Tag: training

Activity Modification When You Are Hurt – 3 Most Effective Ways

How doing less can actually help you move more Have you ever tried to rehab someone in pain, but their progress continues to stall because they keep doing activities that cause problems? You know, the person who continues to get in their own way? Although maintaining a physically active lifestyle is important for one’s health and wellbeing, some activities can be counterproductive during the rehab process. The cure can become the poison. What are we to do? Stop moving and breathe on the ground FOREVER? No. God…no. Instead, we want to couple a stellar rehab program with activity modification, choosing activities that complement or enhance the rehab goal as opposed to getting in the way. In today’s post, I’m going to show you the following: Why activity modification is ESSENTIAL for a successful rehab,  How NOT modifying activities can create a failure in patient outcomes the 3 ways I modify activities to SPEEDILY help some achieve pain-freedom How to help patients and clients buy-in to temporarily stopping the tasks they may love, but get in the way. Sound useful? Check out the video and post below to learn more.

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Bridging the Gap Between Table Testing and Training

Many of the moves we use to improve range of motion are a little weird. What if I have a client who wants to lift them heavy-ass weights? They want to feel like they did something. How can we bridge this gap? Watch this video to learn how. Applying the movement model to fitness Don’t underestimate the power of some of these simple breathing moves. When coached well, your clients will shake and get absolutely cooked. It’s a beautiful sight. Often, the key differentiator between feeling nothing and feeling a whole lot with some of the simple breathing moves is the stack. Make sure you have the stack. But remember folks, these moves are not something we just throw into the program willy nilly. These moves are merely regressions of the common moves that we perform in the gym. The Lewitt position is a regression of your midrange depth of the squat. If we understand the different positions we need to utilize to improve various ranges of motion, we can pick common gym moves to get range of motion changes. For example, if someone has a loss of external rotation, we might choose a 2 kettlebell front squat: If I need internal rotation in the arms and legs, pushups could be MONEY: Need to rotate like a boss? Well fam, a 1 arm press could change da game!

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A Consistent Approach to Coaching Course Review

You can take a seminar on just about any topic in our industry…except one. Coaching. How is it that something so fundamental to what we do as movement professionals is rarely taught? Knowledge of autonomics, anatomy, and business are meaningless if you don’t possess the ability to coach. Lucy Hendricks and Michelle Boland have filled this gap in a major way. Both are expert level coaches who work in the private sector, and have created a much needed seminar titled “A Consistent Approach to Coaching: Fundamental Positions & Exercises.” This one-day seminar focused exclusively on coaching and cueing several exercises used to establish a movement baseline in the gym. What’s unique about this seminar is its 100% hands-on aspect. You’ll not only get coached on how to move effectively, but you’ll practice coaching the other attendees. If you need a seminar that is going to change what you do on Monday without the need for a complete overhaul, this is the one. Let’s check out the highlights. Having a Consistent Approach A consistent approach both simplifies coaching and creates continuity among trainers. If movement and cues stay similar across all clients, then coaching can become more streamlined. Most skill acquisition innately has feedback systems in place to inform of success or failure. If you are playing a musical instrument, you hit the wrong tune and the song is awful. In basketball, you either get buckets or your jumper is sorry AF. What feedback is there for training? Weights can be

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Costa Rica Beginner’s Mind 2019 Retreat Review

Where can you combine learning, disengaging from life, connection, beach, sun, hiking, and so much more? That’s what Ben House has created with his Beginner’s Mind Retreat at Flō Retreat Center. A place where one can achieve all of the above and more. This trip marked the second time I’ve been here, and for good reason. It gives me the opportunity to personally recalibrate from the hectic work lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed too, while taking time out to better myself in more ways than one. This year’s retreat brought together several bright minds in the health and fitness realms, discussing topics ranging from training, mitochondria, stress, and more. The retreat is set up into two different weeks. The first week was functional medicine-oriented. After a three day break of chillin’ like Bob Dylan, the strength and conditioning week finished things off. The best part of this retreat is that learning is only one component. The lectures took up the morning, then the rest of the day was yours. You get time to train, go to the beach, hike, jump off of cliffs, eat good food, or just chill and play board games. The best part of this retreat is the people you encounter. It can be hard in our industry to find like-minded folks who live the lifestyle that fam like us live. But at Flo, healthy living is the norm. The people I’ve met at Ben’s place are people who I consider to be friends for a lifetime. That’s

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Costa Rica Underground S&C 2018 Retreat Review

I recently had the opportunity to attend a strength and conditioning retreat hosted by none other than the legendary Ben House at his Flo Retreat Center. The retreat consisted of a morning filled with meditating, writing, thinking, and of course learning. Afternoons were time to bro down with fellow bros at the beach, on hikes, and exploring all the wonders that Costa Rica has to offer. The experience was life changing for me. Very rarely do I get a chance to be a part of a community like we had in Costa Rica, especially as a mercenary PT. I had the opportunity to learn from great people, share phenomenal moments, and make new friendships that I hope last a lifetime. If you want to get schmarter, meet amazing people, or simply get away from the riggers of a overconnected environment, I strongly encourage you to sign up for one of these retreats. I’m hoping to be there again next year. Without further adieu, if you want some knowledge bombs from the heavy hitters who were there, check out the review below.  

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Kyphosis, Post-Rehab Total Hips, and Coordinating Three Planes- Movement Debrief Episode 26

Movement Debrief Episode 26 is in the books. Here is a copy of the video and audio for your listening pleasure. Here were all the topics: What treatment parameters should be considered when working with someone who is overly kyphotic What to look at when assessing a total hip arthroplasty What training pieces should be considered and focused on with a total hip arthroplasty Should anything be avoided on the training floor with a total hip arthroplasty? How do I restore shoulder flexion How do I use cervical rotation to restore cervical lordosis What exactly do I mean by restoring sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes? How do I assess the three planes How do I restore the three planes Can the ribcage and t-spine act independently? If you want to watch these live, add me on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube. They air every Wednesday at 7:30pm CST. Enjoy.                  Here were the links I mentioned tonight Enhancing Life Bill Hartman An Anatomic Investigation of the Ober’s Test The Ultimate Guide to Treating Ankle Sprains Ipsilateral Hip Abductor Weakness after Inversion Ankle Sprain Method Strength Andy Mccloy  Trevor LaSarre Jeremy Hyatt Here’s a signup for my newsletter to get a free acute:chronic workload calculator, basketball conditioning program, podcasts, and weekend learning goodies: [yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ submit=”Get learning goodies and more”]   Kyphosis Post-Rehab Total Hips Shoulder Flexion Cervical Rotation Coordinating Three Planes

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All Gain, No Pain Foreword

All Gain, No Pain  releases today. If you haven’t grabbed your copy of it yet, what the heck are you waiting for? ALL GAIN, NO PAIN   I had the honor and pleasure to write the foreword for this excellent book, which Bill has so graciously let me reprint. You can read it below, and if it doesn’t inspire you to grab Bill’s new book, what will? Foreword “Good morning!” He had that shit-eating grin on his face. The type of smile you see when your parents found out something you didn’t want them to know. That smile you saw right before your untimely demise. I knew damn well what that smile meant. Back then I was Bill’s student. A quiet, shy, and uncertain kid. After doing a deal with the Mafia to find his email, offering up my future first born to learn from him, and signing a blood oath, I somehow convinced Bill to accept me as his physical therapy intern. This was like meeting a rock star! Bill was all over Men’s Health magazine, T-Nation—the type of stuff young bucks like me were reading to get ahead of the curve. The last thing I wanted to do was let the guy down. Then I overslept. Stressed, frantic, and brushing only my front teeth, I made it to the clinic 30 minutes late. Only to be absolutely destroyed by that smile—a look that will forever be burned into my brain. I apologized, he mildly scolded me, and we

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All Gain, No Pain Book Review

For those of you who don’t know, my colleague, mentor, friend, and Daddy-O Pops Bill Hartman is about to release his upcoming book All Gain, No Pain. Though the book is targeted to those over 40 who are getting back into fitness either post-rehab or in pain, it includes an incredible amount of valuable content for just about anyone. If you want a lesson in physiology, breathing, variability, and stress, this book has it. If you want an excellent plan to get jacked, a plan that got me (not over 40 and not in pain) under 10% body fat for the first time in my life, this book has it. If you want tips, strategies, and rituals that’ll help you live a better life, this book has it. In spades in fact. Though I’m biased (I wrote the foreword and edited the book), it is one of the most comprehensive self-betterment books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I want to extend that pleasure to you. The book releases this Monday, 9/25/17, on Amazon.com. But what if I told you if you act now you could snag a free copy? Yes, I said free!!! F….R….E…E #free It might be the best free thing you ever get. If you want a free copy of this absolutely outstanding book, click the link below to be directed to Bill’s website. Sign up, and you’ll get your free copy when this great read releases.   ALL GAIN, NO PAIN   If my stamp

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How to Design a Comprehensive Rehab Program

Just when I thought I was out, the clinic pulls me back in. Though I’m glad to be back. There’s just a different vibe, different pace, and ever-constant variety of challenges that being in the clinic simply provides. This has been especially true working in a rural area. You see a much wider variety, which challenges you to broaden your skillset. I’m amazed at how much working in the NBA has changed the way I approach the clinic. Previously, I was all about getting people in and out of the door as quickly as possible; and with very few visits. I would cut them down to once a week or every other week damn-near immediately, and try to hit that three to five visit sweet spot. This strategy no doubt worked, and people got better, but I had noticed I’d get repeat customers. Maybe it wasn’t the area that was initially hurting them, but they still were having trouble creep up. Or maybe it was the same pain, just taking much more activity to elicit the sensation. It became clear that I was skipping steps to try and get my visit number low, when in reality I was doing a disservice to my patients. This was the equivalent of fast food PT—give them the protein, carbohydrates, and fats, forget about the vitamins and minerals. Was getting someone out the door in 3 visits for me or for them? The younger, big ass ego me, wanted to known as the guy

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Start at the End: A Case for Special Physical Preparedness

“I need to get my wind back.” 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:

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