Become the Best You
The other day I woke up with some right-sided neck pain. I had some discomfort and slight limitations rotating or sidebending right.
Now I’ve already completed many systemic-oriented treatments, and don’t really have a go-to non-manual for the occasional crick in the neck. I was unable to get any manual therapy, nor were self-mobilizations effective.
What’s a guy to do? Continue reading “Change The Context: 3 Tools to Treat Neck Pain”
The other day I was texting with a friend and writer I respect dearly, Seth Oberst, and he asked me an excellent question regarding the reading process:
How do you determine what you read next though? ~Seth Oberst
I answered him then, though it felt brief and inadequate. His question inspired me to reflect on how I design my learning process.
Though I’ve mentioned my learning philosophy, it may be fruitful to delve into the details. Seth, I hope I don’t let you down. Continue reading “How to Design Your Learning Program”
If there is one thing I’ve struggled with over the years, it’s long term retention.
Though remembering course materials has had it’s challenges, the struggle is worse with books.
Overconsumption was part of the problem. Trying to read faster, and across multiple unrelated books caused more detriment than use. Much as our attention spans can be overstimulated by abundant information on the internet, so to can we suffer this fate with reading. There are a lot of books after all.
While narrowing my reading focus has helped quite a bit, improving my reading strategy was equally important.
I remember one summer I made it my goal to learn how to shuffle cards. We played A LOT of cards on my family vacations, and I was tired of having to use the automatic shuffler or having someone else shuffle for me at the family card game.
I shuffled anytime I had some free time during the day; which back when I was a kid led to multiple bouts of daily shuffling.
By the end of the summer, I was unconscious with shuffling, and still am to this day.
Frequent, quality repetitions at any task will likely lead to improvement. Learning material is no different, we must just foster an environment of multiple exposures to said material.
Here’s my latest attempt at doing so. Continue reading “The 6-Step Method to Reading the Shit Out of Books”
After wiping the tears and coming to the stark realization of our (ir)relevance in performance, we must ask where do we fit in? Do we matter?
I’ve asked myself this question many times. It is hard to answer when tactical over-utilization begets repetitive stress injuries; a poor night’s sleep, Slurpies, and donuts make someone ill; or a contact play ends a career. What could I have done differently? What was my role?
Though these questions have required skill development in special physical preparedness, sports science, and stress management; improving general qualities is pertinent in certain scenarios. It is these times in which rehab and training is of utmost importance, and we regain our relevance.
Our skills shine in the following instances: Continue reading “Starting from the Bottom (Now We Here): When General Physical Preparation Matters”
Every time I heard this I cringed.
I did all the right stuff returning guys back to sport.
I’m talking getting guys more neutral than Ron Hruska on a tropical island, FMS scores that Gray Cook would be ‘mirin’, hop tests that Kevin Wilk would foam at the mouth over, and high intensity continuous training sessions that would make Joel Jamieson say “really?”
Yet as soon as they got onto the court, they’d be smoked.
I’d hear that cursed phrase over and over again.
What was I doing wrong? I thought we address all of their performance needs, yet we would continually run into the same problem.
It wasn’t until I learned the following axiom that we broke this pattern: Continue reading “Start at the End: A Case for Special Physical Preparedness”
Hasn’t it?
I was in a place where I couldn’t get much writing done.
I got out of the groove, out of taking one too many con ed courses.
It’s times like this where you have to look somewhere for inspiration.
For me, I looked toward Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I was watching “The Terminator” the other day with my aunt; an incredibly good movie, as all Arnold movie are.
Picture the iconic scene where the T-800 is looking for Sarah Connor in the police station, but the officer refuses to let him in. It is then when he drops that iconic line: Continue reading “How to Approach Learning”
It was a little over a year ago that I took PRI vision and was blown away. A little bit after that, I went through the PRIME program to become an alternating and reciprocal warrior.
I had learned so much about what they do in PRI vision that I was feeling somewhat okay with implementation.
Then my friends told me about the updates they made in this course.
I signed up as quickly as possibly, and am glad I did. This course has reached a near-perfect flow and the challenging material is much more digestible.
Don’t expect to know the what’s and how’s of Ron and Heidi’s operation. And realistically, you probably don’t need to.
Your job as a clinician is to take advantage of what the visual system can do, implement that into a movement program, and refer out as needed. This blog will try to explain the connection between these two systems.
If you want more of the nitty-gritty programming, I strongly recommend reading my first round with this course. Otherwise, you might be a little lost.
Let’s do it. Continue reading “Course Notes: PRI Postural Visual Integration: The 2nd Viewing”
Strength and conditioning is a guilty pleasure of mine. One I love to indulge in from time to time.
There is something about the training process that excites me. So when I heard Val Nasedkin was speaking in the US, I jumped on the opportunity.
Val is the brilliant mind behind the Omegawave, a device which I have been experimenting with in my own training and hoped to learn more about.
I left with a greater appreciation not only for what Val’s system intends to do, but the way he coaches and programs.
If you get a chance to hear Val or Roman Fomin speak, take up the opportunity. These guys are both revolutionaries in their respective fields.
Here were a few of the big takeaways.
Val created the Omegawave to provide a framework and determine appropriate timing for our current performance methodologies.
Most training and rehabilitation processes are chosen based on results. focusing here, however, neglects individual responses to inputs.
Great results can come at a great cost to an individual.
If biological cost of training can be measured, there is potential to maximize an individual’s health, long term potential, and work capacity, while still achieving desired results. Continue reading “Course Notes: The Val Nasedkin Seminar”
A trip home and hearing Mike Cantrell preach the good PRI word? I was sold.
Impingement and Instability is one of those courses that I could take yearly and still get so many gems. In fact, I probably will end up taking it yearly—it’s that good.
I took I&I last year with Cantrell (and the year before that with James), and the IFAST rendition was a completely different course.
Cantrell provided the most PRI clinical applications I have seen at any course, which is why he continues to be one of my favorite people to learn from.
Basically, if you haven’t learned from Mike yet, I pity you. Get to it!
I have way too many gems in my notes to discuss, so here are a few big takeaways. Continue reading “Course Notes: Cantrell’s Impingement and Instability, 2015 Edition”
A late addition to the yearly course list, but a decision I will never regret.
Lorimer Moseley is one of my heroes in the pain science realm and I’ve always wanted to hear him speak. His teaching style—slow paced, humorous, filled with story, and unforgettable—really resonated with me and made his material so easy to understand.
My admiration for him tremendously grew because he was readily admitting if he didn’t know something, critical of his own body of work, and very open to what we we do clinically. I got the impression that he was okay with us practicing how we wish, as long as our treatments are science-informed and coupled with an accurate biological understanding.
I left the talk validated, reinvigorated, and better adept at educating patients. He put on one of the best courses I have been to. If you haven’t seen Moseley live or had the chance to interact with him, please do so.
Let’s go over the big moments. Continue reading “Course Notes: Explaining Pain Lorimer Moseley-Style”
