This is a long post and wanted to include some notes on hamstring injuries in speed and power sports. Much of this information can apply to adductor injuries as some universal wisdom exists. With Usain Bolt being beat by Justin Gatlin recently, much of the talk on hamstring injuries was brought up on social media. Many coaches and therapists are asking what ways can we see what is going on with at [...]

Anyone starting to get tired of preaching on the need to be sport specific or why things are not functional? I would argue that sport specific training and functional training craze in the 1990s have cause the most problems. I am a big fan of Vern's effort to push single leg training and get away from machines, but some stuff I have seen is just silly. Gary Gray DB Matrix was not very popular at [...]

In an interesting discussion in NYC, small-sided games were brought up as a part of the cause for injuries in professional soccer. It was interesting to see such strong opinions, and the lack of filter with foreign coaches was entertaining to hear. This topic is in Neil's Kinetics Manual and is going to be a interesting topic down the road. A systematic review of the Physiology of Small-Sided Gam [...]

WOD is an acronym for workout of the day. Is a cornerstone of a popular fitness craze that needs to be totally re-examined in light of the injuries caused by it and the number of people put in the hospital with Rhabdomyolysis (That is for another blog at another time) Let’s look at WOD in the light of what training should be. The workout, the individual training session is the building block of [...]

Now is the time to take a step back and look at the approach to Strength & Conditioning as it has evolved. Basically what we see happening is that we have the means to an end (Strength Training) become an end unto itself. Instead of having sport demands and qualities of the individual athlete drive the training the emphasis is on chasing numbers in the weight room. One or five rep maximum has litt [...]

If you are a coach or therapist who speaks spanish and would like to meet-up at the NYC Grand Prix please know a private seminar on hamstring injuries will be happening the night before this Friday. Each topic is 15 minutes or so and concludes with a round table discussion on integrating topics such as Tensiomyography, streaming physiological monitoring, MSK Ultrasound, and bodywork. What is real [...]

"Michael Crabtree underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tendon that he tore yesterday," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "Surgery was successful and we do not anticipate it will be season-ending for Michael."I was called by a consultant a few years ago asking what system of pressure mapping to purchase and I said Tekscan, knowing that their reporting would eventually rise to match the power of thei [...]

A private meeting was in the Concord and Lexington area, purposely located to symbolize the future of what is happening in Boston. I predict that more private style workshops such as the one hosted by Ricardo will be the future. Flying halfway around the world needs to be more than just visiting a professional team and doing a keynote, the bar is raised as hotel and airports are not enough to make [...]

"The algorithm that calculated injury risk was a modified version of sports injury prevention company Move2Perform’s technology. The system stratifies soldiers into one of four risk categories, with prescriptions for each one, including exercises for moderate-risk soldiers and clinical visits for high-risk soldiers. The report is then printed and given to patients, but also sent directly to the [...]

Movement is quite simple and from that wonderful simplicity comes the complexity of sports skill and performance. Twenty-five years ago in an attempt to better explain movement and how we should effectively train movement I came up with this simple diagram I call the Performance Paradigm. It was somewhat like what Albert Szent-Gyorgi, once said, “Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else h [...]