I was sent an article written by Ken Mannie, Strength and Conditioning coach at Michigan State entitled Traditional vs. Functional: Balancing the Scales. What is the difference between traditional training and functional training or traditional strength training and functional strength training? Is there a difference? What scales are we trying to balance? Let start with a definition - Functional [...]

Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this profession is new problems created by corrective exercise and injury reducing approaches. The new dysfunctional/postural epidemic is caused by the ripple effect of profit and marketing, and it is now hitting us like the current economic crisis of today. False prophets are now backpedaling every time new blood publishes information that proves what they are n [...]

The original post was not or is not intended as a diatribe against Olympic lifting, rather it is a plea for sanity and common sense in exercise selection and application. Dan posted this comment that I think requires further comment: “Though, the catch is valuable as it trains deceleration and control of bodyweight + bar.” This is another example of drinking the Kool-Aid that is the pa [...]

The idea behind this workout is to move across the spectrum of muscle actions and to take advantage of the size principle of muscle fiber recruitment to target the fast twitch muscle fibers. The spectrum of muscle actions is as follows:Isometric>>>>Resisted>>>>Dynamic>>>> Ballistic. The workout has it’s genesis with a video of Wernor Gunthor, the Swiss sho [...]

Do a squat, do a single leg squat, take a still picture, plug it into a computer and get a training and injury prevention program. Presto – no need to watch the athlete move, no injury or performance history just two simple tests, a video and a computer program and an online certification to learn how to do the evaluation. Something is wrong with this picture, yet in certain situations this [...]