September 2019 Links and Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on in September. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”]

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August 2018 Links and Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on in August. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”]

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December Links and Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on in December If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”] Biggest Lesson of the Month I’ve been thinking a lot about generalism and specialism. Becoming a generalist involves implementing things with an individual that intend to have systemic effects, whereas the specialist implements things that intend to have a specific effect. Think about encouraging your clients to sleep effectively, eat more vegetables, and move effectively. Implementing these three strategies will lead to system-wide effects first and foremost, and may impact a specific goal that you have. These are the tools of a generalist On the flipside, consider a surgical procedure, medication, etc. These modalities have a higher likelihood of meeting a specific goal first and foremost, but the system-wide effect is less certain. Though upon careful reflection on this thought, really anything we implement as a generalist or specialist is riddled with uncertainty. Both types of practitioners are necessary to maximize health, longevity, and/or performance. Quote of the Month “Ego is about who’s right. Truth is about what’s right.” ~Mike Maples Jr Ego is something I’ve been working on getting

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Top 10 Posts of 2017

At the end of each year, I like to see what you beautiful…sexy…outstanding people liked the most from the jazz I be putting out. I want to understand you. Let me in!!!! While most of the top 10 were in the exercise-specific realm, I didn’t really see a common trend. It seems as though my fam have eclectic tastes. It’s probably why we get along so well! I want to thank you, the fam, for making 2017 an outstanding year. It has been all the comments, questions, stories, and praise that keeps me outputting content for you. I got some big things planned for 2018, and we may mix up the format a bit, but I think you will like the changes. But enough rambling. Let’s check out the top 10. First off… 10. Resilient Movement Foundations Course Review One of my favorite classes of the year,  put on by my fam from Resilient. Here we learned all the fundamental keys to effective movement, how to perform the big lifts savagely well, and how to use specific movements to improve joint position in these lifts. Follow these guys, they are some of the biggest stewards of the profession. 9. Practical Pain Education My thoughts on pain education have morphed a substantial degree over the past year. While I think my understanding of pain’s complexities have enhanced, I’ve worked on simplifying my education paradigms. I’ve often found that going down the neurophysiological rabbit hole is completely unnecessary, and providing simple examples

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November Links and Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on from this past August. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”] Biggest Lesson of the Month Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t hitting perfection day in and day out. Consistent progress over time is the key. There have been many days where I wasn’t motivated to stay on task, and faltered. The key to getting back on the proverbial horse the next day was to not beat myself up. Instead, acknowledge that these things happen, understand I’m human, and get after it the next day. You’d be amazed at what this shift in perspective can do. Quote of the Month “Greatness is a lot of small things done daily” ~ MJ Demarco MJ Demarco again takes the cake this month. This quote made me reflect a lot on just how many small, quality habits, can make an impact on life. What small things can you do to become great? Hike of the Month A late steal this month, but got a chance to check out Death Valley National Park. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this

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Resilient Movement Foundations Course Review

I recently had the pleasure of attending a class put on by my fellas at Resilient Performance Physical Therapy. I went to this course for a few reasons. First off, I of course support the home team. I can’t even front, Douglas Kechijian, Trevor Rappa, Greg Spatz, and I go way back, and are very much related through IFAST family and directly (Doug is my younger older brother, Trevor is my son, and Greg is my stepson #dysfunctionalfamily). That said, there is were a couple big things I wanted to take away from this course, which I did in spades: Mastering basic movement Program design In these two areas, the Resilient fellas delivered in spades. Knowing what good technique is in the basic movement patterns, how to coach, and how to regress, are all underappreciated topics that these guys teach quite well. So should you take this course? An emphatic hell yes. I give a more indepth review as to why in the video below, so go ahead and check that out. Once you got the verdict, check out my favorite takeaways in the course notes, and then for the love of God sign up for a course of theirs! Click here to check out the Resilient Seminar Page

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September in Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on from this past August. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”] Biggest Lesson of the Month Much of our successes and failures can be linked back to the habits we have. I noticed many times this past month that ineffective habits I had picked up were hampering my progress and productivity. One simple change (eliminating a to-do list, blocking out time to do things) was a complete game changer for me. If you are doing something you don’t like, how do your habits keep you falling into that trap? Quote of the Month “Quality is not an act. It is a habit.” ~ Aristotle Very much linked to the above lesson. We need quality to become automatic, and who better to illustrate this than an O.G. like Aristotle. Hike of the Month This was a tough decision to make on multiple fronts. This month I hiked four National Parks, saw a National Monument, and did all types of ill stuff. Though Sequoia National Park will forever hold a dear place in my heart, Yosemite was hands down one of

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August 2017 in Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on from this past August. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”] Biggest Lesson of the Month You must first take care of yourself in all aspects of life before you can adequately take care of others. That includes personally, professionally, health, finances, everything. While I have done well in certain areas, I have lagged in others. This imbalance is one reason why I opted to take a job in a rural location. It has helped me strike a balance in many areas, and has eliminated potential distractions that could deter me from achieving that balance. Cryptic? Somewhat. But I think about those times that I’ve been sleep deprived and lost patience with my clients. My lack of taking care of myself in that instance limited my capability to take care of others. Are you taking care of yourself? Quote of the Month The only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren’t is willingness to work very, very hard. ~Unknown I saw the above quote when I was staying at a hotel before hiking Capitol Reef. The

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How to Fix Neck Pain After Lifting – A Live Treatment

While in the Hamptons, my main man Cody Benz started developing some neck trouble. We thought it might be helpful for y’all to see what I would do to help a cat like him. Here you will see me go through an entire treatment session with Cody, while I do my best to explain every decision I make. A major kudos to Daddy-o Pops Bill Hartman for asking some great questions throughout the treatment. Instead of the typical transcript I provide for these longer videos, I decided to write this up similarly to my neck pain with sitting case study format. I reflected on this case while editing the video, so you’ll see some added thoughts I had while you read through. I would recommend watching the video and reading the case study to get the most out of the material. Enjoy watching the session.

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July 2017 in Review

Every week, my newsletter subscribers get links to some of the goodies that I’ve come across on the internets. Here were the goodies that my peeps got their learn on from this past July. If you want to get a copy of my weekend learning goodies every Friday, fill out the form below.  That way you can brag to all your friends about the cool things you’ve learned over the weekend. [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Hell yes I want weekend learning goodies every Friday!”] Biggest Lesson of the Month Maximize proximal before spending time distal. I’ve just seen too many patients where we applied some type of axial intervention, which led to profound changes distally. Position governs all. Thank you for making me realize this daddy-o. Quote of the Month Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert Kennedy Rehabilitation Blog: What is the Best Test to Discern an ACL Tear? My boy Scott Gray put together a rock solid post on diagnosing an ACL tear. I’ve been very big as of late on filling the differential diagnosis hole in my game, and this one was beyond helpful. I wish I had heard of the lever test last year when I had a guy pop his ACL in-game. Blog: The Quadruped Rockback Test: RIP My buddy Doug Kechijian ever so succinctly puts this dated test to rest. There is so much more that goes into deciding squat depth than can be accurately accounted for with this test. Performance Research: The effects of two

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How Sleep Saved the D-League – Resilient Podcast

Sleep is a big deal. Not only has a lack of sleep been linked to many big bad diseases, it also contributes to poor performance. Behavior change through education and persuasion is hard enough as is. We are all resistant to change, namely because our current habits and routines require Herculean willpower efforts to break. This problem  is especially true in non-conducive environments. It’s hard to eat healthy when your family cooks fried foods and orders pizza for dinner every night. It is these situations where we just have to make the most with what we have, and that’s exactly what I spoke about on one of my best friend’s podcasts, Doug Kechijian. Before we go into the content, let me tell you a bit about Douglas, my younger-older brother. Doug and I first met way back in 2013 at a PRI course in Phoenix.  I was the first person who arrived in town, and it was up to me to take care of the rental car. We had five bros to get to the class, so I needed to find something cozy that could fit everyone and their luggage to and from the class and Phoenix airport. So I’m looking at some midsize SUVs, a couple sedans, trying to find the right car that I could fit everyone in. Then I saw this: Doug and I had never met before, and he was the first person I had to pick up. He asked “what will you be driving?” I

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