Snowboarding Through the Coach's Eye
We see faulty movement patterns happen all the time. Knees caving in during a squat, back rounding over in a deadlift, shoulders rolling forward during a row, arch collapsing in the feet... the list goes on. Most of these movement patterns are given their proper attention in a controlled setting such as a performance training facility, but what happens when you walk out the doors of SAPT? These faulty movements continue to occur, we just don't give them as much attention. It doesn't have to take a deadlift, goblet squat, or bulgarian split squat to demonstrate faulty movement. It's everywhere, even on the slopes! Here's a quick movement analysis of a snowboarding clip. Enjoy!
Thoughts on Injuries: Get Stronger
Tadashi wrote a great post last week. If you haven't read it... you should do so. I wanted to expand a bit on this particular point of his post:
Another aspect that all of these athletes have in common is that they were strong before the injury occurred. If you are a healthy competitive athlete, you have NOTHING to lose by getting stronger. The stronger you can make your active restraints (muscles) the more protection you build around your passive structures (ligaments/tendons/bones). Just ask DeJuan Blair, center for the San Antonio Spurs, who has no choice but to depend on his quadriceps and hamstrings to stabilize his knee. Why? Because he actually has no ACLs. Both of his ACLs were operated on when he was in high school, but the surgery was not successful in repairing the ligaments and the remaining scar tissue was re-absorbed. If his lower body musculature didn’t pick up the slack for this missing ligament, I’d take a wild guess and say he wouldn’t be playing professional basketball. Or any basketball.
Building the strength in all the right places will also build confidence coming back from an injury. As Adrian Peterson rushes down the field breaking tackles and making cuts he’s probably not thinking, “I sure hope this new ACL stays in one piece on this play.” Subconsciously I know he’s thinking “I’m sure glad I have enough control in my glutes to keep my knee tracking properly and my hamstrings are strong enough to prevent anterior translation of my tibia!” Sounds like something he would say
Smart man huh? I agree 100% that being stronger (before and after an injury) decreases the chance of injury (assuming non-contact), decreases the recovery time and, in some cases, allows an athlete to return to play despite having an "unrepaired" injury. Couple of examples:
Conrad Mann, resident Superhero at SAPT, recently had not one, but two knee replacements in the past year. Guess what? He was already in pretty good shape (100 pound chin up... check out the T-Day lift from 2011) and was quite strong heading into his first surgery. (he came in and trained the day before, both times!) Guess what? He's had an extremely rapid recovery (enough to impress his doctor) and actually started trap bar deadlifting about2 months ago. Need I mention that he's trap bar deadlifting 200 lbs already? His glutes, hamstrings and core were very well developed before surgery which all have helped supported his new knees during the period of learning to move with titanium instead of bones in his legs.
Brett Contreas and Dean Somerset (both of whom were my encouragement after my own back injury to continue to train wisely) are two strength coaches who have had some pretty serious back injuries. Both found exercises that they could do and still create a training effect (aka: getting stronger) as well as incorporated solid rehab techniques mobility and soft tissue work. They also are two brilliant fellows and learned everything they could about what muscles needed to be trained in order to protect their backs when they were able to train more aggressively again, despite the injuries remaining "un-fixed." Thanks to both of them, I learned how to rehab my own back, strengthen my active restraints around my spine and train like a beast again.
Also, I tore both my labrums in my hips (passive restraints) 3 years ago because if stupid training techniques and FAI. What can be cause FAI? Weak glutes, weak anterior core (thus an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt) and joint laxity. I had all three. Exercises such as squatting when these are present are perfect for cultivating tears in labrums. Well, after 2 years of training, my glutes are stronger, my core is stronger (thank you swings!) and I've worked on joint stability in both my hips and lower back. Guess what? Unless I perform a movement that directly causes my hip to internally rotate, like getting in and out of a car, I pretty much forget that I have torn labrums and I trust that surrounding muscles are strong enough to protect my hips.
Life is rough and injuries happen. But, like Tadashi said, injuries are not the end of the world for an athlete, or even the average Joe (and they're not an excuse to stop working out!!). Get stronger today to prevent injuries tomorrow. And, should something come along that busts you up a bit, figure out how to work around it. You can always strengthen something. If you train wisely, do your rehab and keep striving to get stronger, injuries can be easily overcome.
RGIII! And Some Thoughts on Injuries
On Sunday I was watching the NFL playoffs at a local sports bar. In the fourth quarter of the Redskins-Seahawks game we all watched in horror as rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III fell to the ground with a serious knee injury. The whole room filled with Redskins fans fell silent with an overwhelming sense of devastation. Then the silence was replaced with frustrated murmurs and angry comments.
“Coach Shanahan shoulda taken him out in the 3rd!”
“Why was he even on the field?!”
“NOOOO!!!”
Being a Skins fan myself I can understand the frustration. However there was one comment that cut across the room that really… irked me.
“Well that’s it man, there goes his career. He’s done.”
Hrm...I disagree. I heard the same comments uttered last season when it looked like Adrian Peterson’s knee imploded. Over the next year he had surgery, did his rehab, and got back in the game as if he never skipped a day. Sports are brutal and athletes get hurt, but they can come back. Peyton Manning is another example. After having a level of his cervical vertabrae fused together he returned to help bring his new team to the playoffs.
One of my biggest inspirations is Ted Toalston, a competitive powerlifter in the 198 weight class. In 2011 he suffered a very severe lumbar herniation and underwent spine surgery. Since then he has been smart and consistent in his training, making his return to the platform with a performance that qualified him for the world championships. At the WPC World Championship he pulled off a 705lb squat, 479lb bench, and 650lb deadlift. He listens to his body, does his mobility work, takes care of soft tissue restrictions, trains hard, and trains smart. This is all within a year's time, and I’m pretty sure the bulk of it was spent taking all the right steps to recovery and return, not face-palming at home thinking “there goes my career…”
A lot of their success boils down to their goal-oriented attitude. If these athletes thought, “well, there goes my career,” there would be no point of aggressively attacking the rehab process and doing everything they need to do to get back into the game. If there is something they need to do to get better they will find out what it is and they will do it. The work ethic that helped them become great athletes in the first place is the same work ethic that will get them from injured to playing, and I think it is something we can all learn from and be inspired by.
Another aspect that all of these athletes have in common is that they were strong before the injury occurred. If you are a healthy competitive athlete, you have NOTHING to lose by getting stronger. The stronger you can make your active restraints (muscles) the more protection you build around your passive structures (ligaments/tendons/bones). Just ask DeJuan Blair, center for the San Antonio Spurs, who has no choice but to depend on his quadriceps and hamstrings to stabilize his knee. Why? Because he actually has no ACLs. Both of his ACLs were operated on when he was in high school, but the surgery was not successful in repairing the ligaments and the remaining scar tissue was re-absorbed. If his lower body musculature didn’t pick up the slack for this missing ligament, I’d take a wild guess and say he wouldn’t be playing professional basketball. Or any basketball.
Building the strength in all the right places will also build confidence coming back from an injury. As Adrian Peterson rushes down the field breaking tackles and making cuts he’s probably not thinking, “I sure hope this new ACL stays in one piece on this play.” Subconsciously I know he’s thinking “I’m sure glad I have enough control in my glutes to keep my knee tracking properly and my hamstrings are strong enough to prevent anterior translation of my tibia!” Sounds like something he would say.
The same can be said about a strong core. You should build up the strength in your abs, lower back and glutes to the point where you are confident in the muscular stiffness you can create around your spine, and not simply pray that you have enough structural integrity in the passive structures in your back as you unrack a heavy weight. Whether you are hurt or healthy, there no reason why you shouldn't strive to be stronger and more confident.
The Redskins had a tremendous season, and I am looking forward to the return of RGIII. To the pessimistic fan that thinks all is lost for the young quarterback:
“Strength is never a weakness” -Mark Bell
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t- you’re right.” -Henry Ford
Pills? Shots? How 'Bout a Little SMR?
Happy New Year everyone! Ready for 2013? I am! (I've also had a lot of coffee this morning.)
Yes please!
I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day and she recounted a saga of back pain to me. She had some back pain that just wouldn't go away so she went to the doctor to get the appropriate MRI and x-rays (nothing was found to be structurally wrong). Then, he writes her several prescriptions for muscle relaxers and pain killers, none of which helped. He also told her to get an epideral.. which also did nothing. She then went to another doctor who sent her to physical therapy... which proved, once again, to be a somewhat unhelpful (she said that the PT was great, but by the time she had started making progress with my friend, the prescribed number of sessions were over.). Then, as a last resort, she asked a trainer at the gym she attends who has training in a method called Egosque (a school of thought focused on postural realignment), and within a session or two, bam. No more back pain. For her, she was merely a little out of alignment.
It's an obvious answer in retrospect; kinda like disarming Voldemort with a simple Expelliarmus charm.
My sister-in-law was in a similar situation. She was experiencing near-debilitating back pain for months. She saw a chiropractor, had MRIs and was prescribed various pain-killers and muscle relaxers, to no avail. Then, one day, Steve was rolling his glutes on a lacrosse ball and Jenn, being curious as to why her brother was lolling around on the floor while making pain-faces, asked what he was doing. "Just rollin' my glutes," was the reply. "Can I try?" she asked. Being the awesome brother Steve is, he passed the lacrosse ball to her and taught her how to roll on it.
Within 5 minutes (this is no exaggeration), Jenn's back pain was gone. In her case, it was just tight butt muscles that needed some lovin'. Go figure!
Last story, I was having almost daily headaches, borderline migraine levels sometimes, for a couple of months this past year. I too trucked off to the doctor and had muscle relaxers prescribed to me (I was also taking a fair amount of Motrin to ease the searing pain in my head). Nothing. The muscle relaxers made me feel sick to my stomach, dizzy and my head still hurt. Motrin, as effective as it can be, is not something I wanted to be taking long term. After several futile weeks, I went to see and ART specialist (Dr. Grove in Vienna if anyone is interested. No, I don't get any special treatment, but she's so great and has helped me so much that I'm more than happy to send folks her way!) and she immediately pinpointed my tight neck muscles and within 20 minutes, my headache disappeared. I've been seeing her once a month (to continue working on my neck) and I have had only a handful of headaches (usually when it's been 3-4 weeks since I've seen her) since August. Again, just a little soft tissue work and boom, pain was gone as fast as an apparating wizard.
Not to discount any PTs or chiropractors out there (as it may seem in the two previous stories) but sometimes the problem isn't where the pain is. (and I think that's what happend with my friend and sister-in-law, their respective therapists were perhaps treating the symptoms instead of the cause.) This is also not meant to be a post about diagnosing pain nor do I claim that I can. If you're having pain you should go see a professional, get the MRI or x-ray to rule out any structural damage and then proceed to seek out professionals that know how to administer soft-tissue work (beyond what you can do yourself with a lax ball and foam roller).
I'm relating these stories because from what I see at work and at my previous jobs (and what people tell me when they find out what I do for a living) people have a lot of nagging pains that don't go away with medication or shots. I'm not saying that those medications don't have merit, (I definitely helped keep Motrin in business!), but they only treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause. The main point is that, folks need to attack the source of the pain (none withstanding actual structural damage). And, in my experience, digging into the soft tissue is often the simplest and most effective answer when it comes to nagging, unresolved pains.
If you have some sort of pain that just never seems to go away, I would encourage you to go see a reputable ART therapist or PT to see if they can find the source of your pain. If you don't have the time (or money) to do so, check out this website and take a lacrosse ball and get rolling!
Eating During the Holidays: Strategize!
First off, I saw the Hobbit... Most excellent! The reviewers out there who are saying it's not so great (Rotten Tomatoes) Poop on you. I loved it! Any Tolkein fan will love it, go see it!
Onto the topic for today: eating during the holidays. About this time, there are all kinds of "diet" advice, how to manage the holiday weight gain. Magazine covers are inundated with promises of "melting away" pounds and "avoiding the holiday bulge," with articles listing revamped recipes and (in some cases) "quick" workouts to justify the holiday treats.
I'm all for finding alternative, healthier versions of favorite food and I think it's great if a meal can be concocted that is healthy AND tasty! But, majority of holiday meals will NOT be the "healthy" version (or the "Kelsey" version as my family calls it.) So what is one to do to avoid the pounds that tend to accumulate during the holiday season (thus inspiring many New Year's resolution and influx of gym use.)?
How about this: just don't eat as much; obvious statement, I know. I understand that there is a plethora of delicious food, but hey, if you don't want to gain the extra weight, don't eat too much. Or, strategically eat. Meaning, if you know you're going to have cookies/pie/cake or whatever after dinner, don't eat the extra rolls at dinner. Or, if you want to sample all the food, great! Just have a little bit of each instead of a lotta bit.
I know this sounds harsh, or at best, callus, but a little extra will-power now will save a lot of extra work come January. And, saying "no" to the extra helping is not hard. I used to struggle with both anorexia and binge-eating disorder; I know too well the extreme ends of "will-power" (iron-will and no inhibitions). There's no secret recipe or workout that will magically keep you from gaining extra weight throughout the festivities. Trust me, managing caloric intake around the holidays is NOT complicated and with a little work, can be worth the effort.
I should note, that regular exercise, not just frantic after-the-fact workouts in January, is also an excellent tool in the toolbox of good health. Keeping up with your training through the holidays (or at least some semblance of it) will certainly be beneficial.
Anyway, I know this was short and not particularly informative, but more like food for thought (pun intended). Just be smart with your food choices and you won't have to worry about having to "work" it off later.
So What?
A golfer misses a putt. A basketball player misses a shot. A baseball player swings and misses. Often those misses seem like a matter of life and death before, during, and after the moment. But, the truth of the matter is they are not. Your ability to recover is where mental toughness lies. Over the past few days my work with athletes brought discussion on perspective. Perspective on the tragedy in Newtown served as a simple reminder that our misses are not nearly as big of a deal as we make them out to be. A game is a game. Many of us fear failure and the emotions that come with it. Yet, it’s failure that allows us to grow, which allows us to live. Failure is where brilliance is born. It's how we learned how to walk, talk, and read. It's all part of the process of greatness.
So next time you miss, and your thoughts start racing about all of the bad that can happen; give yourself perspective on the situation and ask yourself, so what?
