Sports Rehab to Sports Performance 2010

Written on January 13, 2010 at 7:01 am, by Eric Cressey

Just wanted to give you all a heads-up that Joe Heiler is following up last year’s successful Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Teleseminar with a 2010 installment.  I’m thrilled to be one part of an incredible lineup:

Gray Cook
Shirley Sahrmann
Robert Panariello
Stuart McGill (bonus interview with Chris Poirier from Perform Better)
Craig Liebenson
Clare Frank
Mike Reinold
Greg Rose
Mike Boyle
Gary Gray
(and Eric Cressey)

In all, it will be nine awesome interviews. The teleseminar series will begin on January 27th and Joe will play one interview per week (Wednesday nights at 8 pm).  If you can’t catch them that night, don’t worry; he’ll be putting them up on his site for another 48 hours.

For more information, check out the Sports Rehab to Sports Performance Sign-up Page.

Stuff You Should Read (and Watch): 4/21/09

Written on April 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm, by Eric Cressey

To kick off the week, I thought I’d give you a quick heads-up on some stuff you ought to read:

What Your Doc Doesn’t Know About Weightlifting – This great piece is from Nikhil Rao, an avid weight trainer who also happens to have recently become a doctor.  He shares some excellent insights about how prepared your doctor may (or may not) be to give recommendations to you on exercise and nutrition.

The Proactive Patient – Along these same lines, it’d be worth checking out this article I wrote last year.  It talks a lot about things you ought to consider if you’re injured and want to get the best care possible.

I’ve actually got something good in the works along these lines right now, and should be submitting it at T-Nation by the end of the week.

The Indianapolis Performance Enhancement DVD Set – I previously wrote a review about this product HERE, but it seemed like a good idea to give it another mention since it’s on sale at 15% off through the end of the day Thursday.  Just use the coupon code “HITCHED” at checkout.

The Truth About Unstable Surface Training: An Athletic Trainer’s Perspective

Written on November 6, 2008 at 2:45 pm, by Eric Cressey

“As someone who has both rehabbed injured athletes and trained healthy people for over 18 years, I can honestly say that Eric Cressey’s The Truth about Unstable Surface Training is a breath of fresh air.

“Being a certified athletic trainer and a strength and conditioning coach has afforded me a unique perspective in the training world. I have watched personal trainers, strength coaches, athletic trainers and physical therapists use and abuse unstable surface training.

“Eric has combined his in-the-trenches experience with research to uncover the truth behind unstable surface training. This book is a must-read for anyone that trains, rehabs, or coaches, people in anyway. Yes, that means Physical Therapists, Athletic Trainers, Personal Trainers, and Strength Coaches.

“I hope that this book will help to “Stop the madness” of a training fad that has gotten out of control and help to support the proper uses of unstable surface training.

“I know I will be referring this work to my network of athletic trainers, strength coaches, physical therapists and personal trainers.”

Keith Scott, MS, CSCS, ATC
Certified Athletic Trainer, and Strength and Conditioning Coach
www.BackToFormFitness.com

Click here to get your copy of The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.

The Truth About Unstable Surface Training: A Physical Therapist’s Perspective

Written on October 23, 2008 at 2:00 pm, by Eric Cressey

“Unstable surface training is many times misunderstood and misinterpeted in both the physical therapy and athletic performance fields. The Truth About Unstable Surface Training e-book greatly clarifies where unstable surface training strategically fits into an overall program of injury prevention, warm-up/activation, and increasing whole body strength. If you are a physical therapist, athletic trainer, or strength training professional, The Truth About Unstable Surface Training gives you a massive amount of evidence-based ammunition for your treatment stockpile.”

Shon Grosse PT, ATC, CSCS
Comprehensive Physical Therapy
Colmar, PA

Click here for more information on The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.

Active vs Passive Restraints

Written on March 3, 2008 at 5:25 pm, by Eric Cressey

I’m of the belief that all stress on our systems is shared by the active restraints and passive restraints. Active restraints include muscles and tendons – the dynamic models of our bodies.

Passive restraints include labrums, menisci, ligaments, and bone; some of them can get a bit stronger (particularly bone), but on the whole, they aren’t as dynamic as muscles and tendons.

Now, if the stress is shared between active and passive restraints, wouldn’t it make sense that strong active restraints with good tissue quality and length would protect ligaments, menisci, and labrums (and do so through a full ROM)?

The conventional medical model – whether it’s because of watered-down physical therapy due to stingy insurance companies or just a desire to do more surgeries – fixes the passive restraints first. In some cases, this is good. For instance, if you have an acromioclavicular joint separation with serious ligament laxity, you’ll likely need surgery to tighten those ligaments up, as the AC joint is an articulation without much help from active restraints.

In other cases, it does a disservice to the dynamic ability of the body to protect itself with adaptation. Consider the lateral release surgery at the knee, where surgeons cut the lateral retinaculum on the outside of the knee, allowing the patella to track more medially. I’ve seen a lot of people avoid the surgeries (and, in turn, the numerous possible complications) with even just 2-3 weeks of very good physical therapy focusing on the active restraints. I’m not saying all these surgeries are contraindicated – just that we need to exhaust other options first.

So, the next time you’ve got an ache or pain, consider whether it’s an active or passive restraint giving you problems – and if it’s the latter, work backward to find out which active restraint you need to bring up to par.

Cement Your Neural Patterns

Written on January 29, 2008 at 10:43 am, by Eric Cressey

Q: I have a question about your latest blog post. In the question, that was ask, you talk about Dr. Eric Cobb saying “Strength training ‘cements’ your neural patterns.” How does strength training affect your neural patterns vs. repetitive motion with no weight (i.e., weighted squats vs. body weight squats).

A: Give this article a read:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1406720

In particular, pay attention to the Law of Repetitive Motion (#7), which we cover in detail in our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set. Resistance is the “F” in the equation – and you can use that equation to iron out imbalances in the same way it causes imbalances in the opposite direction (hopefully that makes sense).

Reps are still important – and light weights are the way to go early on when you’re trying to groove appropriate movement patterns. As an example, we can do supine bridges and birddogs to get the glutes firing in our warm-ups, but the real meat and potatoes in terms of ironing out quad vs. posterior chain dominance and improper glute-ham-adductor-lumbar erector firing patterns comes when we add in loaded single-leg movements, deadlifts, box squats, glute-ham raises, and pull-throughs.

Best,

EC

Enhancing Elite Runners

Written on October 11, 2007 at 12:29 pm, by Eric Cressey

Q: I recently had an ‘elite’ runner come through the clinic where I work. I won’t get into his injuries but he is jacked up.

He does absolutely no strength, flexibility, or mobility work. His warm up consists of jogging about 5 minutes. I’m sure this is a familiar scenario.
My question is before you created such an outstanding reputation as a strength/rehab/corrective coach, how did you get athletes to buy in to what
you are telling them? It appears that my sales pitch is lacking. Do you have any tips/attention getters that you find useful when dealing with know
it all but know nothing athletes? I know you are extremely busy, any advice would be helpful.

A: Sell him on the easy stuff, first. Hop on a foam roller and show him that you’re pain free, and then stick him on one and let him appreciate how much it hurts on his TFL/ITB. Do the same with a lacrosse ball on his butt and calves. That shows the soft tissue differences between the two of you.

Start simple instead of trying to overhaul everything. Give him some supine bridges, birddogs, and a few more mobility exercises to improve hip rotation and extension.

Next, add in some lifting and swap a distance session for a sprint session.

Sit down with him and talk footwear as well. Runners love to buy new sneakers.

Win him over bit by bit.

Eric Cressey

Bare Functionality

Written on August 6, 2007 at 12:09 pm, by Eric Cressey

Q: I am a first year physical therapy student in college, and I have a real passion for strength and conditioning. I have been reading some of your articles and they are great. The reason I am contacting you is to ask a question about having athletes warm up barefoot, as you recommended in your last article. I understand your reason for doing this, but if we are so focused on doing things “functionally,” why barefoot? Most athletes compete in some form of shoe, so shouldn’t we have them perform exercises in shoes? I am really into orthopedics, so the foot and ankle joints are really of interest to me. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

A: Thanks for your email and the kind words. I think the response is that the functional movement craze goes a bit too far in some instances. In this case, the addition of inappropriate footwear has actually created a weakness in the smaller muscles of the foot and lower leg. And, barefoot is as functional as you get, if you consider the way we “should” have evolved. I don’t like the idea of altogether ignoring a glaring weakness; we lose a ton of dexterity in our feet as we age.

As an aside, most Americans sit on their fat a**es all day, yet we advocate doing as much training as possible standing up because it’s more “functional.” Acting counterintuitively isn’t always a bad thing. Food for thought!

Eric Cressey

It’s all about efficiency.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes

Written on June 6, 2007 at 12:06 pm, by Eric Cressey

It seems only fitting that one of my first product reviews be devoted to what I believe to be one of the greatest resources available for coaches, trainers, physical therapists, physicians, and everyday weekend warriors with a desire to understand human function and dysfunction. In Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes, Shirley Sahrmann provides a breath of fresh air to those who are tired of following the medical model of care by simply treating symptoms. Instead, Sahrmann proposes countless functional tests and corrective exercise interventions aimed at treating the causes of the problems rather than the compensations that emerge after dysfunction has emerged.

This book has profoundly impacted the way that some of the industry’s greatest minds train their clients and athletes and themselves. To be blunt, Shirley Sahrmann has likely forgotten more than most physical therapists will ever know. If you’re serious about your own education, and have the best interests of your clients and athletes in mind, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this classic.

Eric Cressey