The latest buzzword is corrective exercise. Is corrective exercise the latest fad like “drawing in “ was a few years ago? What exactly is corrective exercise? I think I know, but it is a misleading concept. What exactly are you correcting? It sounds to me like another reductionist approach to the human body based on pseudo scientific principles and marketing. The exercises that I see labeled a [...]

We often think of Plan B as something we go to when things go wrong (e.g., when athletes get beat up, weather conditions, injuries). But what about going to Plan B when things go right?Yesterday we had a Sprint-Float-Sprint workout planned with 6-8 mins break. The first run went so well, exceptionally well, that I had to make an important decision. I could:a) adhere to the rest/recovery time on th [...]

Here is the scenario.I wake up log unto How2BHurt.com and get the workout of the day.Mind you this is the same workout if you are 17 or 70, male or female, an endurance athlete or a speed/power athlete. I am amazed at the number of people that do this. Stop and think for a minute, what is wrong with this picture? Logic and best practice tells us that one size does not fit all., then when would any [...]

A while back I remember discussing injury and a fellow coach insisting for the move from injury to opportunity. At the time he meant the opportunity to do great rehab, overcome, and set personal records. While covering the proper bases to rehabilitate the injury is priority number one, injury provides some other opportunities that wouldn’t exist in the course of a normal season or training. D [...]

Looking at the body as a machine and the mind as a computer does not give the human body the credit it deserves. This represents the mechanist viewpoint that leads us us to the robotic "fix the parts" approach that then can only lead to a dead end. Today, based on experience, best practice and extensive scientific research we know that the body is highly adaptable and self organizing. All the pi [...]

The foot creates a chain reaction in regards to ground reaction forces going up the kinetic chain. Bozos that have,under documentation, have missed the big picture in regards to dorsiflexion with running, jumping, and throwing. It would be great if we could do foam rolling, static stretches, and isolated muscle exercises and create magic. In fact a lot of the short term self mobilization exercises [...]

Every year about this time (for those new to snow) or earlier (for those use to dealing with the cold), the northeast weather throws a big monkey wrench to "great on paper" programs. I have been in the lovely Tampa area for 6+ years and spent most of my life in Massachusetts and understand why Robert Frost sounds depressing. Snow on the ground changes everything but not as much as one has to bel [...]

Getting better. It's not easy and not clear. In college, we are often handed baggage with athletes that come in with a poor training age, bad mechanics, bad attitudes, and often injuries we were not aware of. This year I have a clean canvas. Great kids and great potential. So how do I know I am doing a good job? How does one compare who is doing well and who is just a figure head. Do I stink? Doe [...]

Self Assessment or Coach driven evaluations are ok but they are not orthopedic assessments. The trend now is to do a FMS or some sort of evaluation. This is a good process because no evaluation is a bad idea for most. Still, a good PT (don't dare say Chiro!) is worth their weight in gold as they are looking at root problems not visual impairments. Fix the movement? Sorry Mr. Cook you are only por [...]

Be very wary of coaches who take absolute stances. You see this with many sprint coaches and strength coaches now a days. They are terrified of fiber type conversions, when in reality it is just a gross simplification of the process. Fiber changes are very complex. - Steve MagnessLatif Thomas, a sprint coach offers a structured approach in developing a sprint stable at the HS level with cross coun [...]