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How to Deadlift – A Movement Deep Dive

Deadlift – A Total Body Workout

It is hard to find a better fundamental exercise than the deadlift. A time-tested move that ought to be learned by all—whether you’re a professional athlete, bodybuilder, fitness client, or grandma with back pain.

What if you don’t know how to deadlift? Or maybe you just want to get better at coaching it?

You’ve come to the right place.

This “Movement Deep Dive” focuses on the deadlift and all of its variants.

You’ll learn why the deadlift is so important, how to do it progressing and regressing the moven, and how to fix common errors.

So grab some chalk, branched chain amino acids, pen, and paper. This one’s a mother.

If you can’t watch the video right away, I’ve provided a modified transcript below. I would recommend both watching the video and reading the post to get the most out of the material.

Learn on!

Continue reading “How to Deadlift – A Movement Deep Dive”

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Sleeping Tips for New Parents & Patients Owning Their Care – Movement Debrief Episode 6

If you missed yesterday’s Movement Debrief live, you missed a doozy.  We discussed the following topics:

  1. What strategies new parents can use to maximize the little sleep they get
  2. Ways to give patients ownership in their care

There are a few products I mentioned or are relevant that you may want to check out:

Recommended Relevant Resources

Take a Nap, Change Your Life

Metashred Diet

Found My Fitness Podcast by Rhonda Patrick

Tim Ferriss Podcast featuring Rhonda Patrick

Meditation Apps

Headspace

Calm

Insight Timer (free)

Nootropic Supplements for Alertness

Foursigmatic Mushroom Coffee

Teacrine – Shoot for 150mg/day

Blue Light Blocking Systems

blue light blocking glasses

f.lux – a blue light blocking app for your computer. Syncs with sunrise and sunset

Circadian Rhythm Devices

NatureBright Sunlight Plus Light and Ion Therapy Lamp – For use when you live in an area with poor sunlight. Helps stimulate alertness. Also shoots negative ions, which has a bit of research, at least with earthing, to favorably impact heart rate variability.

Zero (free) – An app that promotes circadian fasting. Ensures you stop eating before sunset.

 

 

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Master Sagittal Plane, Coaching Progressions, Detaching, & TFL Inhibition – Movement Debrief Episode 5

Did you miss Movement Debrief live yesterday? Though much more fun live, I have a video of what we discussed below.

This debrief was quite fun, as we had an impromptu viewer q&a. Thank you Alan Luzietti for the awesome questions! If you follow along live on Facebook or Youtube, I will do my best to answer any questions you ask.

Yesterday we discussed the following topics:

  1. Why you should emphasize sagittal plane activities longer than you think
  2. How to coach exercises to maximize client learning and compliance
  3. Why detaching from your client encounters makes you a better clinician
  4. Viewer Q&A – “centering from the chaos” & TFL Inhibition

Lastly, if you want the acute:chronic workload calculator I spoke about, click here.

Without further ado:

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90/90 Hip Lift – A Movement Deep Dive

The Fundamental Rehab Technique

It’s a classic that does so much more than the naked eye can see. This round of “Movement Deep Dive” focuses on the 90/90 hip lift, and some of my favorite variances off that move.

I hope you have your pen and paper handy to take notes, because this video is a long one.

If videos aren’t your thing, I’ve provided a modified transcript below. I would recommend both watching the video and reading the post to get the most out of the material.

Learn on!

Continue reading “90/90 Hip Lift – A Movement Deep Dive”

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Hamstrings and the ACL, Explaining Hip Range of Motion, & Meeting the Patient’s Needs – Movement Debrief Episode 4

If you missed me live, you can check out Episode 4 of Movement Debrief below. We hit a small technical difficulty early on, but it all ended up working out.

We discuss the following concepts:

  1. Why I Emphasize Hamstrings before quadriceps after ACL reconstruction
  2. Why Hip Rotation isn’t always a reliable measure
  3. Interpreting the Ober’s Test
  4. Meeting the Patient’s Needs vs the Clinician’s Needs

I apologize that the quality is not so great. I’ve moved to a rural part of Arizona, which as of right now does not allow for the best of streaming. If you friend me on facebook, however, you can watch the live stream, which has surprisingly much better quality.

Click here for the post I mentioned discussing combining blood flow restriction training with E-stim.

 

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Continuing Education: The Complete Guide to Mastery

75

That’s my number.

No, not that number.

 

Pervert

75 is the number of continuing education classes, conferences, home studies, etc that I’ve completed since physical therapy school.

Though the courses are many, it was probably too much in a short period of time. When quantity is pursued, quality suffers. Sadly, I didn’t figure out how to get the most out of each class until the latter end of my career.

Two classes in particular stand out: Mobilisation of the Nervous System by the NOI Group, and ART lower extremity.

Yes, the content was great, but these classes stood out for a different reason. You see, instead of just doing a little bit of prep work, I kicked it up a notch. I extensively reviewed supportive material, took impeccable notes, and hit all the other essentials needed to effectively learn.

I was prepared, and because I was prepared I got so much more out of these classes than my typical fair.  The lessons learned in those courses stick with me to this day.

For the stuff you really want to learn, I’ll encourage you to do the same. Here is the way to get the most out of your continuing education. By the time you are done reading this post, you’ll understand why I now recommend a more focused learning approach and fewer courses.

Let’s see how to do it.

 

Continue reading “Continuing Education: The Complete Guide to Mastery”

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Teaching Movement, Expanding PT, Embracing Failure: Movement Debrief Episodes 2 & 3

Here are this week’s Movement Debriefs. I’m hoping to get on a regular schedule once I get settled into my new gig as a PT Mercenary, but hope you enjoy.

Anchoring Old Movements to New, Prioritizing PT’s Professional Needs

In Episode 2,  we discuss the following concepts:

  1.  Visit 2 & 3 of our patient with the lumbar fusion
  2. Using familiar concepts from old exercises in new exercises
  3. Strategies to enhance learning.
  4. Prioritizing Problems in the Profession.

Embracing Failure and The Dunning-Kruger Effect

In Episode 3,  we discuss the following concepts:

  1. My Failure
  2. The Dunning Kruger Effect – and how to hack it
  3. Embracing Failure
  4. Learning from Failure

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The Squatting Bar Reach: A Movement Deep Dive

Aka How I Mastered the Sagittal Plane

In our first episode of “Movement Deep Dive,” we go over one of my favorite moves, the squatting bar reach. It’s an excellent technique and I hope this video explanation is helpful.

If videos aren’t your thing, I’ve provided a modified transcript below. I would recommend reading and watching to get the most out of the material.

Learn on!

 

Continue reading “The Squatting Bar Reach: A Movement Deep Dive”

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Movement Debrief Episode 1: Meet the Patient at Their Story

A Live Movement Video Series

Hey party people.

I recently started doing some live feeds on the interwebz. You can check me out on Facebook and Youtube if you want to see me live.

Otherwise, I thought I’d share with the very first episode of “Movement Debrief.”

 

Here we dive into the following topics:

  1. The importance of reflection
  2. Using similar language to the patient.
  3. De-threatening that language
  4. Restoring sagittal plane control
  5. A case for manual therapy

Enjoy!

 

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The Ultimate Guide to Treating Ankle Sprains

A Humdinger No Doubt

 

Ankle sprains. Such a bugger to deal with.

Worse than childbirth, as David Butler might say.

 

Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries seen in basketball. The cutting, jumping, contact, fatigue, and poor footwear certainly don’t help matters.

Damn near almost every game someone tweaks an ankle.

Treating ankle sprains in-game provides quite a different perspective. Rarely in the clinic do we work with someone immediately post-injury. Instead, we deal with the cumulative effects of delayed treatment: acquired impairments, altered movement strategies, and reduced fitness.

The pressure is lower and the pace is slower.

You shed that mindset with the game on the line. You must do all in your power to get that player back on the court tonight, expediting the return process to the nth degree.

I had a problem.

Figuring out the most efficient way to treat an ankle sprain was needed to help our team succeed. I searched the literature, therapeutic outskirts, and tinkered in order to devise an effective protocol.

The result? We had 12 ankle sprains this past season. After performing the protocol, eight were able to return and finish out the game. Out of the remaining four, three returned to full play in two days. The last guy? He was released two days after his last game.

It’s a tough business.

The best part was we had no re-sprains. An impressive feat considering the 80% recurrence rate¹.    Caveats aside, treating acute injuries with an aggressive mindset can be immensely effective.

Here’s how. Continue reading “The Ultimate Guide to Treating Ankle Sprains”