A few months ago, I gave a two-day seminar to just over 80 fitness professionals and strength and conditioning coaches. Even with a seminar this long, I can never cover everything I'd like to cover - and it's generally because much of what I'd like to address relies on some prerequisite knowledge that the attendees may not possess.
With that in mind, at the attendees' request, I sent a follow up email to all of them with a list of some of the best resources - books/manuals and DVDs - that I've encountered along my journey of self-education.
Please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, by any means, but it does cover what I'd consider requisite reading to get a good foundation in a lot of the concepts I covered last weekend.
1. Any anatomy text will do, but I prefer texts that speak more to functional anatomy. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy is very good, and I know of many physical therapists in the US who keep a copy of this book on hand for patient education. Kinetic Anatomy is also a solid text that speaks to functional anatomy, and I believe the newer version comes with a tag-along DVD. Lastly, our Building the Efficient Athlete DVD set was created in part to educate folks on the functional anatomy side of things that they may miss during a conventional college curriculum. I know of several facilities in the US that use it extensively for staff training.
2. Anything from Stuart McGill - While there are several schools of thought with respect to low back function and rehabilitation (and I'd encourage you to check out each of them), McGill is the one that resonates with me the most. You can find a lot of his research on Pubmed, but he also has several books (and a DVD) available that I'd highly recommend. For those of you who are interested in some science and some applied, go with Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance.
For those of you who are a bit geekier and want to learn a lot more about the clinical side of things, check out Low Back Disorders. If you are going to train clients or athletes, you need to understand back pain.
3. Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes by Shirley Sahrmann is probably the book that has influenced me more than any other in my career. It's worth every penny.
4. For shoulder stuff, I think that The Athlete's Shoulder is a great resource. It is written by physical therapists and surgeons, though, so it can get very clinical at times. Those of you who are more interested in actual practical applications would be more interested in our new Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set, which is the video of a seminar I did with Mike Reinold, who is actually one of the co-authors of The Athlete's Shoulder. If you enter the coupon code "reinold200osp" today only at checkout HERE, you can get the DVD set with free shipping today as part of Mike's "sale week" to celebrate his 200th post.
5. Muscles: Testing and Function with Posture and Pain - This is a newer version of Kendall's classic text, and it's an incredibly detailed resource that you'll find yourself referring back to time and time again. Several of the screens we use in our everyday assessments with clients and athletes were influenced in part or entirely by Kendall's text.
6. Gray Cook's work is fantastic. If you want quick, practical tips, check out Secrets of the Hip and Knee and Secrets of the Shoulder. Both DVDs give you some tips that you can immediately put into practice.
7. Anatomy Trainsby Thomas Myers is an excellent read to get you thinking more and more about the role of the fascial system. I saw Thomas speak this past weekend in Providence, and he was absolutely fantastic - so excellent, in fact, that I'll probably write up a blog with some quick notes from his lecture. And, I'll be reading this for the third time this week, too!
8. Bulletproof Knees - Mike Robertson wrote this manual and I can honestly say that I haven't seen a better product on the market with respect to information that can be quickly applied to clients with knee pain - both in terms of understanding it and correcting it.
9. Mike Boyle has some excellent products - including all the Functional Strength Coach DVDs (#3 was the most recent). You can always find some good reading at StrengthCoach.com. I believe they still have the 14 days for $1 trial period, and as part of that, you get his Designing Resistance Training Programs and Facilities book for free.
10. Anatomy of Breathing - I think it's valuable to appreciate the muscles involved in respiration and start to put them into your functional anatomy framework as soon as possible. This book is a very quick read, but you'll get that foundational knowledge and start to think about how all this stuff lines up.
11. 2008 Indianapolis Performance Enhancement DVD set - This is a product that has largely flown under the radar because it was overshadowed by several other products that were launched around the same time. However, the short vs. stiff discussion that Bill Hartman presented as part of it is well worth the cost of the entire DVD set.
12. Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques(Part 1 and 2) - These books read like stereo instructions, but they are insanely thorough. I recommend them to anyone who is really dorky like I am. They will definitely help you to collaborate with manual therapists and physiotherapists a lot more effectively.
13. Assess and Correct - Shameless self-promotion here, but I'm extremely proud of this product. It's a DVD set and four accompanying manuals that cover 27 assessments and 78 corrective exercises we use with our clients and athletes. If I had to recommend one of our products to a trainer, this would be it. Stuart McGill have us some extremely flattering reviews on Assess and Correct as part of his new DVD.
I should note that the countless journal articles I've read over the years are noticeably absent from this list, but you can easily access the abstracts of those pieces at www.pubmed.com if you search by whatever keyword relates to your area of interest. I find myself using it daily, and I'll generally follow up on these abstracts by getting the full-text articles. Also, in addition to the few resources I note below, you can find a more extensive collection of recommended readings on my resources page. This includes a collection of links to free blogs that I read daily. Many of my blog readers don't know that, in addition to this blog, I have a free newsletter where readers get exclusive content and early notice on things - so you'll definitely want to sign up HERE if you haven't already.
It's also been a matter of interacting with as many smart folks as possible, just making (and documenting) observations with our clients/athletes, and going to seminars. This list should get you started, though!
1. Exciting week around here, as it's getting to be that time of the year when our high school ballplayers - both 2010 and 2011 - finalize some of their plans.
Last weekend, RHP Barrett O'Neill (2011) verbally committed to the University of Virginia on a baseball scholarship, and on Tuesday, RHP Travis Dean (2010) signed his letter of intent to pitch at Kennesaw St. University in Georgia. A few weeks earlier, RHP/3B Joe Napolitano (2011) had verbally committed to Boston College. These three comprise 3/8 of our current 90mph+ high school crew - and I suspect that the other five will be following soon!
Also this week, 2B Erik Watkins (2010) committed to Skidmore and CF Billy Bereszniewicz (2010) committed to Binghampton. Previously, catcher James Alfonso (2010) had accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Hartford. Plenty more to come soon, no doubt...
2. Speaking of Travis, here is something I love about him: he has INTENT on every single medicine ball throw he makes. It isn't just about "tossing" a ball to a wall and rotating your hips. It's about getting your entire body into the effort - to the point that you're trying to break the ball (or wall!) on every single drill.
Once we have taught our guys the technique for the drill, it's about getting after it. If you aren't training rotation aggressively, you might as well not do it at all.
3. I got a lot of great comments from readers on my A Few Days in Arizona on Monday; I'd encourage you to check it out.
4. One of the key points I made was that respiratory function was essential for ideal performance and posture, and I recognize that the concept might be completely foreign for a lot of my readers. To that end, I'd encourage you check out The Anatomy of Breathing.
It's a pretty quick read that gives you good insights into the anatomy of the respiratory system and common dysfunctions that occur. Once you start getting an appreciation for the muscles involved, you can start to see how poor diaphragmatic function can easily lead to overactivity of sternocleidomastoid, scalene, pec minor, intercostals - basically, a lot of muscles commonly implicated in upper extremity dysfunction. You can just stretch and massage those areas, but it's just like putting a bucket on the floor when the roof is leaking; it's better to just fix the roof (aberrant breathing patterns).
5. I also touched on breathing patterns a bit in my seminar this past weekend. Check out a few great reviews of the event:
6. Some interesting findings HERE that shows that there may be a strong link between childhood obesity and the development of multiple sclerosis later on in life. One hypothesis is that it may be linked to the low levels of Vitamin D that one sees in overweight kids, and another that it could be related to the fatty tissue itself. One more reason to take Vitamin D!
7. We're all headed to Providence tonight to watch CP client and pro boxer Danny O'Connor try to run his professional record to 10-0. I think we'll be setting a world record for the number of professional baseball players in attendance at a boxing match. Let's go, Danny!
