A long, intense and incredible few days...

Last Saturday I flew to Roanoke VA to see my folks for a day then drove down to Danville VA early the next morning. Once there I accumulated 8 hours of filming for a variety of web video and DVD footage. Then it was on to the FMS Summit with Gray Cook and Lee Burton on Monday and Tuesday. Ended up presenting and teaching a bit on Monday and then Tuesday shot 4+ hours of footage for a new web based product and information.

Then it was on to the Advanced Corrective Exercise workshop (30 attendees) for Wednesday and Today for about 14 hours of instruction on the advanced assessment and corrective strategies within the FMS.

I finally had the chance to spend some time with Dr. Phil Plisky, Dr. Rob Butler and Dr. Kyle Kiesel who form the research and Y-Balance Test arm of Functional Movement Systems and are also involved in the SFMA branch of FMS.

The Y-Balance Test has me excited and I look forward to beginning to use it on a consistent basis.

Gray Cook continues to amaze. My friends Jeff O'Connor and Dr. Mark Cheng have been apart of the week and their friendship and support is greatly appreciated. Lee Burton and the rest of the Functional Movement Systems crew (listed above) are a group I am honored to be apart of and learn with/from now and in the future.

Gray's new book Movement will be ready to ship soon and it is a must have!

Now it is on to the HKC weekend in with Pavel and the RKC gang.

I am so honored to be a part of the RKC and FMS groups.

Jerks and getting ready for more travel

Training:

28kg Goblet Squat x 5

2# Club Swinging - movement #3 x 20 reps each direction

One Arm Long Cycle Clean and Jerk

1 min Right arm + 1 min Left arm + 1 min rest x 5 sets

first 3 sets with the 28 kg

last 2 sets with 24 kg

24 kg Swings x 50 reps

I head off to the FMS Summit in Danville, VA on Saturday followed by the Advanced Corrective Exercise workshop in Danville then travel to MSP for the HKC on Saturday, business meetings on Sunday and then back home....travel is fun!

Quick training today:

Narrow Sumo Stance DL - 315 x 5, 5

Full Contact Twist (half way) 25# x 5+5, 5+5

Stretch

As to the question from yesterday:

No Performance does not equal function.

If we are defining function by your fundamental movement patterns then you might be surprised to find that 9's on the FMS screen are not uncommon among elite athletes.

Considering the highest score possible on the FMS score is 21 than a 9 might not be what you would expect.

Also consider that Low back pain, ACLs and other non-contact injuries are occurring at higher rates than ever despite athletes being bigger, stronger and faster than ever.

If we are bigger, stronger and faster than ever shouldn't injuries be down? If Function equalled performance than they would be.

So what could be the cause?

Long Cycle Jerks...

Just went pretty much right at it today

2/24 KG Long Cycle Clean and Jerk x 5 reps x 20 sets

(one minute rest between sets)

2# Club Swinging (20 reps of each of the 5 movements)

Stretch

Performance = Function

or does it???

Does a 35" Vertical Leap or a 4.3 second 40 yd dash or a 500# squat or 100 KB Snatches mean that you are a high functioning person?

What do we mean by function?

Can someone be high "functioning" but be dysfunctional in their movement patterns?

Opinions and Comments?

More Jerks and a Great group here in MSP...

Hit a bit of lunch time training during the FMS workshop here in MSP

Behind the back DL - 225 x 5, 265 x 5, 245 x 5, 225 x 5

One arm Long Cycle Jerks - 24 kg KB

1 minute Right + 1 minute Left + 1 minute rest x 5 sets

stretch

better pace and "reps per minute" this time on the Jerks

The group here for the FMS is great. tomorrow is the big finish with corrective exercises for the 7 tests.

Feeling "hammered"

My abdominals that is...

The dear abbies are feeling sore and hammered from two days of training the KB Jerk!

Gotta love it.

Today was a bit of stretch and club swinging (both one and two pound clubs and various postures and club swinging patterns).

Sitting at the airport waiting to fly to MSP.

Jerks and DLs...

Morning session:

Behind the Back DL

135 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5, 225 x 5

Afternoon session:

Prep - ASLR, T-spine rotation

24 kg Arm bar+ 1+1

24 kg Get-up x 3+3

2/24 kg Jerks x 4 reps at the top of each minute x 25 minutes

Mow yard

Stretch

One clean and multiple jerks today with a density training protocol - 100 total reps

and I will just look to compress the volume with the Jerks.

Behind the back DL continues to feel good.

Full Contact Twist needs to be added to the routine and Chin-ups.

Training and working and traveling...

I will be in Minneapolis this weekend teaching an FMS level 1 workshop.

Home for a week

Off to Danville, VA for the FMS Summit and then the Advanced Corrective Exercise workshop and then off to Minneapolis again for the HKC.

Fun stuff

Training today:

Prep work - ASLR, Arm Bar

16 kg Get-up x 3+3, 3+3

16 kg SLDL x 5+5

Behind the Back Deadlift

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5, 5

24 kg One arm Long Cycle Clean and Jerk

One minute Right arm + One minute Left arm + One minute rest x 5 sets

Stretch

Behind the back DLs are very interesting (my friend Shawn Reed recently spurred my interest in this lift).

Hindsight...

I had made a decision some time ago to try to open the lumbar fascia etc... and I would say now that that was not the right call. Flexion continues to be a bad idea and I will return to deadlifting, maintaining the hip opening I am doing etc...

Vacation and Cell Phones...

Vacation was great but nothing takes the wind out of your relaxation quicker than cell phone issues.

The past two days have been long days of technical support calls and stress over not having a working phone and losing some calendar information so I don't know what my appointments are for next week. Fun - Fun - Fun

Technology is great as long as it is all synched up and working - when it doesn't....

But on the plus side I'll be using a new IPhone 4 by next week.