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Gallagher Performance Training – How We Are Different

At Gallagher Performance, every client and athlete begins with a comprehensive physical assessment. The process includes looking at how you move through your entire body and is tailored based upon what the individual is capable of performing. Our physical assessment is not simply a standard movement screening process. Similar to our training process, our assessments are customized to the individual, thus providing us the greatest insight into the current abilities of our clients and athletes. Beyond the physical assessment, we take time to understand  your injury history, training experience, primary sport(s) played, and several other factors. You will also have the chance to meet our staff to ensure that you are comfortable when you return for future training sessions.

The information gathered during your initial assessment is used to design an individualized training program. We take time to ensure that specialized attention is given to each program design. As a result, your individualized training and nutrition materials will be provided upon return for your second visit. Clients are closely coached through the entirety of their program to maximize results.

Gallagher Performance is all about individualizing the training process. You won't find "whiteboard workouts" or "cookie-cutter programs" here! That's because we understand each person responds differently to training due to a multitude of factors that must be accounted for. The goal of any training program at Gallagher Performance is to account for individual differences and use that knowledge to maximize training results. This routinely allows our athletes to experience the best results from their physical training and become a dominant force in their sport.

 WHY Gallagher Performance?

Initial 1-on-1 Assessments

Custom and Individualized Program Design

Supervised Training Sessions

Positive and Supportive Atmosphere

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Nutrition for Faster Recovery from Injury

As an athlete, injury is unfortunately part of sports. Athletics have varying degrees of both assumed and inherent structural risk to the human body, arguably making many sports we love to compete in “dangerous”. However, injury is not simply unique to sport. Frankly, injury seems to be part of life. Sure, there are preventative measures one can take to minimize or reduce the risk of injury. The reality is, there is no such thing as complete injury prevention. Similar to the weather, an honest professional will tell you we cannot forecast injury with absolute certainty. Yes, there are athletes who carry higher or lower “chances” of injury based on their movement quality and must be managed accordingly to minimize exercise-related or non-contact injuries. In some circumstances, such as collision/contact related injuries, injury is something we have little control over. Despite the lack of control we may have when it comes to injury, we do have the potential to influence the recovery and healing process for the better. This is good news since getting back to sport or living a "normal" life as quickly as possible is something most people would sign-up for in a heart beat.
Understanding the Healing Process
When you suffer any form of injury, the site of injury enters a traumatic state and inflammation occurs. For most people, inflammation brings negative thoughts to mind and their initial reaction is to stop it in its tracks. I mean, isn’t that what we’ve been told for years? But, is inflammation really unwanted or should we consider that it is part of our body’s process responsible for healing? The truth is, the right amount of inflammation is a good thing and necessary to initiate the healing process from injury. Inflammation provides signals to the body that something is wrong with certain structures or tissues. The body responds by kicking your immune system into high gear to start repairing damaged tissue.


When injured, the body needs to recover and you must supply it with the raw materials needed to promote optimal recovery. These raw materials come in the form of calories, protein, dietary fats, vitamins, and minerals from whole food or supplement sources. Ideally, nutritional strategies for injury recovery must be customized to the individual for optimal response. However, applying some general considerations can be beneficial in speeding up your return to play.

Nutritional Strategies for Injury Recovery
1) Calories
When injured, there is an increase in what is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is essentially the energy (or calorie) expenditure while your body is at rest. When recovering from injury, BMR has been demonstrated to increase by 15-50% since your body is using more energy to repair and regenerate damaged tissues. The rise in BMR means you must increase your caloric intake accordingly to ensure optimal recovery.

For example, if your caloric intake is 3,500 kcal/day, your new caloric requirements could range from 4,025-5,250 kcal/day (15%-50%) during the recovery process.

2) Protein
Protein is an essential component of our cells, bones, muscles, organs, connective tissues, and skin. Protein is made up of individual amino acids. Amino acids are important for the repair and remodeling process that injured bone, muscle, or connective tissue undergoes during the healing process. The amount of protein the body utilizes for injury repair is significant and your daily protein intake will need to increase accordingly. To gain an understanding of how your protein intake should be adjusted during the healing process, let’s consider the following:

The average, sedentary individual may require an intake of 0.8g/kg of protein per day.  Athletes and highly active individuals can often require 1.0-1.5g/kg of protein per day.

          Example:  200 lb athlete = 91-136g of protein per day
That same athlete, when injured, may need 1.2-2.0 g/kg of protein per day.

          Example: 200 lb athlete = 110-182g of protein per day.
3) Dietary Fat
Dietary fat consumption should be devised to promote tissue healing and minimize unwanted inflammatory responses. It is well known that trans-fats and omega 6 fatty acids promote inflammation in the body. During the initial stages of healing, it is important to consume an appropriately balance of omega 6:omega 3 fatty acids. Consuming more omega 3 fatty acids helps to keep inflammation at adequate levels.

Rather than putting on number on dietary fat consumption during the recovery process, focus on making better food choices. This means increasing the consumption of quality, healthy fats such as coconut oil, butter, fish oil, avocados, and olive oil while doing your best to minimize or avoid eating foods high in omega 6 fatty acids such as fried foods or food sources that contain safflower oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, and soybean oil.

4) Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals are nutrients required by the body in relatively small amounts, but are critically important for a number of metabolic reactions essential in allowing the body not only to survive, but also to thrive. The process of recovering from injury only places a greater importance on key vitamins and minerals to ensure that metabolic processes involved in cell proliferation and tissue remodeling occurs appropriately.

Micronutrients such as Vitamins A, C, D, K and the B vitamins along with minerals such as magnesium, copper, and zinc can enhance the function of the immune system, assist in inflammation control and collagen synthesis, improve the production of red blood cells, and improve healing rate. Supplementation recommendations will depend upon appropriate therapeutic doses, as well as the individual and the extent of injury.

5) Herbs, Spices, and Tea
Certain herbs and spices have demonstrated impression abilities to manage inflammation during the acute phases of recovery. Some of the herbs and spices can even help reduce dependency of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Some examples of herbs, spices, or teas that can assist in inflammation/pain control as well as tissue regeneration are turmeric, ginger, garlic, bromelain, and green tea.

Concluding Thoughts
It’s important to help your patient, clients, or athletes understand sound nutritional habits and patterns during the injury recovery process since it brings special considerations to the forefront. Consuming adequate calories to provide enough energy and sufficient amounts of building blocks (both macro and micronutrients) for tissue repair and regeneration is critical to appropriate healing. When it comes to inflammation, remember the name of the game is inflammation control not inflammation suppression. Inflammation is needed for healing, but must be kept to sufficient levels. Both too little and too much inflammation can interfere with and delay the healing process.

Allow these nutritional strategies to work for you. Not only will they promote a faster return to sport and competition, but also ensure more comprehensive healing while reducing associated risks of re-injury.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/3-simple-steps-to-reduce-your-risk-of-sports-injuries/

https://gallagherperformance.com/the-hidden-causes-of-sports-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/resetting-bodys-function-post-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/dietary-fat-is-not-the-bad-guy/

Year One at Gallagher Performance

After completing my Sports Injury and Rehabilitation residency in September 2012, making the decision to start up this business with my brother, Ryan, was one of the most daunting tasks I have ever encountered, including all the efforts to get it started and keep it growing. Considering I had offers for some well paying jobs all over the country, why would I possibly want to take the risk of launching a business? As a sports chiropractor with a specialization in rehabilitation, I had job offers to perform patient rehab in established offices, working as little as 20 hours per week. I could do that along with writing, consulting, and putting on seminars – all while enjoying plenty of free time. However, I saw a huge problem. That wasn’t me. As much as I enjoy what I do as a sports chiropractor, I equally enjoy assessing and evaluating athletes, designing training programs, coaching, being in the gym, training, and helping athletes achieve their goals. There was no way I could find personal fulfillment in my job unless I could be directly involved with both the training and therapy of athletes. More money or less hours didn’t matter to me.

About the time I was wrapping up my residency at Palmer College, Ryan was finishing his massage therapy schooling and working full time as a trainer while residing in Ohio with his wife, TIffany. For years, we had dreamed and talked about starting our own business that integrated not only our services, but our educational and professional backgrounds. We knew we had a unique approach and the desire to provide quality in our sports performance training, chiropractic, massage, and nutritional services. We believed that if we did things for reasons that were in line with our values, the business would grow to provide fulfillment beyond just money. We wanted to measure our success by delivering great results to our clients and athletes.

GP opened in April 2013 and has experienced steady growth every month since our opening. Our sports performance training services have become increasingly popular. With the summer upon us, athletes are coming in looking to capitalize on their off-season by improving their abilities (speed, strength, power, agility, etc). Each athlete we have worked with has seen tremendous results, which speaks to our business model, the individualized approach we use with each athlete, and the character of our athletes. We are receiving large amounts of referrals, which, to us, is the greatest compliment our business can receive. Slowly, GP is gaining the reputation for having an approach that is unlike any athletic development program in the area.

We have seen our sports performance training services utilized by athletes who participate in soccer, cross country, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and football. We even have a client who is preparing for military special operations in hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL. With that said, our training services have especially become popular among football and hockey players (high school, college, amateur, and junior level).

Reflecting back on the past year, there have been lessons learned and constant reminders of why we do what we do at GP. To begin with, we are consistently reminded that regardless of sport or competitive endeavor, the primary goal of any physical preparation program is to prepare the athlete for the demands of the competitive season and/or higher levels of competition. This sounds simple in nature, but is incredibly complex at times as an overwhelming majority of our young athletes need to master the fundamentals of general calisthenics and body weight exercises before introducing the execution of movements with either increasing resistance using external loads or at increasing velocities.  Some of our programs may not seem “advanced” and it’s for a good reason. Too many young athletes, and sometimes their parents, have bought into the idea that they should be training “like the pros”. Kids need the basics, and a lot of them, before more advanced training can be introduced.

Another lesson we continually learn at GP is the importance of promoting structural balance and recovery for our athletes. At any age or level of competition, it’s imperative to recognize the stress an athlete’s body experiences during their competitive season(s). Often a number of precautions and considerations must be made from the onset of training and throughout the duration of the off-season to restore balance to an athlete’s body and facilitate recovery. This becomes increasingly important as an athlete ages and progresses through higher levels of competition, as they accumulate greater amounts of wear and tear. The recovery and regeneration protocols used at GP have been a welcomed addition to our athletes’ programs, since many of them have never been introduced to approaches that keep them healthy and their performance levels more consistent. We do whatever it takes to keep our athletes healthy and injury-free as they seek to improve specific performance markers.

Something else we have come to appreciate more and more is how valuable the education our athletes receive is to them. In talking with our athletes, we have consistently discovered that they do not understand how or why an athlete must train according to the demands of their sport. This is a foreign concept to many of them. The educational process provides our athletes with the knowledge they need to understand how an athletic development model is applied to their sport. This has proven to be invaluable because our athletes truly appreciate understanding the mistakes they have made and understanding they are receiving guidance that has their best interest in mind, based solely on their needs.

The educational process and witnessing the development/results each of our clients and athletes achieve, to me, has been the most fulfilling part about what we do at GP. The smile a young kid gets when they step on the scale and see that they are 10 pounds heavier or the high-five and genuine enthusiasm shared when they set a new personal best in strength, jumping, or speed makes it all worth it. And as for our clients who are training to lose fat and/or improve general fitness levels, we love to get feedback that their body feels great, they are training pain-free, and are able to enjoy the training process while maximizing the benefits of their efforts.

The vision for GP was an easy one to establish. Ryan and I made the choice to build a business that was fulfilling both personally and professionally. The process has not been an easy one, but it has been rewarding and we are enjoying it.

We also acknowledge that GP would not be what it is without the consistent support we receive. A sincere thank you goes out to all you – clients/athletes, parents, family, friends, social media followers, and professional colleagues – for your continual support over the past year. Without you, GP would not be what is today, and we look forward to many more years to come.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-we-arent-popular/

https://gallagherperformance.com/two-years-at-gallagher-performance/

 
 

Stress Overload and Injury

In the world of athletics and pursuit of elite level performance, injuries are a given. However, the prevention of sports injuries is never as simple as identifying movements or exercises that should be avoided. It would be nice if it was that simple and if we could solve all the injury problems for athletes across the globe by eliminating one particular movement. Unfortunately, the human body is too complex to be solved by one solution that can be applied to everyone.

Rather than debate the role of specific exercises in a training or rehabilitation program, loading parameters and progressions, or whether certain exercises pose greater risk than reward, the purpose of this article is to discuss a much deeper concept that is at the heart of injury prevention and management, the balance between stress and adaptation.

Hello, My Name is Stress
Stress is something each and every one of us is all too familiar with. Whether it’s related to financial struggles, work-related problems, academic pressures, athletic expectations, family or relationship issues, stress is a common theme of the human existence. Now while these forms of mental stress are responsible for many reactions within the human body, for the purposes of this article this is not the kind of stress I am talking about. Rather, we will be discussing what is known as biological stress and how it relates to injury.

What is Biological Stress?

Biological stress accounts for all the physical demands (stress) placed on our bodies, both mechanical stress and metabolic stress.

Mechanical stress is a measure of the force produced and absorbed by the entire neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) system, including components such as nerves, muscle fibers, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and bone.

Metabolic stress is a measure of the demand placed on all the systems responsible for energy production/recovery and involves every major organ system in the body, such as the cardiovascular, nervous, muscular, endocrine, and immune systems.

As you can tell, both mechanical and metabolic stress are highly interrelated. The greater the degree of mechanical stress, the greater the degree of metabolic stress.

Balancing Stress & Adaptation
Training is best defined as, the targeted application of stress designed to disrupt homeostasis and put the body’s defense mechanisms at work; remodeling, strengthening and improving the efficiency of many different systems throughout the body.”
Factors that Influence Biological Stress:

  • Training Volume
  • Training Intensity
  • Training Frequency
  • Exercise Selection
These simple variables are what define individual training sessions and the training block/phase. They will dictate the amount of biological (mechanical and metabolic) stress, its application to the human body, and how much stress is applied. The training goal becomes to apply the correct type of stress in the appropriate dose/amount while targeted to the appropriate areas necessary to improve performance.

Training and biological stress is one side of the coin. The other side takes into consideration factors that influence adaptation. What makes the training process enormously more complex than it appears is what happens in between sessions as our body responds to the stress of the training session or adapts. The complexity stems from how many variables are involved in how we adapt to the stress imposed by training.

Factors that Influence Adaptation:
  • Genetics
  • Training History
  • Nutritional Habits
  • Sleep Quality
  • Mental Stress
Our genetics, nutritional habits, level of mental stress, training history, and sleep play a critical role in how quickly our body’s systems and tissues are able to rebuild and adapt from the stress of the training process. Get enough sleep, eat well, have better genetics and a long history of training, you will adapt much faster and respond quicker to the same level of training/stress than someone who is experiencing higher levels of mental stress, has poor sleeping habits, a poor diet, and lesser genetics. Even minor differences in any one of these factors can have a major impact on the ability to adapt to your current training.

Out of Balance, Out with Injury
By now, it should be clear that looking at sports injuries solely from the standpoint of the use or misuse of particular exercises or protocols doesn’t paint a very complete picture of why they happen. Even when discussions of injuries extend into the realm of assessing various movement patterns and joint function while trying to predict or minimize risk of injuries purely through improving quality of movement, often times these discussions fail to consider the fundamental concepts of the stress-adaptation balance.

The truth that is rarely discussed is that every athlete and individual is truly different and no two people will ever respond to a given training program or level of stress in the same manner. Recently, the days of individualized training have been replaced with current fitness trends of bootcamps, CrossFit, P90x and other such programs that irrationally encourage anyone and everyone to do the same thing.

Not only do such approaches always fail to consider a person’s individual ability to adapt to stress, they often preach that results are a direct result of nothing more than lots of effort with lots of intensity. The classic American attitude of “more is always better” approach has spilled over into training, training with high intensities at increasingly higher volumes. Now combine that with no individualized considerations and what you have is a recipe for injury. Current fitness trends seem to place a greater importance on the business model rather than having an appreciation and understanding of the complex function of the human body as it relates to developing a quality training program for the individual.

When you consider the stress-adaptation balance, it's not surprising why the injury rates are continually rising in youth sports. Young athletes today are under incredible pressures to specialize in one sport, be it from coaches or parents, and this is why it’s become sadly common to see athletes as young as 12-14 suffering from chronic stress injuries like tendinitis, or the more correct diagnosis of tendinosis. The ‘multi-sport’ athlete has been replaced with the ‘single-sport, all year long’ athlete. A year round competitive schedule, lack of properly constructed sport practice, and lack of time dedicated to physical preparation and athletic development is largely to blame for the huge increase in youth sports injuries in recent years.

I just happened to catch a recent interview with Tommy John on Dan Patrick’s radio show. For those of you who may be familiar with his name, Tommy John is a former MLB pitcher and the “Tommy John” surgery is named after him since he was the first individual to have the medical procedure of ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. When asked about his thoughts as to why the surgery is so common now, Tommy John has this to say,
“I really believe….that sports, high school sports, little league sports, have become year round. And they force these kids at a very young age to pick a sport and that’s the only sport that they play, they train at. And you have these….pitching academies and your kid comes in and pays $2000-$3000 and you go in every Saturday and work on pitching. And I tell parents this, “If the best pitchers in the world don’t pitch year round, then why should your kid pitch year round?”….You have to get all these great surgeons that do Tommy John surgery, or did Tommy John surgery, they cringe when you say ‘year round pitching’ because you must let the arm rest.”
Without knowing exactly why, Tommy John nailed the central issue when it comes to several sports injuries, the lack of appropriate rest to allow the body the chance to recover and adapt to the stress placed upon it. Despite his example of baseball and pitching, the truth is each sport has it own unique injury rates. It truly all comes back to stress and the inability of most coaches and trainers to respect the stress and adaptation process. While some athletes are capable of adapting to stress far more efficiently than others, no one is immune from the effects of a poorly designed training or sport preparation program. Such programs are run by coaches or trainers that chronically stress athletes with little understanding of how to facilitate recovery and adaption, ultimately leading to injury.

Final Words
Regardless of whether you are a doctor, therapist, coach, athlete or simply just train to be healthy and stay in shape, this article was to present you with a more complete view of the role stress and adaptation play in the injury process. There is certainly value in assessing the degree of stress specific exercises may place on particular joints/tissues and whether or not they are appropriate for an individual given their needs or limitations. Failure to consider the role of stress tends to lead to an approach to injury prevention based purely on exercise selection/avoidance rather than one than also places consideration on biological stress and adaptation management.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/ultimate-runners-guide-to-injury-prevention/

https://gallagherperformance.com/3-simple-steps-to-reduce-your-risk-of-sports-injuries/

https://gallagherperformance.com/prevent-re-injury-integrated-training-rehabilitation/

https://gallagherperformance.com/magnesium-for-better-health-athletic-performance/

Physical Preparation vs Fitness: Know the Difference

For athletes new to GP, physical preparation is a term that is unfamiliar to them. Sure they are familiar with “strength and conditioning” or “speed and strength” programs. Many of these athletes come from high schools and colleges that have a strength and conditioning (S&C) coach. If they do not have the luxury of having a S&C coach at their high school, they are often familiar with the “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” programs that many coaches hand out to their players, especially our football players.

There is a movement within the S&C industry that has more and more coaches referring to themselves as coaches of “physical preparation”. The concept of physical preparation, as it pertains to athletes, incorporates much more than simply strength and conditioning. Buddy Morris, current Head Strength/Physical Preparation Coach for the Arizona Cardinals, has said:

“We're coaches of physical preparation. What we do encompasses more than just conditioning and strength. There are a lot of variables we have to look at it with each individual athlete and each individual group. In this country, I think if anything, we place too much emphasis on strength. I'm not downplaying the importance of strength, but I think we put too much emphasis on it and too much volume."
Physical preparation accounts for both performance enhancement as well as injury reduction measures. It's important to us that our athletes understand the concepts of physical preparation and why the services and training they are receiving at GP have only one goal in mind: to prepare each individual athlete to meet the demands of their sport and competitive season.

From an outsider’s viewpoint, our programs may look very simple. And depending on the athlete’s age and training experience, our programs can be very oriented on the fundamentals. But the biggest mistake our athletes can make is assuming simple means easy. Our programs are very demanding.

Physical preparation is one area where many programs fall short in their attempt to develop athletes. Young, well-intentioned athletes want to improve their current fitness and/or strength levels. This is all well and good, but what some coaches and athletes must understand is there is a difference between fitness and preparation. It's one thing to be "fit", it's an entirely different story when it comes to be prepared for sport competition.

Preparation vs Fitness
I recently was given the privilege of developing and coordinating the off-season strength/physical preparation program for the Franklin Regional ice hockey teams. To say I am honored would be an understatement and it is a huge compliment to our business. This is a tremendous undertaking and one that comes with many challenges. Many of these young hockey players are novices when it comes to strength training, needing a solid foundation of stability, strength, and neuromuscular control. Others have more training experience and also play for other amateur hockey organizations in the Pittsburgh area. Some of these kids play 60+ games a year. Understanding the stress their bodies endured during the competitive calendar and collision nature of the sport must be considered in the development of their training program to promote continual adaptation and proper preparation for the upcoming season.

This is where the development and preparation of the athlete must match the biodynamic and bioenergetic demands of the sport of ice hockey, not merely developing “fitness” or “strength” levels. Considerations of biodynamics (biomechanics, kinematics, and kinetics) will govern what exercises are used in the development of the athlete. Bioenergetics characterizes the nature and contribution of the human bioenergy systems towards training and competitive actions.

The development of physical abilities and specialized work-capacity will be specific to the training stimulus. This follows the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands). To help us understand the concept of specialized work capacity and how truly specific the development of “fitness” levels can be, let’s consider the nature of most team sports.

When considering the physical abilities that make an athlete successful in sports such as hockey, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse, what comes to mind is speed, power, strength and anaerobic-alactic capacity. To achieve athletic potential, all these abilities are necessary to train and develop so that physical abilities match the demands of sport.

What is not listed above and often a missing component in many S&C programs is developing the athlete’s ability to accelerate or how quickly an athlete can increase their speed. It is a rare occurrence in hockey, as with other team sports, that an athlete reaches top speed and must sustain that for an extended period of time. What you see far more often is that the ability to accelerate is a constant factor in athletic success.

Charlie Francis stated that most 100m sprinters do not reach top speed until 60m into the race. In other words, these athletes are accelerating for the first 60m of the race. This is not just true of sprinters, but the majority of other athletes as well and this has implications on their training.

According to Coach Francis, the major requirements for the 100m race are broken down as follows:
  • Start/acceleration: 0-30m
  • Speed/maximum velocity: 30-60m
  • Speed endurance: 60-100m
Training Implications
In this day and age, the marketing of gimmick products or programs towards athletes is driving much of the training industry. High-speed treadmills, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) programs, speed/agility schools are designed to increase pocket books, yet often can fail to deliver promises on performance enhancement when it comes to speed, acceleration, power, strength, or energy system development as they relate to a specific sport.

The ability to accelerate has major implications for explosive, alactic-aerobic sports. Athletes participating in these sports must have the ability to perform repeated bouts of acceleration and recover quickly. Acceleration ability is trained through plyometrics, acceleration training, and strength training. The ability to recover quickly is developed through proper energy system development of both the aerobic and alactic components. This doesn’t mean that an athlete needs a separate and specialized program for each of these components to be trained. Rather it means a well-organized and structured program must account for biodynamic elements, acceleration/speed, plyometrics, strength training, and an understanding of the positional bioenergetic (energy system) demands of the sport. These attributes must be understood and trained accordingly.

 
Related Articles:

Are You in Need of More Intelligent Training?
Why Athletes Should Avoid HIIT Programs
Common Mistakes in Developing Young Athletes
Don't Fall for the Speed Trap

What's the Deal with the Tape?

Similar to the current trend of marketing driving training (discussed in this article), marketing appears to have a similar and undeniable impact on services provided in the world of physical medicine. From the latest and greatest in modalities such as laser therapy and electrical muscle stimulation to musculoskeletal injury interventions such as kinesio tape (KT), the colorful tape that gained popularity from the Olympics.

Earlier this week, a GP client was speaking of someone they know who recently got “taped” because they were having knee pain while running. This client went on to explain that a few days after getting taped, the very same person went out for a run and felt a “tearing and pop” in the same knee that had been taped and is now in worse pain than before.

Our client wanted to know, “What's the deal with the tape? Is it effective or is it a cheap trick?”

Kinesio Tape: Legit or Hype?
What seems to be at the center of any benefit from the application of KT is something known as novel sensory input. Basically, this means when you tape someone, they feel it. Sensory input changes “output” – in this case – motor control and perception of pain.

In the case of the painful knee (or any joint/muscle), stick some tape on it and odds are in your favor that the patient will feel slightly better for a brief period of time.
But is this really “therapy”, getting at the root of the problem, or simply masking pain symptoms?

First, we must start with an understanding of pain. Pain is your body’s way a telling you something is wrong. Pain with movement indicates a movement problem and no amount of tape will ever solve a movement/biomechanical problem. However, taping is very effective at altering proprioceptive/sensory feedback. Sensory input will dampen pain perception, thus making it easier for your brain to ignore pain signals and you are now feeling “less pain”. This is known as “sensory gating”.

You feel less pain and you are happy, so what’s the problem?

You have disrupted the injured tissue’s ability to tell the truth, now you are more likely to continually overload a compromised structure and worsen the condition. To illustrate this phenomenon, one only needs to recall Manteo Mitchell, the sprinter who sustained a fracture of his fibula – wearing KT – while running the 400m in 2012 Olympics. The applied KT allowed the athlete to distribute more load on a painful and compromised ankle. The tape did its job. It blocked pain and allowed the athlete to feel capable of competing, but unfortunately the result was a worse condition than before the tape was applied. Keep in mind, this isn’t always the outcome of taping but it certainly is a risk one must understand.

Not only are companies claiming the pain relieving benefits of KT, now some are stating how their tape prevents injury or enhances performance. Just go to their websites and read for yourself. Spider Tech’s website has the tag line: “Recovery, Performance, Prevention” and Rock Tape (on their About Us page) has this to say:

“I discovered that the tape can be used to ENHANCE PERFORMANCE. I found that taping in advance of exercise promotes increased blood flow to the muscles, thereby reducing fatigue.”
Marketing with fancy words and convenient KT placement on some elite athletes does wonders for a product’s popularity. But are the claims substantiated?

There are few high-quality studies on taping, but a recent systematic review of the research literature revealed that KT had insufficient evidence to support its use for musculoskeletal injury. Studies have shown that benefits from KT are generally minor, brief and inconsistent in nature. The value of taping is unclear, with several experts dismissing the effectiveness of taping as placebo only. The systematic review conclude that KT did provide short-term pain relief and even range of motion (ROM) improvement, but failed to offer any long-term results to patients.

In Closing
For the most part, taping is a lot of marketing hype. At best, taping is mostly a minor and imprecise method of pain control. The amount of tape being used by athletes lately is silly and, in my opinion, its popularity has more to do with marketing than results. Sure taping may make someone feel better and in a “results now” society this can go a long way to keep patients satisfied. However, there is no long-term solution to be found with any amount of tape.

Where does one turn for a long-term solution?

At GP, we consider ourselves part of a growing body of providers who strive to identify the repetitive movements and postural abnormalities that cause pain and discomfort by performing thorough and detailed examinations. Assessments and individualized treatment plans aim to identify the underlying cause of your condition rather than merely alleviating symptoms.

The more accurate the assessment, the more accurately treatment will target a patient's pain generators. At GP, we stress a collective and active approach on the part of each of our patients through education. By clearly educating each patient on their condition and why they are performing prescribed exercises, the focus becomes about patient empowerment and providing them with a sense of what they can do for themselves. This typically results in great patient compliance and shorter treatment plans, with the average patient realizing fully recovery in 4-8 treatments. Many patients quickly improve in as little as 2-3 treatments.

Reference:
Mostafavifar M, Wertz J, Borchers J. A systematic review of the effectiveness of kinesio taping for musculoskeletal injury. Phys Sportsmed. 2012 Nov;40(4):33-40. 

 
More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/resetting-bodys-function-post-injury/

https://gallagherperformance.com/technique_and_performance/

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-therapists-should-understand-strength/

Does Unstable Surface Training Build a Better Athlete?

At GP, we get plenty of questions from our young athletes about training simply because they are exposed to more training information and conflicting ideas than ever before. Recently, we had one of our athletes ask us, “A lot of my teammates are training at _______ and the trainers there have them stand on BOSU balls and do different movements, telling them it’s what they need as athletes. I’ve watched them and it seems ridiculous to me. They can’t even do simple movements correctly. Why are they doing that?”

We love educating our clients and athletes, especially when it comes to any number of gimmicks that exist in the sports performance industry.

Whether you wish to refer to it as balance training or unstable surface training, plenty of images can come to mind of people standing on wobble boards, BOSU balls, and even stability balls. These items are often marketed as “functional training”, being capable of not only improving your balance, but also increasing core muscle activation and strength. Athletes are often told that balance training is essential to improving as an athlete and reducing their risk of injury.

This school of thought grew out of the physical therapy and rehabilitation setting. In the rehabilitation setting, there is some efficacy regarding the use of balance training in chronic low back pain and reducing the risk of recurrent injury, particularly when it comes to ankle sprains. Unfortunately, there seems to be a sect of the personal training and sports performance industry that has concluded that information gathered on injured patients is somehow applicable to the non-injured individual and high-performance athlete.

The reality is all exercise is functional, if applied correctly to address the needs of the individual. This takes into account their goals, primary sport form, strengthens/weakness, and imbalances that need attention. If your exercise has no direct transfer into any of these areas, the exercise is not “functional”. Functional exercise should never be determined by how it looks, but rather what it produces.

When it comes to balance/unstable surface training, the above paragraph is incredibly relevant.

Why?

Take a moment and ask yourself this question, “When am I ever on an unstable surface during my daily life? When do I compete on an unstable surface?”

If you answered honestly, chances are very little, if ever. So why are we training people on an unstable surface when they are almost never on unstable surfaces?

The fact of the matter is, the floor works just fine.  Unstable surface training probably does more for decreasing athleticism, strength, balance, and movement quality than it helps.

Here is a quote from an article written by the man known as Kiefer:

“You instantly tense up, you almost literally can’t perform certain movements because the nervous system senses the instability of the environment and fires in resistant ways to keep you balanced. In this process, it also shuts down the ability to produce maximum force….Think about it, if you start to slip in one direction and your reflexes caused your muscles to fire with maximum force against that motion—a motion that may be inevitable at that point, like falling—then you risk tearing muscle or connective tissue. The body is trying to protect you by making you weaker.”
Simply put, as the body’s need for stability increases, force production decreases. You cannot build strength, speed, or explosive power in an unstable environment. What all the marketing behind products such as BOSU balls and the trainers that endorse them fail to tell you is that the stabilization action of musculature actually increases when you are on a stable surface, not on an unstable surface.

Want proof? Here are some findings from a growing body of evidence:
  1. Several researchers have demonstrated that there is significant increases in stabilizer activity during movements that require increased force (either greater resistance or higher speed) compared to activity seen in unstable environments [1-4].
  2. Performing squats on unstable surfaces will increase core activation, but not necessarily core strength [5] and definitely decreases muscle force production [6].
  3. Doing pushups on a physioball does less to activate stabilizing muscles than placing your feet on an elevated, stable bench[7].
  4. Unstable surface training contributes nothing that cannot be achieved when performing stable surface exercises [8,9].
  5. Stable surfaces are superior for some scenarios involving scapular rehabilitation [10].
The reality is unstable surface training is not an effective means of training athletes or healthy individuals. Unstable surface training has its merits in a rehabilitation setting, but the application outside that realm is questionable at best. There are far more productive means of training for athletes than performing exercises on a BOSU ball.

References:
  1. Freeman S, Karpowicz A, Gray J, McGill S. Quantifying muscle patterns and spine load during various forms of the push-up. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Mar;38(3):570-7.
  2. Hamlyn N, Behm DG, Young WB. Trunk muscle activation during dynamic weight-training exercises and isometric instability activities. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Nov;21(4):1108-12.
  3. Nuzzo JL, McCaulley GO, Cormie P, Cavill MJ, McBride JM. Trunk muscle activity during stability ball and free weight exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jan;22(1):95-102.
  4. Willardson JM, Fontana FE, Bressel E. Effect of surface stability on core muscle activity for dynamic resistance exercises. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2009 Mar;4(1):97-109.
  5. Anderson K, Behm DG. Trunk muscle activity increases with unstable squat movements. Can J Appl Physiol. 2005 Feb;30(1):33-45.
  6. Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. Muscle force output and electromyographic activity in squats with various unstable surfaces. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Mar 24. Epub ahead of print.
  7. Lehman GJ, Gilas D, Patel U. An unstable support surface does not increase scapulothoracic stabilizing muscle activity during push up and push up plus exercises. Man Ther. 2008 Dec;13(6):500-6.
  8. Lehman GJ, MacMillan B, MacIntyre I, Chivers M, Fluter M. Shoulder muscle EMG activity during push up variations on and off a Swiss ball. Dyn Med. 2006 Jun 9;5:7.
  9. de Oliveira AS, de Morais Carvalho M, de Brum DP. Activation of the shoulder and arm muscles during axial load exercises on a stable base of support and on a medicine ball. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2008 Jun;18(3):472-9.
  10. Martins J, Tucci HT, Andrade R, Araújo RC, Bevilaqua-Grossi D, Oliveira AS. Electromyographic amplitude ratio of serratus anterior and upper trapezius muscles during modified push-ups and bench press exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Mar;22(2):477-84. 
Related Articles:

Are You in Need of More Intelligent Training?
Training for Elite Athletes
Common Mistakes in Developing Young Athletes
 
 
 

Thinking of Taking Your Child to a Trainer? Read this First

In order to meet the demands of working with athletes of all levels of preparation, the services at GP are constantly evolving and adapting on many levels. When it comes to the physical preparation of our athletes, there is no single program or method we use with every athlete. We are constantly assessing each athlete from day to day, learning what he or she is capable of performing during any given training session. Constantly assessing our athletes during their dynamic movements also allows us to identify weakness and address them accordingly from both an injury prevention and performance enhancement perspective.

Our approach can often times be a source of both intrigue and confusion for parents and their young athletes, since the majority of them are all too familiar with a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Many of these athletes even come with ‘cookie-cutter’ strength and conditioning programs given to them by their coach or previous trainer. It becomes our job to explain our approach to training and athletic development and why these ‘cookie-cutter’ programs fail to address individual needs of each athlete. After explaining why each individual athlete requires their own individualized approach and why no two athletes will respond similarly to the same program, it makes sense to them. They often find this very refreshing. What doesn’t make sense to them is how so many coaches and trainers are ignorant of this fact.

In an interview with Buddy Morris, Joel Jamison addressed the heart of the matter by saying,

“Coaches and trainers maybe don’t do the best job of understanding the needs of the sport and they tend to let their athletes over train because of the….push of this country is more intensity, the quick buck, the fast results. The other thing I think that’s influenced our industry probably negatively more than anything else is the marketing aspect. That there’s products, and there’s training methods, and there’s everything being pushed to athletes and coaches from a marketing perspective. We’ve all seen the cross fits, the P90 Xs, all the functional training stuff. It’s the marketing driving the training rather than the training driving the results or the results being based on something scientific.”
Buddy Morris, now the Head Physical Preparation coach for the Arizona Cardinals, had this to say in response,
”We're trying to create circus acts in this country so, like you said, people can generate revenue. So if you actually read and you understand training methodics and you understand the athlete and training the athlete, you won’t buy into all this stuff out there.”
In my opinion, Joel and Buddy nailed the central issue when it comes properly preparing athletes not just when it comes to training, but ultimately for competition. Within the US, there’s a tremendous lack of scientific influence when it comes to the training and preparation of athletes. This is not always true of each coach or trainer, but it certainly is more common than not. The exact opposite was true of the former Soviet Union and the preparation of their athletes. The USSR’s dominance of international athletics can be attributed to a superior coaching education system and the development of highly sophisticated, multi-year training regimens that focused on long-term development over short-term results.

What the Soviets understood very well is that athletes are never immediately better after the training they just performed. Buddy Morris likens the training process to a ‘slow cooker’, emphasizing that results are best achieved with periods of gradual loading and de-loading to allow the athlete to accommodate to the stress of training. The stress of training is a poorly misunderstood concept as seen by the lack of planned restoration/recovery within many programs. Programs must account for high stressors and low stressors because athletes cannot be loaded with CNS (Central Nervous System) intensive exercises or drills everyday. This is a huge mistake and one that is characteristic of far too many programs.

Young athletes may be able to get away with this for one reason and one reason only, they have youth on their side. Young athletes are capable of handling enormous amounts of volume in training. However, this does not serve as a justification for this type of programming. It only serves as an explanation as to why older athletes who practice the same training methods they utilized when they were younger tend not to see the same results or are more likely to over-train or burnout. You’re not going to be able to train an older athlete like a younger athlete. Older athletes have attained higher levels of mastery, thus they require different training approaches with more focus given to recovery and restoration. This is why consistently analyzing programs when it comes to exercise effectiveness is invaluable. If there’s not a good reason for doing an exercise, get rid of it. The human body has a finite amount of resources, why waste them on unnecessary training?

To illustrate this, Buddy Morris speaks of Bruce Lee and how people could not understand how he continually improved as a fighter, even as he got older. Bruce Lee simply got more specialized in his training, he tossed aside all the unnecessary work in order to be more directed. Bruce Lee was famous for saying, “Don’t fear the man with 1,000 moves. Fear the man with one move that he’s practiced 1,000 times.”

These thoughts and philosophies when it comes to the preparation of young athletes are not at all unique to GP. There is a growing number of coaches and trainers that share these same beliefs. We are simply doing our best to educate the public at large. The more we can help open people’s eyes and get them to understand the broader picture of athletic development, it will only provide more quality training services and allow people to see through the nonsense and marketing tactics.

 
More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-specificity-in-your-training-plan-matters/

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-athletes-should-avoid-hiit-programs/

https://gallagherperformance.com/understanding-the-benefits-and-concerns-of-youth-strength-training-programs/

 

Athletes Must Understand This to Be Successful

The emphasis of many athletic development programs is typically rooted in developing the physical qualities needed in the sport of competition. Physical qualities usually emphasized are endurance/work capacity, strength, body awareness, agility, quickness, speed, and explosive power. Improvements made in any of the previously mentioned physical qualities can certainly improve an athlete’s fitness and physical preparedness for competition. But great athletes are rarely defined by their level of fitness and how ‘in-shape’ they are. They are defined by their ability to play the game and perform the skills of the sport. Great coaches and trainers understand this, being able to take an athlete’s newly developed physical qualities and transfer them to into improved skill execution or technical mastery of sport related movements.

This is accomplished by specificity of training.

In order to ensure specificity of training, it is first necessary to determine the exact physical qualities an athlete is in greatest need of. Many coaches and trainers refer to this as ‘identifying the deficiency’. Once the deficiency is identified and an understanding is developed as to how the deficiency is limiting on-field performance, the deficiency can be trained appropriately.

To identify deficiencies, the majority of coaches and trainers utilize tests to determine an athlete’s level of strength, endurance, explosiveness, and even flexibility. While these tests are often necessary and provide quantitative information that will help assess how an athlete stacks up in comparison to others, what these tests fail to indicate is how efficiently an athlete can perform sport-specific skills or maneuvers.

Physical performance tests fail to indicate an athlete’s needs in relation to game performance. To ensure transfer of training into improved sport performance, identifying an athlete’s developmental needs must take into account an analysis of all components involved in successful competition. Often, this involves a complete biomechanical analysis of movements related to sport-skill execution.

For example, the deep squat is often a staple of many strength and conditioning programs. It can be a tremendous exercise for building hip strength and power and for a variety of other reasons. But when you examine the sport-related movements of many athletes, one can come to the determination that the need to deep squat is not a priority for many athletes. Consider hockey and basketball players. These sports require hip external rotation strength and power to execute sport-specific movements (skating, lateral cuts, change of direction, etc.). Rather than placing greater and greater emphasis on improving strength in the deep squat, these athletes will be better served in developing hip external rotation through other exercises which more closely mimic the external rotation demands of the hips in competition.

Again, great athletes are rarely the strongest or the fittest. There are studies that demonstrate Olympic-level athletes and World Record holders are not the strongest athletes (with the exception being in strength sports such as powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting). Athletes on the highest levels of performance do not lift the greatest amount of weight in commonly used exercises, such as the clean, squat, bench, or deadlift.

More commonly, athletes will fall in the midrange of strength numbers. What this is demonstrating is a ‘point of diminishing returns’. Many athletes reach a point at which increases in strength or other physical qualities do not always equate to improved sport performance.

Successful athletes must be able to execute sport skills with technical mastery and precision. Regardless if you are a hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, tennis or track athlete, you need great acceleration, speed, agility (ability to change direction quickly), and the ability to jump high (which also requires explosive power). But arguably most important is the ability to perform all sport skills with mastery and precision of movement.

An athlete will never be successful if they do not have the ability to execute sport skills successfully. This is why technique must be closely analyzed and why the training of physical qualities must directly enhance the performance of sport-specific skill execution.

Analyzing an athlete’s sport skill technique and the demands of game play becomes a necessary first step to determine exactly what their training program should consist of. Often to correct and/or enhance technique, special strength exercises are implemented to develop the specific strength an athlete needs to execute movements more efficiently.

We addressed special strength exercises in this article. Special strength exercises are intended to replicate the exact neuromuscular pathways utilized in the execution of specific sport skills.

With proper analysis and identifying the ‘deficiency’ of the athlete, it enables the training program to have greater transfer into sport performance. The training program is continually adjusted as improvements in strength, speed, agility, and explosive power are integrated into technical mastery of skill execution.

Related Articles:

Training for Elite Athletes
Common Mistakes in Developing Young Athletes

Why Your Technique is Ruining your Performance

Technique is fundamental and should be the primary focus of instruction when it comes to any new exercise or sport skill. It's essential to the continual refinement of movement skills. Technique also has implications in the rehabilitation process as well.

However, there appears to be a huge gap in terms of what most people acknowledge as proper technique and the technique they actually demonstrate or coach.

1. Sure many coaches and trainers can "tell" you what proper technique is, but are they capable of identifying technique errors?
2. Are they skilled and knowledgeable enough to understand why they are seeing technique errors and how to systematically go about improving technique?
3. Do they understand the joint and muscular actions involved in the complex execution of specific movements?
4. Do they understand that technique can be dictated by your anatomical structure and that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to coaching proper technique?
Despite hearing time and time again from coaches, trainers, and clinicians preaching, "Technique, technique, technique", the reality is many in the fields of health and fitness do not understand technique as well as they should. Sure, they may claim to practice or teach 'perfect technique' to their clients or patients. They may agree that technique is important and that it should be accounted for.

But are they actually making sure your technique is what works best for you?

Take for example a high school athlete that was recently seen at GP. His primary complaint was low back tightness and pain following squatting and lower body training days. He had been seeing a local chiropractor for his back pain and training with a teammate at another local gym. He had been receiving care for almost 6 weeks with no change. Despite 2x/week adjustments and performing a routine of abdominal strengthening exercises and hamstring stretches, he continued to have 'severe' tightness and occasional pain in his low back for 3-5 days after squatting.

As I dug deeper into the nature of his low back tightness, the pattern of his symptoms made me increasingly suspicious that something was clearly wrong with his squat technique.

So I asked him, "How's your squat technique?" I wanted to get inside his head and hear his thoughts on his technique. His reply was, "I think it's pretty good. I learned from my training partner who has lifted more than I have and our football team's strength coach gave us tips."

I want to emphasize this point. He believed his technique was not an issue. He believed he had received good coaching when it came to his squat technique. Rather he kept expressing how he had been told he had weak abs and needed to stretch his hamstrings, and that this was the root of his problem. His mind wasn't focused on technique.
At GP, we have the luxury of using the gym to provide real time feedback during our evaluations. This kid looked pretty good doing a body weight squat, but I knew things would change once we got him loaded up. So we took our session to the gym floor. Needless to say, there were a number of technique issues with his squat that were ultimately at the heart of why he was routinely over-stressing his low back. Rather than addressing mobility or strength issues, we simply figured out the technique he must utilize based on his anatomical structure.

This young athlete had structural adaptations that had to be taken into consideration when figuring out the most appropriate squat technique that worked for him. These very same structural adaptations had been previously overlooked, yet they played a huge role in why he was symptomatic.

After cleaning up his technique issues, it was no surprise to me that his back was not a complaint. But it was a huge surprise to him. He had just spent weeks getting adjusted, strengthening his abs and stretching with no results. How could something so simple as technique modification resolve his issue?

Closing Thoughts
When someone is experiencing a weakness in their performance or is recovering from a musculoskeletal injury, determine if the main culprit is improper technique.

Far too often, most will think to only improve physical abilities (endurance, strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, etc.) when dealing with poor performance or injury rehabilitation. While addressing physical abilities is important, physical abilities have limited value without proper technique.

In the ideal situation, technique changes or modifications should be made simultaneously as strength or other physical abilities develop. For athletes, strength should be coupled with skill through what is known as special strength exercises. In other words, strength is developed in the same neuromuscular pathway as used in execution of their competitive skill(s).

Rehabilitation programs that primarily focus on isolated physical abilities without integrating those newly developed abilities into specific movement tasks or sport skill will fail to ensure that athletes are equipped to handle the demands of competition. When it comes to injury rehabilitation and injury prevention, failure to couple strength as it relates to technique will increase the chance of recurring injury.

Consider the relationship between hamstring injuries and sprinting. Several athletes frequently experience hamstring injuries, which can take weeks or months to rehabilitate. However, when efficient sprinting mechanics are coupled with development of the physical abilities specific to the actions involved in sprinting, the chances of hamstring injuries are essentially nonexistent.

This is why experts are convinced several common athletic injuries, not just hamstring injuries, are preventable. This also explains why having a coach and/or therapist who understands technique is invaluable to athletes.

 

Do You Really Need More Mobility?

Mobility is sexy and it sells.

Get your foam rollers. Get your PVC pipe. Get your stretch bands. Let’s get mobile!

Between mobility screens, mobility workouts, mobility tools, and mobility DVDs, there are plenty of opinions and products available for purchase.  The experts are convincing you of how crucial mobility is for health and performance, while doing their best to convince you to purchase their product.

Enough with it.

While some elements of mobility have merit, many of the approaches to mobility (warm-ups, DVDs, seminars, evaluation systems) are very general and cookie-cutter. A lot of it is unoriginal thought simply repackage and over-priced. Many of these products are not impressive. They are systematic programs that are easy to apply. It’s the classic, “If you see X, then perform Y” approach, providing correctives for movement errors and superficially removing a degree of critical thinking. No wonder the products are so appealing. Someone else has done the thinking for you, so just follow the instructions in the manual and you too can be an expert.

Mobility and movement so easy that seemingly anyone can be an expert?
What troubles me is the trend towards ‘simplifying’ movement, when movement is quite the opposite. Movement is complex. It should be recognized that once you add variables such as load or speed or vector/direction, movement changes. Most screens do not account for these variables and I wish more ‘experts’ understood this clearly.

One individual who has a unique, and truly expert, understanding of the complexity of movement is Stuart McGill. McGill is a spine biomechanics professor from the University of Waterloo. He has authored over 300 scientific publications that address the issues of lumbar spine function, low back injury mechanisms, investigation of the mechanisms involved in rehabilitation programs, injury avoidance strategies, and high-performance training of the back. He serves as a consultant to many medical management groups, elite sports teams and athletes, governments, corporations and legal firms. On top of all those responsibilities, he is often referred the most challenging back pain cases from around the world.

Professor McGill sees two patients per week, spending 3 hours with each patient. His evaluation is of paramount importance in relation to the success he has in treating his clients and athletes. The time he spends on evaluation is often significantly more than many providers spend with a patient on their first visit. As a chiropractor, I know doctors that see 15-40 patients a day and don’t have the time to spend on lengthy assessments. Quick and easy ‘systems’ or ‘assessments’ are exactly what many professionals in the fields of rehabilitation and fitness need.

But does ‘quick and easy’ ensure a thorough exam? Does it ensure all variables have been accounted for? Unfortunately, this is what many have to deal with, so 'quick and easy' is certainly better than no assessment at all. But keep it mind there is a huge limitation to operating in that fashion. This is exactly why my brother and I tailored the operation of GP to allow for the necessary amount of time for our assessments.

At GP, we do not perform general assessments. Every single assessment is personalized to the individual, modified to meet their objectives. What we perform during an assessment “depends” on the presentation in front of us. We understand that movement and the action of musculature is not always obvious. Muscle action will change depending on the movement task, having an effect throughout the entire body. Regarding the ability to recognize the muscular demands of movement, Professor McGill has said, “This is the transition point between a trainer and master trainer.” I’m sure he would say that this also separates a therapist and master therapist.

You will not find our approach in convenient DVD and PDF format, leading you step-by-step through our evaluation and corrective process. Why? The approach we take at GP is very difficult to teach and has taken years to develop through mentorship, experience and self-learning. Whereas, most movement screening systems have the advantage of being easy to teach.

Being ‘easy to teach’ is good for business. But is it the best service for our clients and athletes? Certification courses are designed to churn out new coaches or new trainers at a mind-numbing pace. You would be foolish to assume everyone walking away with a certification functions with ‘expert’ understanding. But that’s what they want you to believe since most attempt to position themselves as experts.

Moving beyond the initial assessment, continual re-assessment is a staple of the process at GP. Our approach focuses on continually assessing and fine-tuning the program as necessary. This is why mobility, like any ‘movement fix’, must be applied appropriately with a solid understanding as to why it's being applied.

Just because someone has a tight hip, doesn’t mean you should blindly advocate foam rolling and performing goblet squats.

Can’t maintain your arms overhead during an overhead squat?

Oh, that is totally caused by tight lats. You need some foam rolling on the lats and then band stretch the daylight out of those bad boys.

Heels come off the ground during the squat? Tight calves and limited dorsiflexion, right?

Let’s foam roll those calves and mobilize those ankles.

This thinking is widespread and too simplistic. In my opinion, it’s no different in application than simply telling someone to stretch because they are tight. Do you think it's superior or different because you applied a foam roller? Sure it may get results a percentage of the time, but often there are deeper underlying issues being missed. Let’s consider the following quotes:

“Soft tissue injuries result from excessive tension, so excessive tension in the rehabilitation setting is counterproductive…stretching of…chronically tight tissue is counterproductive. It may give an initial sensation of relief because the muscle spindles have been deadened, but this practice…weakens the tissue further because of the weakened proprioceptive response.” – Boo Schexnayder
“Stop trying to stretch and mobilize, let tissues settle and regain their proprioceptive abilities so they tell the truth.” – Stuart McGill
Movement Presupposes Stability
Rather than jumping to mobility, we frequently start the therapeutic or rehabilitative process with the emphasis on grooving motor patterns while building whole body and joint stability. Specifically, addressing proximal (core) stability. The musculature of the core is not simply your abs, but all the musculature that interconnects your spine, shoulders, and hips. There is tremendous linkage and interdependence between these key joints of the body. The inability to properly stabilize these regions of the body during movement will ultimately impact distal mobility. Distal refers to the extremities, aka the arms and legs and their respective joints (elbow, wrist, knee ankle, etc.).

As the saying goes, “Proximal stability for distal mobility.”
Through their studies, the Prague school of Rehabilitation has discovered/demonstrated that stabilization and movement are global (systemic) events involving the entire body.

One cannot move without first stabilizing, thus making the support function of the feet, hips, and core of primary importance before movement or mobility is considered.

To improve one's ability to stabilize during movement (AKA ‘dynamic stability’) one must not only train the muscles of the trunk, but also the support function of these muscles.

Dynamic Stability
Training dynamic stability is less about maximizing the loads that the athlete can tolerate and more about training (restoring) the ideal stabilization/movement patterns. Ideal movement patterns are more efficient, leading to increased performance and decreased risk of injury. This is the benefit of quality and efficient movement due to ideal support function.

So what are the consequences of inefficiency?

If you cannot stabilize with proper patterns, compensatory movement patterns dominate leading to hyperactivity of larger muscles groups. Hyperactivity of muscles will make them feel tight. You are going to feel tight. You are going to have restricted joints that are taking an unnecessary beating from the increased forces they are trying to handle. You are going to want to reach for that foam roller and mobilize all day long, but odds are you are going to do so without much success.

In other words, the majority of tightness and mobility issues are a secondary reaction to faulty stabilization patterns and poor support function of the musculature in the feet, hips, trunk, and/or shoulders.

Concluding Thoughts
While others say, "Smash those tissues" or "Mobilize that joint", we say learn to support and stabilize first. Truth is, if you are in constant need of using foam-rollers, tennis balls, and mobility drills, chances are your training is 99% to blame. You need to bring more balance (aka stability) to your body and get strong. It's amazing what can be accomplished when neuromuscular strength qualities, stabilization patterns, and synchronization of movement takes precedent over mobility drills.

This article was intended to challenge the current trend of thinking "mobility first" when it comes to movement-related problems. As mentioned previously, movement is very complex and to approach movement from a simplistic mindset arguably is not an ideal starting point. A thorough assessment, tailored to the individual, will ultimately provide the information needed to implement the most appropriate course of treatment and exercise.

For more reading on this subject, check out these related articles:

Why Stretching Won't Solve Your Tight Muscles
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization: Advancing Therapy & Performance
Rethinking Tendinitis
3 Reasons You Should Train for Maximal Strength

4 Things You Need to Know About Improving Sports Performance

During my time in the fields of Chiropractic, Sports Rehabilitation and Sports Performance Training, I have had the unique opportunity to be mentored by some great minds. I know I can say the same thing for my brother and that is why he holds the title as Head Performance Coach at GP. Ryan and I are consistently working to get better in order to better serve our clients and patients. Whether that is through conversation with mentors, attending continuing education seminars, or simply reading. When it comes to rehabilitation or training of an athlete, one question we continually seek to improve our understanding of is, “How much strength is enough?”

One concern the ultimately comes to mind is whether the reward of high-intensity strength training is worth the risk? Certainly extremely high-intensity loads are necessary for the development of the strength athlete, or those who participate in the sports of Olympic weightlifting, strongman, and powerlifting. But when it comes to athletes who are not competitive strength athletes and are simply utilizing strength training as a means to enhance athleticism, how much strength is needed for optimal performance?

How Strength Relates to Sports Performance
Common sense would allow us to derive that if an athlete possesses greater levels of maximal strength and power compared to an opponent (all other factors being equal), the stronger athlete would have a distinct advantage. Suitable levels of maximal strength should include, but are not limited to the following considerations:

  1. Sport of Participation. Requirements of maximal strength levels will differ depending upon the specific sport of participation. The physical requirements of a particular sport will assist to determine the various strength levels that are necessary for the participating athlete. As an example, does the cross-country runner need the same maximal strength requirements as a hockey player?
  2. Position of Sport Participation. For athletes who participate in the same sport, the physical requirements based on their specific position will have an influence on their strength requirements. Consider the defensive lineman and defensive back positions in football. These two positions differ greatly in their physical requirements. Is the required maximal strength level going to be the same for both of these athletes to have optimal sports performance?
  3. Competitive Level of Sports Participation. Participation at specific levels of competition may require advanced levels of maximal strength. Maximal strength requirements may change considerably when evaluating the demands of a high school, collegiate, and professional level athlete. The same can be said of the differences seen in competitive levels of competition. To illustrate this, consider that NCAA athletics are divided into three divisions (levels) of competition (DI, DII, DIII). One could derive that higher strength levels would be required for athletic success at the higher levels competition and differences in maximal strength and power output levels between DI, DII, and DIII athletes have been documented.
  4. Competitive Standards. There are levels of strength that are necessary, not for guaranteed success, but necessary for an athlete to compete. This is common in the strength sports of weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman. But adequate levels of strength are highly important in other sports as well. This is part of the reason various professional leagues (NFL, NHL to name a couple) hold annual combines. Athletes are tested on various physical and strength qualities and are then evaluated against their peers to predict athletic success. There is a physical “standard” that athletes must meet or exceed for consideration as a draft selection.
Strength and Power Development In Sports Performance
From an athletic performance perspective, there are two variables of interest in developing optimal sports performance. These variables include the peak rate of force development (PRFD) or “explosive strength” and power output. The concept of “explosive strength” is directly related to the athlete’s ability to accelerate objects, including one’s body mass.

The body’s ability to generate movement at maximal velocity primarily depends upon power production. In other words, it depends upon maximal strength in association with velocity. Activities that require a display of agility (i.e. change of direction) and acceleration are also dependent upon high power output.

If the influence of power is undeniable for optimal sports performance, then it can be reasoned that maximum strength is the fundamental physical ability that affects power output.  Maximal strength has arguable the greatest effect in sports of participation where success in sport participation is determined by the athlete’s ability to overcome maximal intensities of resistance (i.e. strength athletics). The same can be said for sports requiring a high maximal strength component based on the nature of the sport as well as the position played, such football defensive linemen, track and field throwing events, and the start/acceleration phase of sprinting.

It is equally important to acknowledge the point of diminishing returns in regards to maximal strength and the development of power output. There is a diminishing influence in simply getting an athlete stronger and focus of training must adapt accordingly.  To improve power or speed, focus may need to be placed on more important qualities, such as rate of force development.

Summary
Maximal strength is critical as a physical characteristic for improving sports performance. However, maximal strength in association with power output qualities are essential for the achievement of optimal sports performance.

During the application of high-intensity exercise, assessing the “risk vs reward” should be considered, as excessive high-intensity loads may place the athlete at increased risk of injury. Developing an appropriate level of maximal strength necessary for athletes is dependent upon a number of factors. How much is enough? Well that answer is: It depends. This is why the “eye of the coach” is invaluable and possibly the most crucial element in determining adequate strength levels. This is just one unique ability that separates the great coaches from the good ones, the ability to “see” what an athlete needs and identify the physical qualities that require development.

References
Fry, AC, Kraemer WJ. Physical performance characteristics of American collegiate football players. Journal of Applied Sports Science Research, 5(3):126-138,1991.
Zatsiorsky, VM. Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
 

Interview with Mike O'Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS

GP recently interviewed Mike O'Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS. Dr. Mike and his wife, Jessica, run Back in Action Chiropractic located in Fort Wayne, IN. Not only do they provide expert understanding of chiropractic and rehabilitative care, they also bring to the table the unique insight as highly accomplished strength athletes. Simply put, their accomplishments would take up an entire blog post. It's rare to find a clinician and staff not only capable of identifying with athletes and addressing their needs appropriately, but also able to apply these same concepts to improve outcomes for patients. I had the privilege of being classmates with Mike during our chiropractic education at Palmer College in Davenport, IA. Once I got the understanding of Mike's background as both a strength athlete and coach, I knew he would be an invaluable resource not only in my training as an aspiring strength athlete, but in my clinical development as well. My brother and I are truly fortunate to have him and Jess as friends and mentors.

Now on with the interview.

GP: Provide our readers with some information about your background as an athlete, competitive powerlifter and strength coach.
MO: The day after 7th grade football ended I began lifting in my basement. I competed in my first powerlifting meet when I was 15 and won the ADFPA teen nationals that same year. Through high school I played football and was team captain. To train for football I simply did more speed and plyometric work. As a high school and junior lifter, I won six national titles and went to the IPF Junior Worlds, taking the bronze in my last year, 1999. I competed against many lifters who are regarded as the best in the sport today. I have lifted in the USAPL Open Nationals several times. As an undergrad at Western Michigan I studied Exercise Science. This did not include enough sport science to make me happy, so I did tons of research on my own. After my bachelor degree I worked under Buddy Morris at Pitt for a short time. That was a great learning experience. Eventually I decided to go get my DC degree and learn much more about chiropractic and rehabilitation.

GP: You are well educated on the training methodologies utilized in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. Could you explain briefly how those methodologies differ from North American approaches and the impact it has on athletic development here in the United States?
MO: In North America, athletes start playing a sport as unprepared youth with no background in general conditioning. This isn't always true, but we have no system to condition young athletes besides just playing the sport. In an Eastern model, camps are held without a sport focus to condition young athletes, and the specialization comes later. In general, early specialization is a mistake. This has been proven to limit progress, lead to early burnout, and increase injury rate.

GP: You have worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. In your opinion, where are we still falling short in the development of athletes in America?
MO: We fall short in several ways. Early level coaches (high school and below) often have poor qualifications. Also athletes are eager to maximize their results as early as possible. This leads to poor skill development. It is extremely difficult for athletes to unlearn poor habits or a poor work ethic. All too often young athletes look to non-training means (i.e. drugs) for improvement as well.

GP: What would you identify as the fundamental components of effective and efficient programming for athletes?
MO: Once good general preparation is established, the programming should be as specific as possible. Factors like frequency, work load and intensity vary from athlete to athlete and at different phases of training. Weaknesses should be assessed constantly and addressed, but focus should never be taken off the sport form. Overall, one should train as often as possibly but remain as fresh as possible. The programming should never compromise technique.

GP: One common theme you’ll see among trainers/coaches is very little thought that is given to the order of exercise selection/variation during a training plan. It’s almost as if many trainers just ‘make-up’ workouts. Give us your thoughts on the importance of organization of training for athletes?
MO: Organization of training and exercise selection expertise are prerequisites to training anyone. Entire teams should not all be performing the same training. This would assume the entire team has the same deficiencies. There are way too many under qualified "strength coaches" and trainers out there. Even some of the highly regarded strength coaches or online trainers are a joke. This is why I personally have no tolerance for movements and training styles that are fad- based. Put some thought into what you, or your athletes, really need and address it in your training. Further, organizing training should be an ongoing process. There are no perfect programs. Just phases or training blocks. On the other hand, there are some coaches that over coach their lifters/athletes. They are so worried about their own role in the athlete's development that the athlete cannot focus on their performance, or maybe the training isn't being attacked with the mentality that it should be.

GP: What do you see as the most common mistakes coaches and trainers are making in the preparation of athletes?
MO: The most common mistakes - the coach who tries to be the athlete's friend (not hard on them); poor analysis of training needs and the current state of the athlete; and the most important aspect in my opinion (this goes for anyone seeking a great PT, DC, manual therapist or strength coach) is that the coach cannot identify with the athlete because they weren't an athlete themselves. I know several above average coaches that are held back my the mere fact that their athletes cannot identify with them. Either they weren't athletes at all, or they are an unimpressive presence altogether!

GP: What are the qualities and attributes that athletes and parents should look for in a trainer/strength coach before investing in their services?
MO: Sporting background and accomplishments, educational background and accomplishments, and clinical competence, methods, and track record. Period. Anything less, and I am skeptical about what I am getting. I don't care who has the best DVD!

GP: How has the background as a competitive strength athlete and strength coach benefited you as a chiropractor and your ability to manage patients from acute stage to reactivation through active care?
MO: This is a great question, because I tell people that ask that I use my training, coaching, and professional background everyday when treating patients. My philosophy in the clinic is the more accurate the assessment, the more accurately I can apply your treatment, whether its passive or active care. As the phases of care progress, it's important to know what type of care or movements to change to. This assessment or "eye for the deficiency" can take years to develop. Today there are systems and seminars to attend and learn these analytical methods, but learning this way can lead to a lot of limitation and misunderstanding. I would advise students, whether they are professional level yet or not, to use the gym as your lab. Lift and learn!!!

That's a Wrap
Mike, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Your knowledge and insight is truly appreciated. We always learn something from you and hope our readers learned something as well. For anyone in the Fort Wayne area, be sure to check out Back in Action Chiropractic for the best results when it comes to your health or sport-related goals.

Health and Sport Performance Improved in 5 Simple Steps

An interesting dynamic has been developing in youth sports. The dynamic has been generated by the current nature of greater focus placed upon competition rather than athlete development. This is evident by the increasing number of games played at the youth level, commonly seen within travel or club organizations. Now, while this trend is not a favorable one and can actually be detrimental to youth athletic development, it has seemed to be the driving force for another trend.

The trend being the greater awareness and proactive nature some parents and young athletes are taking to become more educated on proper nutrition and training. The reality is, at the youth, club, and high school levels of sport, there is a competitive advantage to athletes who not only improve their athletic qualities (strength, speed, power, stamina, etc.), but also become healthier by making better food choices or finding ways to improve recovery.

When it comes to athletic development and preparation, there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” approach. There are far too many individual differences to account for. However, there are some basic principles or guidelines that most any aspiring athlete can implement and see results.

That said, here are five tips that can put you on track to experience better health and more consistent sport performance:

1. STRATEGIC FOOD SHOPPING
 When shopping for food, stay on the perimeter of the store. This is where you’ll find the best in whole food selection such as beef, chicken, fresh produce, and other food that should be the foundation of quality nutrition. The middle aisles mostly consist of processed foods. Sure they may taste awesome, but they do little to support the nutritional demands of young athletes.

2. READ FOOD LABELS
 The importance of reading food or ingredient lists cannot be stated enough. It's important that you know what you are consuming. Food labels can be misleading. For example, items can read “Low Fat” or “Non Fat” in an attempt to appear as a ‘healthier’ choice. However, if you read the label closely, you will find that these foods often have added sugar and/or artificial flavors. As we discussed in this article, fats, such as saturated fat are not the bad guy. Sure, you should avoid foods with trans fat, but the over-consumption of sugar and other processed foods will do more harm to your body than quality, healthy fat ever will.

Focus on selecting foods with a short ingredient list. Food manufactures appear to be taking notice, as they are producing a greater selection of foods with few and familiar ingredients to appeal to the consumer demand for healthier, natural foods.

3. EAT RIGHT, ALL DAY LONG
 When it comes to meals, you can find plenty of people who will advocate breakfast as the most important meal of the day. Others will say dinner. Some may even say lunch. Regardless of opinion, it’s more important to be consistent with your nutritional intake during the ENTIRE day. As a growing and developing athlete, simply focusing on nailing one meal won’t cut it.

It’s important to consume food at adequate levels throughout the day to replenish energy stores and promote an environment within your body that is essential for growth and repair.

4. IN-SEASON MAINTENANCE
 Strength and weight gains occur during the offseason. During the season, athletes need to focus on maintaining what they have built during their offseason.

Why?

With the abundance of practices and games during the season, athletes do not have the energy reserves and time to make strength or weight gains and recover in time for competition. Plus, many athletes can be banged up during the year, thus limiting what you can do with their training. This makes having a trainer or coach who understands how to work around minor injuries of tremendous value.

Establishing an in-season maintenance program can keep athletes healthier and performing at more consistent levels during the season. It also allows them to step into offseason training with greater ease and ahead of the game.

5. TRAIN SMARTER, NOT HARDER
 This is contrary to what almost every athlete hears at some point in their career. Athletes are told to train hard, work hard, etc. While hard work is necessary and valuable, there comes a point when being smart about your training is even more valuable.

Training should produce results. You should be getting something out of it rather than just being exhausted. It’s not difficult to make someone tired. Anyone can make you tired. Those trainers and coaches are a dime-a-dozen. What athletes need is someone that will produce results. There should be measurable gains in strength, speed, and power. If you are not seeing gains and simply becoming more and more tired, you need to start training smarter.

For additional reading on the difference between training smart vs. training hard, check out this article.

Why Poor Recovery Will Make You Sick, Sad and Weak

For those of you familiar with GP, you know we take the balance between training and recovery very seriously. It's a subject we feel we cannot educate our clients on enough. Recovery is too often a poorly understood or ignore aspect of training and the organization of sport (i.e. practice, competition). Many coaches and trainers push their athletes to the brink, attempting to build physical stamina and mental resilience. This is a part of sport and a necessary component to improving physical attributes such as strength, speed, and power. However, if you miss the boat on recovery, you could be sabotaging your efforts.

Why is recovery so important?
How much time do you spend training on a weekly basis, working towards physical or athletic goals? Probably not much, at least when compared to the amount of time spent between those sessions.

Training, regardless if you run, lift, swim, or skate, is a stimulus to the body. It's a stimulus for change and that stimulus will only generate results if you recover adequately between training sessions.

When recovery is poor, health and performance begin to suffer. This is the point at which many people describe themselves as "feeling flat" or “hitting a wall.” What they are communicating is low energy levels and an overall sensation of not feeling right. Fatigue has built-up because recovery has not been adequate. This state of fatigue can be referred to as “over-reaching" and in more serious cases it is known as "over-training."

Over-training can involve signs/symptoms such as:

  • significant decreases in power or capacity of physical attributes such as strength, speed, or power
  • significant and chronic joint and muscle pain
  • significant changes in mood, such as depression
  • significant sleep disruption
  • major immune problems — frequent illness (i.e. bacterial/viral infections)
  • hormonal suppression (i.e. low thyroid, low sex hormones, amenorrhea or irregular periods in women)
Over-reaching is a much milder version of overtraining, but is a far more common and can involve:
  • low energy
  • lack of motivation to train
  • feeling "run-down"
  • persistent sore and achey joints or muscles
  • mild mood changes such as feeling more irritable, moody, or anxious
Understanding Recovery
Lack of recovery is a complex phenomenon with wide-ranging effects, with the heart of the issue being fatigue. The underlying causes of fatigue fall into two main categories:
  1. Central (CNS) - The central nervous system (CNS) serves the purpose of monitoring the body, similar to the function of a car engine regulator. If you "redline" the engine of your car too long, the engine shuts down. Your brain attempts to protect your body in the same fashion by reducing the ability of your body to "fire muscles" through nerve impulses.
  2. Peripheral (muscular) - The other form of fatigue, peripheral, is related to energy system depletion and/or metabolic byproduct accumulation. Sticking with the car analogy, this is similar to running out of gas.
There are plenty of activities and responsibilities that will consume our days and the time between workouts, or in other words, our recovery time. The activities that we choose to be involved in will have a profound impact on our ability to recoup and recover. To understand the influence our activities can have on our recovery, we must first place them into two distinct categories:
  • Sympathetic activities – often referred to as “fight or flight”
  • Parasympathetic activities – often referred to as “rest and digest”
Sympathetic activities dominate our lives. Whether it's the pursuit of educational, athletic, or career goals, trying to establish financial stability, or building relationships, these activities bring on varying degrees of stress. Your body reacts to stress by elevating levels of cortisol and adrenaline.

Stress, or over-stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, can become chronic. If that happens, production of stress hormones begins to slow and the development of ongoing, chronic fatigue may occur. This is central fatigue. The body has been "redlining" for too long and is beginning to shut down. See the problem?

Now, I'd think we'd all be fans of simply removing all stressors from life. Doesn't that sound appealing? However, that is not a realistic option. Instead of eliminating stress, the key is to establish a balance with relaxing and invigorating activities.

Relaxing and invigorating activities stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is vital to restoring balance to the body and improving recovery. Such activities include:
  • Low-intensity, aerobic-based exercise (cycling, walking, hiking)
  • Massage
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Hot tub or sauna
  • Relaxing hobbies such as reading or listening to music
  • Meaningful relationships
  • Drinking tea
Depending on your tastes and what you find to be relaxing, any of the above activities can have the ability to lower stress, improve oxygenation of tissues, facilitate lymph circulation, and promote a hormonal environment that is vital to recovery.

Keep in mind, one activity is not necessarily better than another. All that matters is that you pick a specific activity that you find enjoyable. The many systems of the body are working overtime between training sessions to bring the body back to balance, the least you could do is give your body a boost.

Immunity and Recovery
Training is a stressor to the human body. The stress which training places upon the body is truly under-appreciated. Training stresses the entire body and all it's systems, such as the cardiopulmonary system, detoxification system, hormonal system, metabolic system, central nervous system, neuromuscular system, and the immune system. They are all affected by training and all these systems do not recover at the same time.

When it comes to immunity, the relationship between exercise and immunity is what researchers call a “J-shaped curve”.
  • Sedentary individuals are at moderate risk for infection. Their immune system isn’t running as well as it could be.
  • Individuals who are regularly active, using moderate intensity and variety in their training, demonstrate the most resistant immune systems.
  • Individuals who are active, but consistently pushing the limits in workout frequency, duration, intensity, or loading without proper recovery put themselves at increased risk for becoming sick.
Take home: High levels of exercise intensity with inadequate recovery can result in immunosuppression. Don't allow your lack of recovery to leave you at an increased risk of coming down with a cold, virus, or infection.

Nutrition and Recovery
When it comes to nutrition and recovery, eating real food in its unprocessed form will give your body the nutrients it needs. Make consuming whole foods, along with herbs and spices, such as turmeric and garlic, a priority in keeping inflammation to moderate levels and assisting in recovery. It's also important to consume adequate amounts of water and fluids to assist with lymphatic function.

Supplements used before, during, or after training, known as peri-workout nutrition, can enhance the recovery process. These include the use of carbohydrates, protein and BCAAs. Glutamine and creatine have also been shown to be effective in promoting recovery. It's important to understand that if recovery supplements or a nutrient dense meal aren’t consumed in a timely fashion after workouts, the regeneration process can be delayed.

Recovery Recommendations
To sum up, here is a general list of recommendations to help you improve your recovery:
  • Make a point of including 20-30 minutes of parasympathetic activity each day (i.e. meditation, massage, warm bath, good conversation, laughing, etc.)
  • Consume nutrient dense foods at regular intervals, use herbs and spices, and drink adequate amounts of water and tea
  • Consider using a carbohydrate, protein, BCAA, and/or creatine supplement as part of your peri-workout nutrition
  • Incorporate variety into your training program
  • Utilize low-intensity exercise on days between high-intensity training sessions to promote recovery (i.e. walking, cycling, swimming, flexibility work)
  • Avoid the regular use of anti-inflammatory medications
  • Make rest a priority and aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night
Sources:
Beauchamp GK, et al. Ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil. Nature 2005;437:45-46.
Davis JM, et al. Curcumin effects on inflammation and performance recovery following eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2007;292:R2168-R2173.
Ali M, Thomson M, Afzal M. Garlic and onions: their effect on eicosanoid metabolism and its clinical relevance. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2000;62:55-73.
Laine L. The gastrointestinal effects of nonselective NSAIDs and COX-2-selective inhibitors. Semin Arthritis Rheum 2002; 32(Suppl 1):25–32.
Feingold D, Hame SL. Female athlete triad and stress fractures. Orthop Clin North Am 2006;37:575-83.
Long CL, et al. Metabolic response to injury and illness: estimation of energy and protein needs from indirect calorimetry and nitrogen balance. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 1979;3:452-456.
Emery PW. Metabolic changes in malnutrition. Eye 2005;19:1029-1034. Review.
Hughes MS, et al. Enhanced fracture and soft-tissue healing by means of anabolic dietary supplementation. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2006;88:2386-2394.
Trappe TA, et al. Effect of ibuprofen and acetaminophen on postexercise muscle protein synthesis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2002;282:E551-E556.
Newsholme EA, Crabtree B, Ardawi MS. The role of high rates of glycolysis and glutamine utilization in rapidly dividing cells. Biosci Rep 1985; 5: 393–400.
Bulus N, et al. Physiologic importance of glutamine. Metabolism 1989; 38: 1–5.
Cersosimo E, et al. Role of glutamine in adaptations in nitrogen metabolism during fasting. Am J Physiol 1986; 250: E622–E628.
Schilling BK, et al. Creatine supplementation and health variables: a retrospective study. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;33:183-188.
Greenwood M, et al. Creatine supplementation during college football training does not increase the incidence of cramping or injury. Mol Cell Biochem 2003;244:83-88.

What You Need to Know About Preventing Knee Injuries

There is no question that knee injuries are a common occurrence among athletes. The incident of devasting knee injury, such as ACL tears, has been on the rise for years. Once considered an adult injury, ACL tears are occurring more often in children as reported by orthopedic specialists, estimating that thousands of children and teens suffer an ACL injury each year. According to statistics presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 annual meeting, over the past decade youth ACL injuries have increased 400% and girls are at eight times the risk of an ACL tear as compared to boys. Clearly, there is a problem with knee injuries among youth athletes. But where is the solution?

Mechanism of Injury and Risk Factors
To identify a solution, we must first identify the problem. In this case, the problem is the mechanism(s) of injury most commonly associated with ACL injury. Keep in mind that about 2/3 of all ACL injuries are non-contacted related. Meaning, the athlete didn’t have someone tackle them or have a player roll-up on their leg, resulting in injury. Non-contact injury opens the door to the possibility that a large percentage of ACL injuries can be reduced or prevented. Here are the most common mechanisms of injury associated with ACL injury:

  • Jumping/landing improperly
  • Planting followed by cutting or pivoting
  • Straight-knee landing
  • Stopping or landing with the knee hyperextended (too straight)
  • Sudden deceleration of movement
As far as risk factors are concerned, there have been several identified as having an association with ACL injuries, such as:
  • Weak hamstring and gluteal (hip) muscles
  • Poor neuromuscular control and balance
  • Poor dynamic biomechanics (Jumping, landing, cutting, etc.)
  • Fatigue
  • Female Gender
It is important that all risk factors be evaluated for how they play into an athlete’s risk of knee injury. Currently, there are movement screens available to help in identifying what potential risk factors may predispose an athlete to increased risk of ACL injury. Although these can prove to be valuable, one cannot underestimate the importance of simply watching an athlete move outside of a controlled environment. This means keeping an observant eye on them during training or practice and stressing them to see how their movement changes. You may be surprised by how much you learn about the physical abilities of that athlete from just simple observation.

Understanding the Female Athlete
Now that we have identified some mechanisms of injury and risk factors, we will turn our attention temporarily to the female athlete since they have their own special considerations in preventing ACL injuries. While researchers are continuing to study and gain understanding of the possible causes that may place young females at an increase risk of injury, a number of factors specific to female anatomy and development have been the focus of attention.

Female Hip and Knee Anatomy
Despite many young female athletes experiencing pain in their knees, the root of some of the problem may actually originate in the pelvis/hip structure. There is a growing trend among sports medicine specialists who focus on the pelvis/hip to reduce the incidence of knee pain and injury.

According to the Women’s Health and Fitness Guide (2006), the female pelvis has a number of differences as compared to the male pelvis for the purpose of accommodating childbirth. Among those differences, the female pelvis has a greater forward tilt and more forward facing hip joints.  These features of the female pelvis/hip result in the femur (thigh bone) being positioned with more of an inward angle and internal rotation at the knee as compared to the average male. It is this increased angle of the femur when compared to the vertical position of the tibia (shin bone). This anatomical difference is known as the "Q-angle" and is illustrated below.



What does all this mean? SImply put, it means the female knee is predisposed to having unfavorable forces placed on it and that the core, hip, and thigh musculature must be strong enough to compensate for the increased angle of the femur to the tibia, or else the female athlete may be at a higher risk for experiencing knee pain or injury.

What can be done?
Unfortunately, regardless of gender, there is no such thing as complete injury prevention. However, there are reasonable and appropriate steps that have been implement in programs that are successful in reducing the occurrence of knee pain and ACL injuries:
  1. Improve hamstring strength. The hamstring muscles have a critical role in maintaining healthy knees. Proper hamstring training and strengthening must take into consideration how the hamstrings function during the primary sporting movement(s). For example, land-based sports with an emphasis on jumping and sprinting ability will place a high demand on the hip extension action of the hamstring. The hamstrings must be trained accordingly to be able to meet and accommodate the forces generated during sport.
  2. Improve hip and core strength. The musculature of the core and hips have a tremendous amount of control on the pelvis and femur, and thus the knee. Poor hip control puts the knee in compromising positions, increasing the risk of injury. When the core and hips are weak, they needs to be a focus of treatment/exercises. This will serve to improve the stability of the knee.
  3. Improve Proprioception (Balance) and Neuromuscular Control. Sufficient proprioception and neuromuscular control is the difference between being able to ride a bike and falling on your butt every time you get on a bike. Understand that altered proprioception and neuromuscular control contribute to abnormal motion during dynamic sporting activities, such as cutting and jumping/landing. One study revealed, “Improved joint mechanics during landing were achieved regardless of the individual’s muscle strength, suggesting that strength may not always be a prerequisite for movement re-education.”  This should demonstrate the importance that mental focus and repetitive use of proper movement has on correcting mechanics.
  4. Decrease fatigue. There are 2 types of fatigue, peripheral (muscles) and central (brain).  Peripheral refers to exercise induced processes leading to decreased force production (typical muscle fatigue).  Central fatigue relates to a gradual exercise-induced reduction in voluntary muscle activation. Essentially meaning the brain gets fatigued. It is plausible to say injury comes from both, however from an injury prevention stand point; peripheral fatigue is difficult to manage because your muscles will get fatigued.  But targeted training of central fatigue might be the way to go in preventing injury. How does one train central control. As one study put it, “Exposure to more complex or cognitively demanding movement tasks may facilitate improved perception and decision making within the random sports environment.” This is were mental focus and developing an athlete's awareness of their body during drills becomes important. Mental imagery may prove beneficial in developing central control by utilizing “mental reps” to help engrain proper movement and ideal mechanics.
References:
  1. Powers  CM, Souza RB. Differences in Hip Kinematics, Muscle Strength, and Muscle Activation Between Subjects With and Without Patellofemoral Pain. J Ortho Sports Physical Thearpy. 2009;39(1):12-19.
  2. Powers CM. The Influence of Abnormal Hip Mechanics on Knee Injury: A Biomechanical Perspective. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2010;40(2):42-51. http://www.jospt.org/issues/articleID.2396,type.2/article_detail.asp.
  3. Heiderscheit B. Lower Extremity Injuries: Is It Just About Hip Strength? J Ortho Sports Phys Ther. 2010;40(2):39-41. http://www.jospt.org/issues/articleID.2404,type.2/article_detail.asp.
  4. Mizner R, Kawaguchi J, Chmielewski T. Muscle Strength in the Lower Extremity Does Not Predict Postinstruction Improvements in the Landing Patterns of Female Athletes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2008;38(6):353-361. http://www.jospt.org/issues/articleID.1408,type.2/article_detail.asp.
  5. McLean SG, et al. Impact of Fatigue on Gender-Based High-Risk Landing Strategies. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. October 2006.
  6. McLean SG. Fatigue-Induced ACL Injury Risk Stems from a Degradation in Central Control. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. January 2009.
  7. Hilgefort M, Winchester B. Preventing ACL Injuries in Female Athletes.
 
 

What is Natural Talent?

Today's post takes on a bit of a different focus. It's more thought provoking than informational, but let's just say I had some inspiration to write this.
When I was young, you could say I was considered a decent artist.  I enjoyed drawing. So did my brothers. We preferred drawing mostly comic book characters and athletes. Our parents took notice of this artistic side and being the good parents they are, they signed us up for art classes to help us develop our artistic ability.

Outside of playing hockey, drawing was my main hobby. I did lots of drawings and many of them I still have to this day. It’s interesting to look back and see the progress in the quality of those drawings over the years. How I started out very unimpressive. Many of those early drawings are very amusing. But steadily, I developed my drawing abilities to replicate very detailed, very life-like objects or people.

I recall getting compliments such as, “You’re really talented” or “You have a gift.” I also remember hearing people saying, “I wish I could draw like that.” It was if people assumed I was naturally talented at drawing, that drawing somehow came “easy” to me.

Looking back though, I’m not so sure I was naturally talented when it came to drawing.

Yes, I produced some very realistic drawings. I did great work. But what fails to meet the eye is the understanding of how many hours and years it took for me to produce that very same artwork. Often times, hours were spent just to get a small feature to look the way I wanted it to. I wasn’t churning drawings out with effortless ease by any means. I would sit and study my subject matter. I would study each feature, the shading, the line angles, the negative space – anything and everything that made the object what it was. Then with my pencil and paper, I would work at replicating it until I got every last detail right.

Is that talent? To some, maybe it is. To me, it was not so much about talent as it was my willingness to spend more time at it than most. I wanted to get it right. I wanted my drawing to look just like what I was studying. In my opinion, the end result was the “appearance” of being good at it.

Now let’s fast-forward several years. I was considered a talented hockey player. I was pretty good. I accomplished a lot, but there are several other athletes that accomplished more that I ever did. The same can be said of my time competing as an amateur Strongman. I've won some contests and placed high in others. Yada yada yada.

What does art and all this talk about drawing have to do with my athletic accomplishments?

You see, it’s the exact same effect. I have never consider myself naturally talented as an athlete. It’s simply the attention to detail in the pursuit of my goals. It was spending countless hours skating and developing my puck skills, running sprints and lifting weights, and taking my rest and nutrition seriously.

Perhaps my only real talent is being driven and disciplined enough to achieve my goals, regardless of how long it takes me to realize them.

To sum up, I learned that if I want to be good at something, to be great at something, I needed to immerse myself in it. I learned that I need a high degree of focus and attention to detail. That I can’t waver in my pursuit. That if it takes me five hours to get a single detail right, that’s what I do. Anything less and I won’t improve. I won’t realize my potential.

Maybe you have learned the same lesson about yourself.

After all, who knows how many truly “naturally talented” people exist.

 
 

The 2 Most Common Reasons Why Results Suffer

Lack of progress or results in any training or fitness program is a common frustration for many athletes and individuals. Let's take a look at two of the more common reasons why people fail to see results from their training efforts.

#1 – You Aren’t Training Correctly

“I don’t get it. I workout hard. I eat right. I follow advice. I feel like I’m doing everything right, but I just can’t seem to (plug your goal in here)”
At GP, we hear this time and time again. Chances are you have heard these complaints or have experienced the same frustration.

Let’s get this straight: if you aren’t achieving your goals, you aren’t doing EVERYTHING right. Keep it mind, everything makes sense. Don't settle for someone telling you, "I don't know" or "I don't get it". If results aren't happening, there is a good reason for it. If you or your trainer don't understand the reason for your lack of results, chances are it doesn't make sense to you or to them. But it always makes sense.

Something can change.

Something can improve.

There is a solution.

This is why trainers and coaches that have a massive knowledge base and utilize critical thinking are invaluable to the progress of their clients.

As with any problem, to identify the solution you must have a clearly defined goal or outcome. Regardless if your goal is to lose 25lbs, squat 500lbs, or run a faster 5K, your training parameters must be compatible to the desired goal or training result. If your method of training is off, it will have huge implications on why you aren’t progressing or seeing results. Sorry, you can't just 'wing it', that will only get you so far.

We could put this into perspective with any number of examples, but let's use a young, high school athlete who is relatively new to lifting. They decide to start following the latest routine out of Muscle & Fitness, wanting to get bigger and stronger. Now if you happen to be a guy looking to build a bigger chest and upper body, maybe this program does the trick for you. But if you are that high school athlete who is more serious about improving their game and athletic abilities, the same routine will likely have little to no carry over into on-field performance. Sure maybe it will help you look good, but last time we checked looking good doesn't make you a better athlete.

Another common training mistake among young or inexperienced trainees is applying advanced training techniques when they aren't necessary. Young athletes often look at elite level athletes and try to follow their training program. The elite are few and the majority of athletes don't need highly specialized training to see results. Especially young athletes. Young athletes can benefit tremendously from focusing on the basics. It's pretty amazing what can be accomplished with appropriate programming of basic movements such as sprints, jumps, medicine ball throws, Olympic lifts, squats, deadlifts, presses, pull-ups, rows and any of their variations.

Training programs will do exactly what they are designed to do. That said, if you decide to follow what your buddies do or what some article says your favorite athlete does, be our guest. Chances are those choices will be very limited in their ability to improve you. The mistake here is not having a training program tailored to your goals and needs. Before you decide to train with someone or follow a program, ask yourself these questions:
  • Was an assessment performed to understand if my body is prepared for the training ahead?
  • Is my injury history accounted for and understood?
  • Is this training program tailored to reach my goals?
  • Am I going to learn proper lifting technique to minimize my injury risk?
If you answered "no" to any of the above questions, you should seek out better guidance. Just because a training program worked for someone else, doesn't mean it will work equally as well for you. Again, this is why it is so important to identify your goal(s) and have a knowledgable trainer or coach to program them correctly.

And for those athletes who want to get bigger or look better, don't stress about it. It doesn't need to be the focus of your training. As an athlete, if your training, nutrition, and rest is on-point, physique becomes a BY-PRODUCT of your training. There is a reason why NFL tight end, Vernon Davis, and numerous other athletes look the way they do. Their primary training objective is to improve their athletic performance.  The training that is required provides them with their physique.

These considerations have implications for both the athlete looking for improved performance and the individual who simply wants to look better.

#2 – Recovery Isn’t a Priority
If you have read enough of our articles, this will sound like a broken record to you. The importance of recovery can’t be stressed enough. Want to know if you have a great coach or trainer? They will educate you on recovery and it will be planned as part of your training.

The primary goal of training should never be complete exhaustion. If you are gauging the quality of your workout by the level of your fatigue, you are missing the point. And chances are, you are missing out on results. Sure you may be seeing results, but could you be seeing more?

Yes, training may produce soreness and fatigue, but it is not the objective. The goal is improvement and to see results. Contrary to soreness and fatigue, results are less commonly achieved. Results are not achieved during your training session, they occur when you are recovering. Away from the gym, the track, or the field.

This is exactly why your recovery strategies, just like your training, must be planned out from week to week. This not only includes how you plan to monitor work/rest ratios during your training, but how you plan to recover between sessions. With many people, it can be difficult to get them to rest properly. Unfortunately, the majority of us have been essentially brainwashed to believe that MORE exercise is always BETTER. That you need to push yourself harder, and to push yourself to exhaustion.

While yes, there will be times when training will be physically and mentally challenging. It will produce a high degree of fatigue in order to deliver gains, but this cannot be the norm. As a trainer or coach, it is your responsibility to monitor your clients and athletes. To know when to push and when to back off. You must find the right amount of recovery they need, and stress the importance of them sticking to it.

Staying true to guidelines of proper rest and recovery is needed for the body to supercompensate to the stress placed upon it. It’s critically important to realize that progress does not occur when you are working out; rather it occurs when you are recovering after that training.

Your results depend on it.

Improve Reaction Time with Chiropractic

What you need to know:

  • For athletes, reaction time is highly important to success as many athletic events can be determined by tenths of a second.
  • Outside of practice and training, chiropractic adjustments appear to improve reaction time.
Reaction time is the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus. Not only important in sports, reaction time is important for day to day activities as well. Dependent upon nerve connections and signal pathways, reaction time is the time lapse between a stimulus and movement (i.e. sprint start or hitting the brakes to avoid an accident).

When it come to athletics, practice and training are critical to improving reaction time. Athletes receive stimuli from their eyes (position of other players, the ball, etc), ears (calling from players or coaches), and kinesthetic sense (body position). Elite athletes have the ability to reduce reaction time by selecting the most important information and then anticipate the actions of other players or the path of the ball quickly. In sport, the ability to react quickly provides a competitive advantage.

To have an appreciation of how quickly athletes need to react, here is a short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2knwswvwDI
Nowadays, athletes look for competitive advantage wherever they can gain it. So what if you could boost your competitive advantage by improving your ability to react faster outside of practice or training?

Get ready for some very interesting news: chiropractic adjustments can have a beneficial affect on reaction time. A recent study conducted at the New Zealand School of Chiropractic tested the effects of chiropractic adjustments on reaction time. Two groups were utilized to test reaction times. The first group received chiropractic adjustments to the neck. For comparison, the second group was designated as the control group and received a short period of rest.

Results showed a significant improvement in reaction time for the chiropractic adjustment group over the group that only got to rest. The group that rested did show an average decrease in reaction time of 58 milli-seconds. In this study, that represented an 8% faster reaction time. The group that received the chiropractic adjustment showed an average decrease in reaction time of 97 milli-seconds, representing a 14.8% faster reaction time.

The importance of reaction time is not just limited to athletes and on-field performance, reaction time also has importance in other areas of life. The benefits of being able to react faster can make the difference in avoiding traffic accidents and preventing falls. As for competitive athletes who depend on the ability to react quickly to game situations, the addition of chiropractic care can prove to be beneficial. This study can help to explain why many athletes report the ability to perform better when they decide to include chiropractic treatment as part of their routine.

In fact, several athletes are advocates for chiropractic care, including Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana, Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, and Maurice Jones Drew. Reggie Bush, current Detroit Lion's running back and former Heisman Trophy winner, had this to say about chiropractic:
"As a professional athlete, I am highly competitive - only accept the best. When it comes to healthcare, chiropractic is an essential service. It keeps on-field performance at its highest level and contributes to the success of the entire team!"
Gallagher Performance successfully treats and trains athletes of all levels, addressing their individual needs accordingly. We integrate services such as chiropractic, manual therapy, massage, nutrition, and sports performance training to help athletes realize their potential.

The Essentials of Speed Training

What you need to know:

  • Training for speed is not the same as conditioning. Speed is an entirely separate physical trait than being "in shape".
  • Sport-specific speed requires an understanding of the sport and the individual athlete to help maximize their speed potential.
In our opinion, the most misunderstood and poorly implemented aspect of training athletes is definitely speed. Athletes are in need of practical and proven speed training methods. After all, if a player can't keep up with the speed at their current level, they run the risk of being cut or not playing much. Every athlete has the ability to improve their speed if they train the correct way. Below are some simple tips to help take your speed to the next level.

# 1 - Train Powerful Legs NOT Quick Feet

This can be said for any athlete. The world’s fastest athletes don’t have "quick feet". They have powerful legs. Unfortunately, many athletes have been coached to "move their feet quickly" and they now equate quick feet with speed. Ultimately, this creates an athlete who moves their feet quick, but they don't move very fast. It's important to understand the difference between speed/acceleration and quick feet because it will have tremendous implications in your training.

For example, many trainers and players automatically default to using agility ladders as a means of developing quick feet. This is nothing more than a gimmick when it comes to developing true speed and we discussed that here.

Want quick feet? Take up tap dancing. Athletes need powerful legs.

Toss the quick feet exercises in favor of some explosive strength training. As your strength and lower body power development improves, your speed will thank you.

# 2 - Focus on Short Distance Accelerations (10-20 yards)
Most sports are a game of quick, repeated bursts of speed coupled with changes of direction. Outside of track & field, most sports favor acceleration and deceleration over top-end speed. It is important to have top-end speed to stay competitive at any level, but if you aren't able to win the small area battles on the court, field, or ice, the chances of playing regularly are not in your favor.

This means athletes must be explosive and capable of reproducing the same explosiveness during the course of a game. Short distance sprints are an excellent tool to develop acceleration.  This allows for a higher level of transfer to athletics due to higher degree of specificity. Short hill sprints, sled drags, sled pushes, and a variety of acceleration drills will also be highly effective because they will reinforce ideal acceleration mechanics.

# 3 - Speed Work and Conditioning Are Not the Same

"Explosive, not tired." At GP, that is a concept we communicate to all our athletes. Nowadays, young athletes assume conditioning and speed are the same thing or that by improving their conditioning, they will get faster. For many athletes, suicides and gassers come to mind. Players are instructed to sprint with minimal rest, pushed to exhaustion. Sure you want your athletes to last an entire game and not get out worked, but this will not get them faster. Actually, it is counter-productive if speed is the objective since it is physiologically impossible to perform at your maximal effort without adequate rest.

There is a such thing as training parameters and workload capability. These concepts demand consideration when training athletes. Sadly, if you asked the majority of trainers and coaches what those two terms mean, you will get a blank stare in return. True speed is only develop at near maximal effort. Maximal effort depletes energy systems and strains the nervous system. All these need adequate time to recover between sprints. This must be monitored closely to ensure that a speed training session does not become a conditioning workout.

# 4 - Make Lateral Starts and Transition Drills a Priority

Sport, namely team sports, requires movement proficiency in all directions. Most may seem like a linear sport to the observing eye, but watch closely and you will see otherwise. That said, speed training cannot be simply performed in a linear fashion. To make your speed training more specific, use lateral starts and bounds to reinforce explosive leg drive in lateral or diagonal directions. There are a number of lateral start variations that can be effective, such as lateral standing, lateral standing on outside leg, and side lunge position.

Building on the idea of multi-directional movement and explosive direction changes, you can progress your speed training to include transition drill exercises. These will allow you to replicate body positions and transitional movements that will directly impact your speed on the field or ice.

Seal the Deal
Following these tips will help you make more progress in less time and ensure that your training has the best chance to transfer into true speed development.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below.

Gallagher Performance has a proven track record of improving speed time and time again. There is a reason why so many athletes come to us for speed development. If you’re interested in learning more about GP's approach to training athletes, our contact information can be found at www.gallagherperf.wpengine.com.