11 Things That Annoy Me

1.  Products like Valsliders that sell for 30 bucks a pair.  These are furniture movers.  4 pack for 12 bucks at Amazon or Bed/bath and beyond.  ( I actually highly recommend them for patients as they can be used for lots of different exercises.)

2.  Marketing a myofascial release ball for 40 bucks because it has special grabby things on it.  It splits in half in a few weeks.  (have seen this)  5 dollar softball heater works just as well if not better.

3.  Still angry about 47 dollar ebooks.

4.  There seems to be like a group of 10 or so trainers that all recommend each others products.

5.  Being asked to send information, articles, or recommendations.  After following up and realizing like maybe 5% ever do anything with the information,  I developed a new policy.  I have them send me an email requesting whatever information they are looking for.  It puts accountability in their hands and I have a written reminder.  Maybe 1 out of 10 people ever send the email.  This tells me it wasn't that important and would have been a waste of my time.

6.  People asking for nutrition advice but can't tell me how many calories they ingest in a day or who balk at a food journal for a week.

7.  People who think coffee is unhealthy.  :)

8.  Anyone trying to convince me of an amazing supplement that changed their life, juices seem to be a craze for awhile.  Noni, cactus juice derivative, acai, pomegranate, zia, mona vie, juice plus, and every other 40 dollar dollar out there.

9.  That a workout needs to crush you for it to be a good workout.  "It really gets you sweating."  "I was so sore."  "It was a puker."

10.  Athletes that don't think they need rest days.

11.  Cable TV cost.

I'm sure this list will grow as this is whats in my head while I'm drinking some fine Ethiopian coffee. So part 2 in the future!

Functional Range Release the 2nd Time Through

Just because you have taken a technique class before doesn't mean you can't take it again.  I think some people just need permission to know that.

I've always budgeted education into my expenses.  I enjoy going to seminars and meeting other therapists.  Talking about how they incorporate different techniques or ideas into their practice is always beneficial. The ultimate is finding a seminar and being able to incorporate the techniques into Mondays patients.  

Functional Range always delivers on both sides. 

It's been a few weeks now since I retook FRR Upper in Chicago.  (I had already taken all of them)

I looked over my notes from the first Upper and the latest Upper I attended.  Very few were even remotely the same.  This tells me I was paying attention to different things, was hearing things differently or found new insight along the way.  

How many of us have rewatched a movie or reread a book and picked out cool new angles or ideas?

Same concept.  

On a practical side, I can always get better at palpation of anatomy, finding tension, touch and movement.  Your patient or athlete are not going to be able to tell you that you aren't on the triceps long head anymore or that the tension you are creating isn't matching the tension in the tissue.  Key concepts. 

After practicing for a year, I knew what areas of anatomy I wasn't as efficient at finding quickly and differentiating easily.  Time is money.  The quicker I find and treat, the more I get to treat, the better my patient outcomes.  

So the 2nd time around really let me practice "harder" on certain areas. 

I really recommend retaking a course in your future.  I think you will find even more value as an FRR practitioner.  Mastery is a journey.   

Mechanics of Throwing

Part of the importance of human development wasn't just running, but throwing.  Pretty interesting concept.

TreeRunning as Fitness

I like the concept of climbing trees and playing.  This is the full interview of Rafe Kelley in the article "The Benefits of Outdoor Training and Environmental Complexity."

Road Trip Learning

I just arrived to Chicago to learn and get better at a Functional Range Release Seminar.  It takes me about 3.5 hours from Grand Rapids, MI where I live.  This means it was time to catch up on some podcasts!

First up was Will Chung on Shelby Starnes Blue Collar Radio.  I got some nice ideas about "perpetual motion" training.

Finished up a Charlie Weingroff interview on the Strength Coach Podcast.  Big takeaway or more of a reminder was this, "Everything is either a warm up or cool down,  something to make you move better, or something to make you a monster."

GMB fitness latest podcast was with Dr. Andreo Spina, (who is actually teaching the course I'm currently traveling to attend)  Good stuff on what it actually means to have healthy human joints.  What does being healthy mean?

Got about an hour into this Joe Rogan Podcast with Josh Barnett.  Pretty solid so far.

You listening to anything good lately?

Donald Ingber - Biologically Inspired Engineering - Organs on a Chip!

This is an amazingly inspiring video if you are a manual therapist.  Tensegrity and cellular mechanics.