What an awesome month!
After I delivered the keynote presentation at the NEHRSA Spring Conference on May 19th at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino in CT I taught a workshop the next two days for NASM in downtown Boston. I had a week in the “office” then I was off to present at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Providence, RI for the first time. My session was broken into a lecture for @ 90 minutes and hands on for @ 90 minutes and it was titled “Save Your Back: Get You Butt in Gear.” The gist was that people don’t move enough and when they do move, they don’t use their glutes and are missing a keystone to lumbo-pelvic stability and locomotion. I was representing NASM and discussing their four step Corrective Exercise Continuum. I was fortunate enough to take in several other presentations throughout the weekend, and partake in an amazing barbeque at Chris Poirrier’s house.
My family and I took a killer 7 day vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida. Loved it! Memories that will last for ever. I got to go on the Aerosmith Rocking Roller Coaster…man that thing was fast! It was a blast!
I have been slammed helping to launch a product for NASM and haven’t even had time to blog or make any videos. I did have time to make it to the Bruins Stanley Cup Victor Parade last Saturday though!!! YES!!!! I will post some pictures. I go some great ones of Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara with the Cup. I also found time Sunday on Father’s Day to do some work setting up a new kids swing-set that we got. I had to move some old curbs that we had around our driveway and do some landscaping on top of repairing the swing-set. We got it used from some friends and it needed a little work. I tell ya, I am all set not doing any strongman training. Moving those curbs was enough for me.
Now I am back at it at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Chicago. I went through Grey Cook’s pre-con offering today which was good. He made a reference to NASM’s overhead squat assessment and said that it wasn’t enough to look at just one movement. I agree. Looking at all aspects of the kinetic chain, in different planes, in isolation and integration really rounds things out. What we teach in the Corrective Exercise Specialist workshop for NASM helps to bring this approach to life, covering different versions of the over head squat, single leg squat and insight towards assessing other movements. it’s impossible to keep up with what everyone else is doing, that’s why I enjoy these shows. I am pretty sure that most big names in the fitness industry do not understand the subtleties and flexibility of NASM’s OPT Model. I see more similarities in the industry than differences. NASM’s model just gives you a tidy system to plug all of that fun stuff into.
I enjoyed Thomas Myers at the Providence show and will repeat at least one of his talks this weekend as well. I also took in Dr. Stuart McGill a couple of times, Mark Verstegn once and poked my head in a few other sessions. Verstegen gave a good talk on barefoot training and was featuring Addidas’s new “barefoot trainer.” Dr. McGill talked about working with back pain as well as with powerful athletes. Myers gave an intro to his Anatomy Trains concept and went trough some actual hands on techniques in his second talk. I did see Grey here too and he did some good bits on movement screens and corrective work for the upper body.
I have more to share about these shows, but I was literally up all night last night packing and finishing up some work and I am dragging!
Hope you are having an awesome early summer!
Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard
A Pilgrimage to Wrigley, A Heel and Perform Better in Chicago
I had an awesome time representing NASM at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Chicago last weekend.
This place is MASSIVE!!!
I’m going to summarize my notes from the presentations I attended while in Chi-Town. Not only was it a blast to deliver “Save Your Back: Get Your Butt in Gear!” on Sunday but I was able to see several presentations as well. Between the Providence show and Chicago show I took in a number of talks and got to talk to several of the speakers outside of the conference. I have to tell you that each person that I talked to was friendly, engaging and humble. What an excellent group. The Perform Better staff is equally as amazing! These guys and gals really roll out the red carpet for customers, conference presenters and conference attendees alike.
What a good looking group!
At the conference I ran into a handful of students from workshops that I have lead over the years, a friend that used to work with me in Colorado and the Strength Coach of the Buffalo Bills who I played football with at Springfield College. It’s such a small industry!
Want to see something cool? A college track athlete came to see me wanting to get back into training for their event. Imagine trying to run on a heel that sits like this?
Client Calcaneous Comparison
Their movement assessment was pretty good, but there were some core stability and shoulder issues to go along with the foot/ankle impairment. I did some manual therapy and then some corrective work for the foot/ankle, core and shoulder. The client reports being able to run longer and train harder. They still have a ways to go.
Before I go… a quick picture from my Friday night on the town!
I made a pilgrimage!
Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard