask them to push themselves to what they perceive as their physical and/or mental limits. One of my favorite quotes is by Mother Teresa who said, “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” I do my best to remember this every time I interact with another person. Additionally the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” speaks to me on a personal level, as I have worked hard to find my place in the darkness and now seek to be a beacon of light for others.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
BAMmetrics, the company I founded, helps people learn how to care for their body using scalable, repeatable, transferrable metrics. The ability to measure progress fosters self-sufficiency and integrity while also building confidence through tangible results. Moreover, mobility is crucial for health and wellbeing, as the ability to move better has the power to improve performance and reduce pain. I am currently working on training modules and curriculum for medical professionals and hope to implement BAMmetrics in clinics and health care settings for both pre-hab and re-hab work.
Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. This will be intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out directly. Can you help explain a few reasons why it is so important to create good habits? Can you share a story or give some examples?
Good habits come from having a goal and following through on that goal every day; wellness requires discipline and consistency over time. Health must become a priority; to be sustainable one must experience positive results that will continue to motivate even when it is inconvenient or difficult to continue.
How have habits played a role in your success? Can you share some success habits that have helped you in your journey?
Good habits have helped me [heal over the years? and build my body, my family, and my career. As I get older and busier with life, good habits provide a solid foundation on which I can build. For me, “success habits” include drinking more water than I’d like, eating fruits and vegetables at every meal, sleeping restfully, moving often, finding time to count my blessings, and smiling at everyone I meet.
Speaking in general, what is the best way to develop good habits? Conversely, how can one stop bad habits?
You must be highly invested in your own success and build good habits deliberately from the ground up. Although your goals can (and should) be lofty, your plan must be incremental and attainable. Success begets success. Simplify as much as possible. On a practical note, find a friend with whom you can celebrate victories and recalibrate after setbacks.
Let’s talk about creating good habits in three areas, Wellness, Performance, and Focus. Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum wellness. Please share a story or example for each.
- Wellness: Eat more fruits and vegetables — avoid processed food, sleep enough to wake restfully — most people need an average of 8 hours to function optimally, hydrate consistently — typically drink half your body weight in water
- Performance: Slow things down, meditate, breathe deliberately, stay positive
- Focus: Know what is important to you and why, attune yourself to your goals
Can you help explain some practices that can be used to develop those habits?
Make one positive wellness change a day, every day for a week. Begin each day with a workout — it sets the tone for a great day by elevating mood and fostering a sense of accomplishment. Even the smallest movement if you aren’t used to exercising will be beneficial. Walk before running! Building healthy habits are akin to building strong muscles; each day builds on the day before. Be consistent and kind. If something works well, incorporate it into your daily routine, if it doesn’t, seek a parallel course. Constant evaluation, measurement, and adjustment are critical to ongoing progress.
Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimal performance at work or sport? Please share a story or example for each.
- Whether participating in sport, at work, or while at home, always play fairly with others. I love golf — the fresh air, the competition, and the time to get to know other player is exhilarating. However, on a deeper level, I love the game because of the ingrained sense of responsibility and integrity it imparts. Golf is the only sport I know in which penalties are called on the player, by the player. This sense of personal vigilance carries over in everything I do. I give others the benefit of the doubt, and in tandem, I am extra careful to do the right thing when no one is watching.
- Visualizations: your mind doesn’t know the difference between a visualization and the actual doing of something, so you should use imagination as often as possible. When my wife was in living in Dharmsala, India as a graduate student, she had the opportunity to study Tibetan Buddhism with high-level Nyingma monks. They utilize a meditation technique that Westerners call lucid dreaming. It is a cultivated process in which dreamtime is a subtle state of deliberate consciousness. In this state, trained minds are able to work through a multitude of scenarios — they even practice flying! A less esoteric example is the use of visualizations in sports or work. I use this technique often to sink the putt or close the deal. I always tell my athletes, “You win or lose before you even start.” Mentality dictates outcome, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right!”
- Positive communication: I work hard to listen more than I speak; it is remarkable how much I learn when I really hear what others are saying.
Can you help explain some practices that can be used to develop those habits?
In addition to cultivating mindfulness, just give it a go. Don’t overthink it. If you succeed, stay on course; it you don’t, do it (or something else) again. There is no judgment. The Yoda quote, “Do or do not, there is no try,” is a mantra in our house.
Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimal focus? Please share a story or example for each.
Hydrate/Eat, Sleep, and Move properly. These three habits (in addition to kindness) are the keys to the kingdom. When your body is grounded in the stability of wellness, your mind is free to focus on loftier goals.
As a leader, you likely experience times when you are in a state of Flow. Flow has been described as a pleasurable mental state that occurs when you do something that you are skilled at, that is challenging, and that is meaningful. Can you share some ideas from your experience about how we can achieve a state of Flow more often in our lives?
Live observantly and with generous purpose. Be aware of how your actions and words not only affect others but also influence your own choices and behavior. Move more. Think more. Give more. Do more. Set goals. Be kind to yourself. Flow will follow.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Implement a health and wellness movement hour in addition to the lunch hour at school and at work.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)
I would love to meet Oprah Winfrey. I had the opportunity to attend the Save the Children 100 Year Celebration in 2019. Movie stars like Jennifer Gardner and Harrison Ford spoke eloquently and with passion, but when Oprah took the stage, the room fell silent. Her command, fortitude, and integrity were palpable, as was her purpose and commitment to making the world better. Oprah is a force of good who stands against injustice and inequity; she gives voice to the voiceless and offers ethical solutions to a world that suffers.
After trying to minimize the waste and inefficiency in our health and wellness systems and being repeatedly warned that I have no chance to effect positive change, I am more determined than ever to make real change by implementing solutions based on equity, sustainability, decency, and common sense. Access to meaningful care should not be a privilege of the rich, but a basic human right. Oprah is the world’s most powerful and relatable change-maker; even a cup of tea with her could help me move mountains.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
IG FB and Twitter @bammetrics
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.
