A Philosophy of Strength and Health

This comment was posted recently: Anonymous said... From a PT stand point what are your views on Overhead Squats for a Pitcher in Baseball Well, in general I try not to look at things from just an American PT stand point. If I did, I'm afraid I would never squat (overhead or otherwise) nor put anything over my head. I might be stuck in wall squat and Theraband purgatory. Being around the sport of weightlifting has been invaluable to my growth as a physical therapist. I try to be open and look at movements and exercises as a coach and athlete as well. keep in mind the human body responds to stresses in many positive ways, not just negatively. keep in mind the body types, postures and common movements/ROM of other cultures. Many of my colleagues are incapable of thinking "outside the PT box" and that, in my opinion, is a shame. They fear movements, positions and efforts they themselves could never achieve and so they pooh-pooh it for eve...

There is no rest for the AD over the break. 16 teams in The Spartan wrestling tournament meant 12 to 14 hour days on Wednesday and Thursday. Back today for another 8 hours to host part of the MCC sophomore basketball tournament, then off to the local junior college to watch the varsity basketball team play at 8:30 this evening. Grapplers, cagers and Spartans--oh my! And be warned future spouses of AD's, if you are the significant other of the athtletic director and you happen to be at school when the score keeper doesn't show up, you might have to dust off your trusty no. 2 and keep the score book for the next baskteball game. I felt really old when I had to ask how many time outs they have now and how you document the 30 second vs the full timeout!

My water polo/swimming athlete let me borrow a book he received as a gift, The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Swimming . It contains the traditional bodybuilding/ powerlifting -based schlock. The author highlights his qualifications on the back of the book: National Bench Press Champion USAPL Regional Power Lifting Champion USAPL Ohio Bench Press Record Holder First Class Certified Personal Trainer ROTFLMAO ! Hey, where do I go to become a "First Class Certified Personal Trainer?" The book has some decent basic information in it and some really bad information in it, but primarily acts as a glorified ad for a website that provides e-coaching/training services. I couldn't find anything about the company (qualifications) that provides the training services on the website, but I did find some articles by master marketing guru, Ryan Lee. Go figure. This author has very likely attended his seminars. Turns out the company has an entire line of books "Ultima...

I didn't vote for him in my second grade class election in 1976, but today I have gained a much better appreciation of Gerald Ford. It seems Mr. Ford was a thoughtful, considerate public servant (not to mention a great athlete and coach of various sports), who put the strength and health of his country before his own political gain and the partisan politics of his critics (on both sides). It is fascinating to watch him testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee with composure and candor, regarding Proclamation 4311 --the only sitting president ever to testify before this committee. He took it upon himself to explain to us all why it was essential for the country to move on and get back to the real problems our nation faced in the fall of 1974. Ford was a team player, serving in the House of Representatives for 24 years, working as House Minority Leader for eight. Maybe in his death, we can, as a country, remember his famous words and take them to heart in these trying times...

Is health better achieved through manipulating biology or behavior? I always read my Wash U alumni mag (did my PT grad degree there) with a bit of a skeptical eye. Lots of bragging about the medical school and research on the cellular level vs. information about more practical arts and interventions. This latest issue had two items that caught my eye. The first was a short blurb on current research by Jeff Gordon, Ph .D and his lab , and how they study the types of bacteria in the guts of special mice, to see if the different bacteria types absorb more or fewer calories from various foods. You know, we can't possibly be the fattest, sickest culture in the world just because of the poor choices we make. It must be the bacteria in our guts. Hmmmm.... The second blurb was on an alum , Allison Slade, who is now the principal at a charter school in the Chicago public school system. The school, Namaste Charter School , was founded in 2004 by a group of teachers who wanted to u...

Put this together to highlight some of the great efforts at the American Open. Okay, gotta go do some lifting myself...

Finally back from the ETSU Coaches College put on by Meg Stone and her husband Dr. Mike Stone. They had a great mix of high-powered speakers (including me!) for coaches of all levels. Loren Seagrave raised more than a few eyebrows with his ideas on top-speed running physiology. Dr. Jeff McBride had some interesting research and thoughts on developing max power and strength. Dr. Bill Sands spoke twice and had some great information on fatigue and the implementation of a new recovery center at the OTC in Colorado Springs. Meg did a fabulous talk on the responsibilities of being a coach and Dr. Stone spoke on training principles and theory behind strength for team and individual sports. My favorite speakers were Clive Brewer, from SportScotland and Dr. Kyle Pierce, from LSU-Shreveport. I've known Kyle for several years now, but have never seen him give a talk. His knowledge and passion for working with young people (generosity) in weightlifting, regardless of their abilities...

I'm working with a 16 y.o. swimmer/water polo athlete. He's a dream to work with strength-wise as he has no mobility issues. We are starting from scratch, but he will do well. The biggest challenge we'll face is working on his throwing. This is a kid who swam and played soccer and basketball as a youth, but who never learned how to throw properly. How to describe it? Well, some have used that phrase we all know so well: throw like a girl. But from a mechanics standpoint, what does that actually mean? For this kid, it means not having any flow of using the hip / shoulder rotational sequencing (primarily using lumbar extension), dropping the elbow significantly just prior to release, and--most importantly, no wrist flexion follow through with the arm following through. When I watched him at first, it was amazing to note that he released the ball with his wrist almost fully extended. After two sessions, I've gotten him to get better wrist positioning and follow-th...

Speaking of stupid human tricks....That post got me to thinking about "wall squats." A staple of personal trainers, a variation on the infamous physical therapy "wall slide", this exercise continues to stink up gyms and clinics around the country. And I'm sure young basketball players are still routinely tortured by coaches who make them do "wall sits." Any idiot can make it burn, right? Who needs a Smith Machine when you can have somebody lean back against the ball and mindlessly flex and extend their hips/knees? Don't let those knees go over those toes, Mrs. Jones! Is there really any reason to do this versus doing a bodyweight squat? Or a sit-to-stand for frail or post-operative patients? Why the ball? In 2000, I began working for a high-end personal training company. The organization was basically good people trying to help other good people be more fit. And although this is a topic for another blog, I made TWICE the hourly wage that I...

Just got a new Performance Conditioning for Cycling newsletter put out by USA Cycling and Ken Kontor. There's a little article by Tudor Bompa regarding the foolishness that now abounds with focusing on "training stabilizers" or what I like to call "stupid human tricks." Vern G. has expounded on the topic as well, so I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it really comes down to this: If you move well, you are training the movers and the stabilizers. If you move poorly, on the ground or on/in any other medium, you are not using the stabilizer muscles appropriately. You don't need gadgets to work stabilizers. You need to teach the body to tune out the noise. You need supervision by someone who knows what's going on and who knows how to communicate to the athlete the means by which s/he can modify the movement. The athlete must first have awareness, then alignment, then mobility and then strength. With this healthy foundation, you can then teac...

Kelly and Kendrick are amazing athletes. They work their butts off. You'll see them on an Olympic team or two. I'll comment more soon. Okay, let's hear the comments on Kendricks's " splaut " jerk! Does it make your shoulders just quiver?