Try this instead of taking a pill!

Nutrition:

Drink more water

Eat more fruits and vegtables

Eat lean organic protein scources (Meat, poultry, fish)

Drink less alcohol

For more nutrition information check out the following:

Precision Nutrition


Lyle McDonald

Alan Aragon

Brian St.Pierre

Brad Pilon

Martin Berkhan


Exercise:

Seek out a personal trainer or strength coach with a good reputation. Someone who will not only make you look better, but feel better.

If thats not an option then the next best thing is to check out rescources that can give you quailty training information and program templates

For info check out:
Strengthcoach.com

For Program design:
Check out BodyByBoyle online

Lifestyle:

Meditate! Help ease stress. Stress is a hugh contributor to ill health and disease. Meditation helps to lower stress hormones, blood pressure, anxiety, and helps to elevated feel good hormones.

To find out more benefits check out this link - 100 benefits of meditation

Sleep:
Sleep is the most unrated component to a healthier lifestyle as the following information points out

According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, your body manages and requires sleep in much the same way that it regulates the need for eating, drinking, and breathing. Extensive research has been done on the effects of sleep. These studies have consistently shown that sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being.

This explains why, after a good night's sleep, you feel better, your thoughts are clearer, and your emotions are less fragile. Without adequate sleep, judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information are weakened. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to an array of serious medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even early mortality.

For more information on sleep check out Better-sleep-better-life.com

Stay Strong,

RB

Na Fianna Senior Football Strength Program Phase 2

Foam Roll
Stretch - (replaced by FMS Correction if needed)
Activation - (replaced by FMS Correction if needed)
Mobility
Dynamic Warm Up (Linear Day 1, Multidirectional day 2)
Plyos(Linear Day 1, Multidirectional day 2)
Med Ball Throws

Day 1:

A1: Hang Clean 4x3
A2: Mobility exercise which maybe needed by the individual (ie, t-spine, etc)

B1: Trap Bar Dead Lift 4x3
B2: Incline DB Press - Neutral Grip 3x5
B3: Core: Feet Elevated Plank Row 3x5
B4: Mobility

C1: BB Reverse Lunge 3x5
C2: 3PT DB Row 3x5
C3: Feet Elevated Side Plank

D1: TRX Face Pulls 2x8
D2: Feet Elevated (weighted with chains)Push Ups 2x8

Day 2:

A1: Hang Clean 4x3
A2: Mobility exercise which maybe needed by the individual (ie, t-spine, etc)

B1: Chin Up 4x3
B2: BB RFE Split Squat 3x5
B3: Core: Feet Elevated Plank
B4: Mobility

C1: Bench Press 4x3
C2: 2 Arm DB SLDL 3x5
C3: 1/2 Kneeling Isometric Pallof Press

D1: TRX Rows - Neutral Grip 2x8
D2: 1 Leg Shoulder Elevated Hip Lifts 2x8

Stay Strong,
RB

Product Review: Training = Rehab, Rehab = Training

Finally Charlie's DVD arrived!

One word = AWESOME

Charlie is an outstanding presenter. He is going to big huge at perform better. He humour and wit throughout DVD along with all the outstanding information was priceless.

The opening DVD, Charile explains the Joint By Joint briefy, before expanding on the advanced joint by joint, and the core pendulum theory.

Disc 2, Charlie talks about his opinion's on the core, Janda's work, and the importance of PNF patterns.

Disc 3 Charlie talks about the FMS and how it relates to neuro-developmental patterns, and than introduces us to the SFMA.

Disc 4-6 are monsters.

4 - is the SFMA practical, and corrective exercises

5 - Charlie goes over some of Janda's upper, lower, and then rolling corrections

6 - Charlie takes us into the gym, and teaches deadlift, swing, chop & lift, and the get up.

Things I took away:

Charlies Plan:

Charlies whole plan with this DVD set was for the Strength coach and personal trainer to have more tools in their toolbox to fix dysfunctional - non-painful with a client who may have pain, while they are concurrently working with a medical professional who will now have more time to work on whats painful (whether functional or dysfunctional), with the client.

Breathing:

Some things that stood out where breathing a certains points throughout a movement to see if you could "own" the movement.

Your hands are feet:

Charlie believes (along with many others) that at once stage during our evolution we were on all fours. His technique at teaching the push up was not entirely new to me, but it made me realize that I have gotten lasy when coaching this exercise.

Neck Packing:

Again not new to me, as I have heard Charlie speak about this many times. But again like with the push up above, I need to do a better job coaching it.

Hip Flexor Stretch:

I was doing this all wrong. Thanks Charlie for humbling me on this one!!

Oral and Facial drivers:

Again something I have heard Charlie speak about before, and have read about in Chaitow's MET book. Still it was great to see the improvements with some of the movements on the DVDs when these strategies were employed.

A better road map with Pain:

I have only just started to understand the SFMA through Grays new book, and Charlies DVDs. Now I feel like I have a much better roadmap when dealing with pain. I am not a PT (yet), I am an NMT, so I do see people in pain often. The SFMA is in my mind an outstanding model to help guide your plan of action when pain is present. This is something I did not have before. I feel now after reading movement, and watching Charlies DVDs that I have a far superior approach than I have ever had before when pain is present.

Pain - Use SFMA
Treatment - Take away the negative
Corrective - Mobility (if it is needed), lock it in with stability, pattern.

The treatment area is where it can be different. This is where different techniques can be use to try to get the same results (MET, Graston, HVLT, PR, ART, etc).

The corrective exercise component is where a lot of clinicans miss the boat. Even if they do give exercises they are usually isolation ones, and do not "get after" and try and fix a pattern. This is where the FMS, and SFMA corrective strategies rein supreme.

As Gray teaches in Movement, pain maybe gone, but dysfucntion may still be present.


Summary:

This DVD set really put a lot that I had in my head together. This is without question one of the best educational resources I have ever brought. And no I have absolutely so affiliation to this product whatsoever. I just want it to be known that this DVD set is a must have for every strength coach, personl trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor, NMT, osteopath, surgeon, etc.

Charlie Weingroff is the man.

Stay Strong,
RB

A Weekend with Judith Delany

As I move into the final 10 months of my H Dip NMT program with the NTC, I had the pleasure of be meeting and learning from Judith DeLany this weekend. DeLany is of course the co-author of the Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Technique with Dr. Chaitow.

This weekends topic was the lower extremity.

Friday 7-10pm

We discussed the anatomy of the thigh,leg, and foot.

Saturday 9-5pm

Saturday we treated the anterior thigh and leg. Judith show us that the anterior fibres of glute medius, and minimus come right around the outer aspect of the ASIS, and underneath TFL. TFL is a lot bigger than I orginally thought also.

Judith also told us that she questions why would we want to try and get the ITB "less tight" by treating it. She believes the ITB is might to be taut to add stability to the knee. She believes that the tenderness experience with the ITB is actually the fibres of the vastus lateralis.

We finished the day we some basic techniques for the lower leg.

Sunday 9-5pm

We treated posterior thigh, leg, and foot. Judith showed us an awesome technique to treat the adductor magnus in a prone position. She taught us to displace the medial hamstrings off the adductor magnus. This according to Judith can really help with pelvic floor issues(as adductors can refer into pelvic floor) and low back issues.

We also treated the posterior leg, and pick up some good techniques for plantaris, and popliteus.

We finished the day with some anatomy, palpation and treatment of the feet.

All in all a very enjoyable weekend.

Stay Strong,

RB

Things I learned in 2010

1. Anerobic training can actually make you slow! - David Tenney & Patrick Ward

Thanks to David Tenney and Patrick Ward for all their help and information about optimal energy system development for most field and court sports. I learn that most are alactic-aerobic, and that HITT is for the most part, not as necessary as we were lead to believe. Cosgroves pendulum analogy comes to mind.

Tenney went on say (on the strengthcoach podcast) that players who had done alot of HITT were very good at going at 80-85% throughout a whole game, but lacked optimal fitness of the alactic system to continually make very short all out max effort accelerations throughout a game. This is due to their previous conditioning being too anerobic focused, an not enough alactic-aerobic focused.


2. Aerobic training can help get you faster! - Tenney & Ward

Again thanks to the two men above again for helping me to understand the importance of the aerobic system in the recovery period bewteen bouts of alactic work. The stronger the aerobic system the faster you can recovery for you next alactic effort.


3. Hard core and soft core - Gray Cook

I finally grasp this concept, I think

Soft core - reflexive, correct timing

Hard core - conscious, bracing


4. Nothing beats in the trenches experience - Me

This year I started up my own business and facility, and its been a priceless experience.

I have to be honest and say that when I use to hear people say "you can read all the books you want but nothing beats real life in the trenches experience". I used to be like "come on that has to be a bit of an over the top statement." I was wrong.

Sure you do need to know the science, but you sure as hell better know how to put it all into practice and know when and how to adapt it for every indivdual.

As my first mentor in this field (Martina McCarthy) said - "Applied Knowledge is power, not just knowledge!"

Here some clips from 2010 at Ultimate Performance

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5. Sleep is very, very important - Paul Chek


6. Muscle Energy Techniques are very effective - Me (learned for Leon Chaitow)


7. Penedulum Core Theory - Charlie Weingroff


8. Most flexibility issues are motor control problems - Gray Cook


9. Nutrition is extremely indivdual - William Walcott


10. You can get stronger and bigger on a fasting style eating plan - Me

Yes I did this for the last 6 months, and am bigger, stronger and leaner then I ever have been before. But keep number 9 in mind. This works for me. It may not work for you, and could be a disaster for someone else.


11. The female Brain - Louann Brizendine
Great book.


12. Joe DeFrancos Montage is badass - Me




13. Fascia is 10 times more proprioceptive then mucsle - Tom Myers


14. Block Periodization - Vladimir Issurin

Read the book, and watching the DVD helped. Basically high level athletes get to a point where concurrently training all qualities will no longer improve their performance, as they are not getting enough stimulation of any one quality to continue to improve.

They need to start putting more focus on just one quality. The use of training residuals are also a big component of the block periodization model.


15. Glenn Pendlay's teaching of the Hang Clean - Glenn Pendlay

This is so simple. I have been using this technique to teach the hang clean for the past 6 weeks, and I have had unbelievable success! I have had numerous athletes cleaning perfectly after 1 session with Pendlays teaching technique.


16. Remembering a persons name is important - Dale Carnegie


17. Viscerosomatic and somatovisceral dysfunction - Judith DeLany

Viscerosomatic - Organ dysfunction producing pain in soft tissue, or a joint (eg, gallbladder dysfunction can refer pain into the shoulder and mimic frozen shoulder).

somatovisceral - oppossite to above. Soft tissue structure referring pain to a gland or organ that is supplied on the same level segmentally.

There are a number of other relex mechanisms. Chaitow and DeLanys Textbook is worth a look. Also Goggle scholar will have a lot of good infomation.


18. Al Vermeil is one knowledgeable coach! - Me

I was lucky enough to hear him speak at Perform Better in Rhode Island. He seriously knows his stuff. What I also love about Al too is that he has 'live it'. He not knows he shit inside out, but has coach a lot of athletes!

There probably is a lot more things, but right now these are what come to mind.

What did you learn in 2010?

Stay Strong,
RB