Functional Range Conditioning Seminar Review

Have you ever been given a book recommendation from a friend and realized just minutes into reading it that the books subject has tons of stuff you are interested in.  It takes several topics you really enjoy and weaves them into one singular piece of stand alone work.  That is what Functional Range Conditioning was like for me.

Taught by Dr. Andreo Spina, he was an excellent teacher and presents the material over the two day course in a very enjoyable way. FRC, at the heart of it, is all about mobility.  Mobility is the combination of flexibility and strength.  Mobility is the ability to keep your joints working like they should work.  So the byproduct of mobility work is joint health.  The system strengthens your joints.

Joint health.  Optimizing your joints.  Having strength in a large range of motion, not just the middle range.  Control.  FRC teaches all these things.  Creating stronger, healthier tissue.

When I was younger I wanted to squat 500 pounds and I did.  I could have cared less about how my joints  felt.  Now much older and banged up, I want joint health.  I want to do a third world squat comfortably.  I watch my daughter squat and move and realized earlier this year, that I was severely lacking.  It took me years and years of dedicated practice and struggle to be able to squat 545lb (my PR) so I know mobility won't be had overnight.  It will take work....a lot of work.

Which brings us to mobility work,  it is work!  Mobility is not just rolling around on lacrosse balls.  I was sweating and hurting(in a good way) for most of the drills.  It was a wake up call on how hard you have to work to regain lost mobility.  What Dr. Spina has created is a system that utilizes, isometrics, stretching, joint mobilizations, vector changes, eccentric exercise all rolled up into what is Functional Range Conditioning.

By then end of day one, even after having spent the previous day in the car, my hips felt amazing.   The first day back to work I started implementing a few things with a couple patients.  This should honestly be taught in most chiropractic schools, as at the core, FRC is about having healthy joints for life.  Most chiropractors goal.  I always say while learning stuff is cool, the true mark of anything substantial is if it actually gets integrated in your life whether personal or professional.  I can confidently say it will be both for me.