Respect and Honor Rant.

I have changed the oil in my truck, my motorcycle,my lawnmower and my wifes car too many times to count. I have rotated tires, replaced brake pads and rotors, replaced filters, and made too many other minor repairs and maintenance activities to keep track of. When there are big issues, I defer to the experts and take the vehicle to a trained mechanic. I rarely argue with him, but often ask for an explanation. The point - no matter how many times I do those activities, all I am doing is playing mechanic. It does not make me an expert.

I say that because I am tired of seeing people disrespect the FMS system and the RKC system. I understand not agreeing with the FMS or the RKC, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and has the right to choose whatever system they want to buy into and learn from. But people that are not trained in those systems or certified in those organizations have absolutely no business publicly representing either. I don't care if you do 500 FMS screens a year and teach 50 people how to do a get up - if you don't know the right way to do either you haven't done even 1 correctly. Quantity rarely trumps quality in regards to anything.

If you don't Respect the system and don't Honor the movements, you don't have the right to be respected or honored yourself. If your name isn't on this list (FMS) or this list (CK-FMS) then you have no right to be performing an FMS for personal or financial gain. If you are in the process of going thru the FMS Certification, that is different - you respected the system by going thru the system to learn the system.

I'm off my soapbox now. If you need tips on vehicle maintenance - ask an expert, not me though.

Check out my latest post:

www.scienceoftheswing.blogspot.com

The Dreaded "BOX"

I was able to do a few presentations last year at the NATA conference as well as a couple other smaller conferences to share my approach to how I address certain areas of clinical interventions - specifically the thoracic spine, training deceleration, and movement (3 separate topics).  Since then, I receive about 2-3 emails each week regarding something contained in on of my presentations.  More often than not, however, I get the something similar to the following:

I attended your -insert specific presentation here- and really enjoyed it.  There was a lot of good content, and your delivery is beyond amazing (I added that, but it is my story so hang on until I get to the point). I really like how you approach the application of deceleration in rehab, and feel like I can apply a lot of you concepts in my practice.  I typically try to think outside the box and feel that some of the drills you presented will allow me to do expand that .  So here is my question- for an ACL post-op patient how long after you initiate quad sets, active straight leg raises, and stool pulls do you wait to begin your deceleration training?

 Now, that is a totally made up scenario but VERY similar to what I regularly get.  My initial thought is always "way to think outside the box, now take your hand of the box and take a step away from it".   There are a lot of people that say they think outside the box, but to me that is like having to tell people you are pretty.  If you have to tell people you are then you aren't.  It is something that should be inherent in your approach and in your decision making process.  To me "Thinking outside the box" is beginning to fall into the same category as "Functional Training" and "Sport Specific Training" - terms people use to describe and market what they do without actually doing anything different than anyone else.

So, for those of you outside the box thinkers is that a way people describe you or how you describe yourself to other people?  If you are the latter, re-examine what you do and try to take a step further away from that rhetorical box, until you get to a point where you fall under the former. 

Anyone feel like this?

" I Keep Bangin My Head Against This Wall......"  How often have you felt like this in your own training, when you train your clients/athletes, or with other aspects of your life?  Inevitably, everyone at some point will have this feeling in regards to some aspect of their daily lives.  The question then, is what do you do because of this feeling.  Einstein defined stupidity as doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results.   Do you continue on your same bull-headed path to frustrations "hoping" that something will change, or do you actively look to create the change that will re-direct the path you are traveling down?  If you chose the first option, Einstein called you stupid several years ago.  Sorry, just pointing out the facts.

I recently spent a few hours with Master RKC Jeff O'Connor with the hopes that he could help me move past a couple training plateaus that I had been stuck on (and yes, I was being bull-headed with what I had been doing. ie - stupid).  In the three hours I spend with him, I was repeatedly reminded that ignoring my own issues wouldn't make them go away. (It's not like we are all 2 years old and everything disappears when we close our eyes.)  He did this both verbally - telling me to quit avoiding my restrictions, and physically - putting me in positions that made me face and acknowledge my restrictions.  And, surprisingly over the past couple of weeks by re-directing the course of my own training those restrictions aren't as obvious and more importantly those plateaus are for the time being not an issue for me anymore. Could I have fixed my problems by myself? I don't know, I hadn't fixed them in the previous 6 months and wasn't moving forward very fast.  I was putting in a TON of time and effort, but not seeing much in the way of results. 

So, the moral of the story: If you aren't happy with your training (or  you aren't happy with the results your athletes/clients are getting)  it is time to re-evaluate what you are doing.  What can you change or do differently that will give you the results you are looking for.  Maybe it is a little change, maybe it is a drastic change, but either way there needs to be a change.  Take the initiative to do something different, and you might be surprised by the results you get!