How to train GRIP; training like Old Time Strongmen

Breaking Muscle: Strongman Profile: Edward Aston Teaches the Basics of Grip Strength. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIw9pvj1B8

Pistol Squats

Breaking Muscle: Everything You Need to Know to Do a Perfect Pistol. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwu-ScyBo

Training for the Sport of Living

Breaking Muscle: Forget the Elite and Train Your Actual Clients. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIw8PyPqB8

Assessing Movement. What approach do you use with patients and clients?

As health care and fitness professionals we should be using established minimum movement competency standards to determine the readiness of our clients to participate in generalized exercise programs. This is especially true prior to designing and implementing sport & skill specialized programming. All to often in our current  North American sport culture we eschew the fundamentals of  movement and free play for highly specialized single sport participation which ultimately is leading us to a greater number of injuries in younger populations . These over-trained and previously injured youth athletes grow up and later present themselves to us in rehabilitation clinics and at our gyms seeking to recover and recapture their former athleticism. No matter the entry point into the health and fitness systems we owe our clients a thorough evaluation or assessment to determine the readiness for our programming. An objective, systematic approach to new client intake has the potential  to set your business and your client up for the greatest success. Far to many health and fitness facilities stop the intake process at a brief past medical history and completion of the gym contract and jump right into sets and reps of  their facilities brand of exercise. Because of poor participant readiness for our programming we lose many of these individuals through attrition. Gray Cook, PT, describes this as clients feeling Awkward, Disconnected, and Intimated.  These 3 things that many (be honest-most) of personal training clients feel when beginning and performing some the the programs we concoct for them. These 3 things greatly limit our ability to help our clients achieve their goals. That said a central component of becoming a master training/instructor is to first become a student/client. Get uncomfortable and explore methods and instructors that push you out of your "normal" program. I think you'll be surprised what you learn. 

Learning. As a Health Care or Fitness Professional you owe it to your clients to continue to learn and grow as a clinician and coach. Develop a system for client intake that identifies barriers and limitations that will hinder the individuals success in your program. Gray Cook, PT, Dr. Stuart McGill, PhD, and Dr. Craig Liebenson, DC offer us the unique opportunity to learn from all three of them about the importance of a well thought out intake system. Assessing Movement is the DVD of the once in a lifetime opportunity to get three of the leaders in health and sports medicine on the same stage sharing the science of intake design. 

By performing a systematic intake on each client that enters your facility you are offering a better product to your customer. Identification of barriers and limitations before training and exercise allows us to address them before it becomes a painful medical problem (YES training in Pain is a medical problem: Dr. Kyle Kiesel PT, ATC, PhD describes here and needs addressed in a systematic way ie: SFMA). This standardized intake also establishes a baseline measure that we can use to evaluate the impact our program design is having on the individual. The better an individual is prepared for programming the less potential for pain and injury as a result of training and less awkwardness, disconnectedness, and intimated our clients will be.  And if our clients are moving and performing well the more likely they will be engaged in our programming and that leads to better retention in your facility. A win for everyone.

Find a system, develop a system, use it, break it then fix and continue learning. We owe it to our profession and our clients.
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Dr. Mark Cheng Prehab-Rehab 101- The Groundwork Progressions

Dr. Mark Cheng Prehab-Rehab 101- The Groundwork Progressions

In previous posts & podcasts I have talked about developing Dynamic Shoulder Stabilization which is based on the concept of a neurodevelopmental approach to strengthening and stabilizing. Prior to introducing generalized strengthening & sport skill on post surgical and rehab patients we need to re-establish normal baseline movement patterns. We humans are amazing animals- When we are born into the world we have all the bones, muscles, nerves and “hardware” necessary for interaction and locomotion in our new earthly environment. But we really only have basic use and activation of a few neuromotor groups initially: the heart muscle pumps the blood and the diaphragm muscle pumps the lungs. It takes us months and months of attempts and failures with persistence leading to successful programming of our movement software. Soon after birth we begin to gain use of our eyes and mouth, head and neck, progressing to arms and legs; we begin engaging in our environment and learn rolling from our back to belly and belly to back; then on our tummies we learn head lifting against gravity, then progress up to propping on our elbows then pressing on hands and reaching. Soon something catches our attention and we yearn to “get to it”, we learn hands and knees postures, sitting, kneeling and eventually standing. All of these wonderful skills require trial & error, success & failure, every failed attempt leads to a rewriting of the movement software. This is how we learned it and earned it the first time, why do we try to shortcut the process later in life when recovering from injury and surgery?. Why do we skip the foundational movements when treating our clients with the latest/greatest exercises and techniques during their recovery process?

Over the years I have been blessed with an abundance of opportunities to continue to learn first hand from the leaders in the field of human movement. Each of these opportunities has allowed me to grow professionally and better develop the techniques and exercises that I have available to me in my rehab tool box.  

Thanks to the outstanding work of Laree Draper and the folks at Movementlectures.com we all have another outstanding learning opportunity that is now available.

Dr, Mark Cheng ‘s latest project  

“Precision, Fine Detail, & Awareness….lead to “owning the movement”. Dr. Mark Cheng opens his newest education DVD Prehab-Rehab 101- The Groundwork Progressions   by briefly describing his approach to developing postural stability in athletes and clients by focusing on the “Precision, Fine Detail, & Awareness” that is necessary to build a solid platform upon which global movements and athlete skill is placed.  Dr. Cheng’s latest educational offering walks clinicians and personal trainers through a well thought out progression of exercises that integrate the neurodevelopmental perspective into a functionally meaningful program that will complete your floor-work programs. I am excited to add these progressions to my scapulothoracic stabilization and strengthening progression and would recommend this disk set as a place to further develop yours.  

HardStyle KettleBell Basics- TankGym (playlist)

HardStyle KettleBell Basics- TankGym (playlist)
performing your Kettlebell Basics?