ericbeard.com » Uncategorized http://ericbeard.com Corrective Exercise, Human Movement, Posture, Success and Personal Development Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:24:18 +0000 en hourly 1 Vibram FiveFingers, Chucks and a TRX http://ericbeard.com/2010/07/13/vibram-fivefingers-chucks-and-a-trx/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/07/13/vibram-fivefingers-chucks-and-a-trx/#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:24:18 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=731 Well I did it. I bought some new kicks for myself.
Thought it was five toes not five fingers?
I gave some Chucks a try for a few months. The $35 on sale Name Your Link was an easier leap than the $85 for the Vibram FiveFingers. So I took the Chucks for a spin with good results. I switched in the middle of HFPN’s Another Fitness Challenge. I was doing my corrective work twice a day and found that the switch from my Asics,
which I found to be fantastically supportive for my feet, but too much of an elevated heel, to the right move for me. When I went to the flat heel of the Chucks, I had less tension in the musculature around my spine, my pelvis leveled off better, my thoracic spine mobilized easier, it was pretty powerful combined with my corrective exercise program.

My arches missed the support however, especially on the left foot. My podiatrist recommended I try an insert that would fit in my Chuck’s that would add a minimal heel lift. He liked Spencos because they held up pretty well and are fairly inexpensive.

I ordered them and will try them in my Chuck’s, but am moving towards using my Fivefingers as my full time work shoe.

I wore my 5Fingers for 3 hours yesterday in the morning and went back to my Chucks in the afternoon to ease into the Vibrams. There is so much more muscular activity and less structural support from the shoe that you can get really sore in the entire lower extremity. I felt some fatigue in the lower extremities, thighs and glutes by the end of the day. I noticed some fatigue especially during my hockey game at 10:30 pm that night. Nothing major, but like I had done something different. Today, Tuesday, I wore my Chucks for the first 1/2 of the day and the Vibrams for the second 1/2 and during my workout.

I did some flexibility work and then had a blast on the TRX Suspension Training System.

I have used the TRX casually over the last few months, but have been slowed my a wrist injury and have not been able to do too much pressing. Today I am feeling pretty good and was motivated to try out my new kicks! I was watching some TRX videos on YouTube and was playing around with some of the ideas that I saw on there with a buddy of mine and one of my Trainers, Dan Salerno, and Dan came up with the idea of attaching a bar to the system and I did just that and came up with some killer movements later in my workout. God times! My abs are going to be sore for sure and I got a ton of comments about the FiveFingers.

I should do a video of the TRX stuff, there are a myriad of movements to be done on this system, with body weight, sandbags, bars and more. I am just getting into them myself, but have some cool ideas to try out.

I know it has been a while since I posted, but I hope you are doing GREAT! Thanks for reading.

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard
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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/07/13/vibram-fivefingers-chucks-and-a-trx/feed/ 0 It’s Okay to Peek into the Past http://ericbeard.com/2010/05/26/its-okay-to-peek-into-the-past/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/05/26/its-okay-to-peek-into-the-past/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 17:41:19 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=706 Sometimes paying attention to where you have been helps you to figure out if you are on the right track…

Have an awesome day!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/05/26/its-okay-to-peek-into-the-past/feed/ 0 Please Read This: Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 4: The Juice http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/please-read-this-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-4-the-juice/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/please-read-this-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-4-the-juice/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:28:17 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=698 When we first got down to the marathon route, we caught the tail end of the first heat of elite runners. These guys were moving! Most of them were still a mess-protracted shoulders, all bam-string, no glute…but it is still impressive to see people who have truly worked on their craft for years in the throws of competition. I will never run like they were running. Very cool.

As this pack thinned out and the first wave of runners from the next heat came through there was a very different feeling…

Boston Marathon 2010 Start

These runners were cheering back to the crowd! High Fivinng, smiling! Yelling…happy to be alive and running in the Boston Marathon. They probably all had personal goals for times, but they seemed to run for the love of the sport and experience. These runners donned the garb and colors of their country and outrageous costumes. There were a couple dozen Canadian proudly displaying the maple leaf. A group of 4 men carrying the Japanese flag. Several Irish folks running along. A man carrying an American flag with red white and blue clothes on. A man dressed as a fairy..wings and all. A Ninja, a man with a towel and rubber ducky, characters from movies, people with their 20 year old college and high school cross country pinnies on. Celtics and Red Sox T-Shirts, their names or the names of the people they are running for written on their bodies and more.

There were the teams of runners running for a cause or a sick or departed friend or family member. Runners running for themselves and those who could not run.

A blind man with 2 escorts, an 80 year old who was running Boston for his 8th time, an old man pulling an oxygen cart (yes…pulling his oxygen…with 2 health aides walking with him). There were people with prosthetic limbs and other seeming physical challenges.

It was amazing…I could not clap or cheer for an hour…I thought I would burst into tears. The humanity, the sacrifice, the camaraderie the unbridled and unconditional support of one another…total strangers! It was beautiful.
There were people handing our notes to runners…young girls near us…one runner took one and accidentally dropped it…this man RAN BACK through the other runners to get it!!!! He was so appreciative of the words of encouragement on the paper that he actually ran against the tide of thousands (only about 10 feet) to get the note off of the pavement and kept going.

This is what sport should be about. This is what life should be about. there are crowned winners who stand out…but not a single loser. It was about each man and woman being out for themselves on this journey, while sharing it with thousands of strangers. People cheering for other people who were limping or tired, that wanted to quit!

There was a man in obvious pain…limping, barely walking and woman shouted to him “Keep ti up! You are doing a great job!”…honestly at any other time in Boston this woman would have been yelling at this man to “hurry up and get the heck (PG version) out of the way!” .But this was “Boston”…what they call the Boston Marathon. Where the crowds treat the participants like kings, queens and family.

Never have I experienced a culmination of effort, dogged determination and sacrifice like this. Never have I felt this much pride about this community, about the people at this race and in this race. It was a celebration of life. My narrow mind tried to pick and analyze the human body but my heart and soul would not let me ignore the human spirit.

Thank you to the thousands of volunteers and tens of thousands of marathoners and untold number of fans. I feel like a better person for what you showed me today.

Talk about “Acres of Diamonds”…

Thank you for reading…I hope this story, my experience today can make a difference for you too the next time you have the opportunity to pick someone else up when they are down.

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/please-read-this-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-4-the-juice/feed/ 0 The Gratuitous Boston Marathon Post Part 2 http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/the-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-2/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/the-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-2/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:59:28 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=682 Of course the corrective exercise specialist in me is conflicted when taking in these events. I applaud and admire the human spirit but am always shocked at what most people are doing to themselves with all of this dysfunction and movement impairments!

I took a few pics with my trusty iphone and got a few usable ones, although I saw much more craziness than I got I on film.

Low back pain? Runner's Knee?

[/caption

Leg Whip! Foot Whip!

This last one is the most obvious, you can really see the knee collapsing inward and foot turning out. This is loading the ligaments and cartilage of the knee abnormally and will wear down those tissues.

Think of how much energy they have to use just to propel themselves down the road? They are not using the elastic properties of their tissues, they have to use so much concentric effort instead of "springing" from one stride to the next.

Don't his lines look better?

This is HUGE from a performance perspective as well as injury prevention and longevity. Some people can handle the pounding and their ligaments and passive system are durable enough to take it. That does not mean they don’t limp around with poor posture…they just can persevere through the training. This does become a quality of life issue at some point. People keep runnig  to run instead of learning how to move so they can then run. There should be a physical and psychological challenge to athletic training and race preparation, but we should not be sacrificing our joints just to earn T-Shirt or jacket.

I could go on for hours about dysfunction, movement impairments and why people should not be doing what they are doing…but there is something to be said for the human spirit…that is what struck me even more powerfully that the ugly running and punishment people were perpetrating on their poor joints.

Next post I will show you a video I took and write about some of the things I see as well as the emotional impact this day had on me…the intellectual part is easy:)

Thanks for hanging in!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/04/19/the-gratuitous-boston-marathon-post-part-2/feed/ 0 Self Shoulder Mobilization to Improve Upward Rotation fo the Scapluae: Impingement Prevention http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/18/self-shoulder-mobilization-to-improve-upward-rotation-fo-the-scapluae-impingement-prevention/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/18/self-shoulder-mobilization-to-improve-upward-rotation-fo-the-scapluae-impingement-prevention/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:21:39 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=664 Hi guys,

Here is a quick video about a self shoulder mobilizations to improve upward rotation of the scapula and prevent impingement at the shoulder joint. This is a handy corrective exercise trick a Physical Therapist friend of mine Kristin Mohr at Integrative Therapeutics (508.647.3200) taught me.
Give it a whirl!

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/18/self-shoulder-mobilization-to-improve-upward-rotation-fo-the-scapluae-impingement-prevention/feed/ 0 The Kids Aren’t Alright. Childhood Obesity is Killing Adults http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/08/the-kids-arent-alright-childhood-obesity-is-killing-adults/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/08/the-kids-arent-alright-childhood-obesity-is-killing-adults/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:54:14 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=657 A change of pace for my blog but I talk about this in workshops twice a month and am passioante about it. YOU can make adifference too!

Are you going to help make a positive difference or sit on the sidelines?

Thanks for reading and watching!

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/03/08/the-kids-arent-alright-childhood-obesity-is-killing-adults/feed/ 1 First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/26/first-month-of-another-fitness-challenge-brings-eric-beard-some-results/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/26/first-month-of-another-fitness-challenge-brings-eric-beard-some-results/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:10:19 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=648 How has Another Fitness Challenge been going for you?

I have been plugging away at improving my overhead squat and it has felt great! I enlisted the help of Krisitn Mohr, a physical therapist at Integrative Therapeutics in Natick, MA. She can be reached at kmohr@integrativetherapeutics.com if you want some work from her. She is a skilled manual therapist and “gets it”!

Here is a series of short 2-3 minute videos bringing your through part of our last appointment.

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/26/first-month-of-another-fitness-challenge-brings-eric-beard-some-results/feed/ 1 Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/19/upper-extremity-reach-range-of-motion-assessments/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/19/upper-extremity-reach-range-of-motion-assessments/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:58:43 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=637 A video of upper extremity reach assessments. Do I need some corrective exercise?

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
RangeOfMotionWorkshop.com

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/19/upper-extremity-reach-range-of-motion-assessments/feed/ 0 Will Smith Needs Corrective Exercise…but He Helps Me this Time http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/12/will-smith-needs-corrective-exercise-but-he-helps-me-this-time/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/12/will-smith-needs-corrective-exercise-but-he-helps-me-this-time/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:54:37 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=592 I have always like Will Smith and I do have he and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” on cassette as well as a very earlier recordings before he polished his image and actually talked like a teenager on a few cuts…any-hoo. I found this video on You Tube and LOVE IT! I have watched several of these interviews before but never strung together. THIS GUY GETS IT! I hope you enjoy and find this as powerful as I do. I have watched it several times.

Remember, this is all a mind game and we are more powerful than we have ever dreamed!!!

Make a difference and live your life to it’s fullest!

Honored to be on a similar path as you.

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
RangeOfMotionWorkshop.com

ps. he does need some corrective exercise, he pushes himself pretty hard!

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]]> http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/12/will-smith-needs-corrective-exercise-but-he-helps-me-this-time/feed/ 0 5 Minute Core Stability / Corrective Exercise for Back Pain by Eric Beard with the MECA Back http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/09/5-minute-core-stability-corrective-exercise-for-back-pain-by-eric-beard-with-the-meca-back/ http://ericbeard.com/2010/02/09/5-minute-core-stability-corrective-exercise-for-back-pain-by-eric-beard-with-the-meca-back/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:55:35 +0000 admin http://ericbeard.com/?p=617 I had one of my clients shoot this on my iphone so they could follow along with their home program. This Corrective Exercise spinal stabilization program is to be done daily and will take about 5 minutes. It will develop endurance and strength of the intrinsic core stabilizers such as the; transverse abdominus, diaphragm, internal obliques. The progression is to build from 3-5 repetitions up to 12-15 repetitions over time. Comment below and let me know what you think!

You can find the MECA Back at http://www.mecaback.com/back-products.html

Fix this posture!!!
“In just 10 minutes a day, you can actually create elastisity to help restore the natural shape of your back!”-quote from their site.

“If you’ve suffered from back pain, you know that there are many different answers out there, none of which provide lasting relief.

Now, that all can change. Really, prevention is as easy as knowing how. Testimonials

The vision of the MECA™ Back Institute is to create awareness about the damage the human spine endures from normal daily activities, the actual cause of most mechanical back problems.

Our ultimate goals are to:

1. Reduce the frequency of lower back pain issues

2. Lower the costs associated with back care

3. Provide products that support, enhance, stabilize and maintain good body mechanics and posture

4. Inform the public of the origin of mechanical back pain and provide real solutions to prevent this damage. ”

“What does MECA mean?

The vision of MECA™ is to create awareness about how and why human spines
develop mechanical problems leading to degeneration and pain, and to provide
real solutions to prevent this damage.

MECA – an acronym for Mobility, Elasticity, Core Stability and Adaptability – stands for the four integrated components that lead to overall back health:

MOBILITY:
The independent motion between spinal joints.

ELASTICITY:
The resiliency of soft tissue (muscles, tendons & ligaments). Elasticity is not flexibility.

CORE STABILITY:
When our muscles work to maintain stability of the spine and pelvis while the limbs are moving.

ADAPTABILITY:
The integration of these three elements, and referring to our spine’s ability to effectively compensate for the insults of daily living. 85% of the U.S. population will have a lower back problem in their lifetime. It is the position of the MECA Back Institute that this astonishing statistic is largely due to a simple lack of understanding of how to maintain the health of our lower backs.”-from their site.

For more video on the MECA Back click here

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
AthleticShoulder.com
RangeOfMotionWorkshop.com

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