Recovery - You Need It

Have you heard the one about the attorney that represents himself? Turns out he has an idiot for a client.

Sound familiar? Well I resemble that joke more often then not but sometimes I take my own advice. This week for example I am taking a few days off from hard exercise and doing nothing but joint mobility and flexibility work.

Whaddaya know, it makes me feel like a million bucks...

The past two weekends I've been doing cyclocross racing, which is not only hard on the energy systems, but quite hard on joints too. My low back was really feeling the brunt of 40 minutes of max effort pedaling, running, and jumping while in a kyphotic posture. Who knew? ;)

It has also given me a good excuse to revisit some exercise DVDs in my library. In particular Bill Hartman/Cressey/Robertson's Assess and Correct. I can watch the DVDs a hundred times and still pick up gems of information immediately applicable to my clients and myself. It's also wonderful to put it on and go through each mobility drill as it is shown. 30 minutes later and you'll feel like a new person.

Needless to say every trainer should have this on the shelf and refer to it often.

Another one I've been enjoying is Collision Course, a mega-workshop put together by my friend Mike Mahler in 2009. Jon Hinds and Tom Furman both have great presentations on that DVD set on movement quality and mobility.

Today I'm planning on revisiting Steve Cotter and Ken Blackburns mobility sections on the Age of Quarrel DVD set. Mahler was kind enough to invite me to the workshop and am in the video, which makes it kind of weird - doing the exercises along with myself on screen. Although it's cool to see how poorly I do them compared to that freak of nature Cotter and Ken.

I posted a review of the workshop back in 2009 here.

Continuing along the lines of movement quality I'm excited about the Natural Movement Seminar we are hosting at Edge next weekend. We have some very smart podiatrists, physical therapists, soft tissue therapists, and writers coming in to educate us all on minimalist/barefoot training.

I have been wearing and training in Frees, Five Fingers, barefoot for 4 or 5 years now and feel the difference. And now I'm testing a super-secret Adidas minimalist shoe that may hit the market next year - so far so good. I like it more than the Frees.

Our Speakers:
Dr. Daniel Howell Author of The Barefoot Book http://www.drdanielhowell.com

Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee Co‐authors of Barefoot Running
http://www.runbare.com

Dr. Ray McClanahan, Podiatrist, NW Foot & Ankle and Correct Toes
http://www.nwfootankle.com

Dr. Suzanne Lady, Chiropractic Physician http://www.bwellchiro.com

Chris Bathke, MA, CSCS, Director of Personal Training, Edge Fitness http://www.elementalfitnesslab.blogspot.com

Leif Rustvold, MA, MS, Physical Anthropologist & Barefoot Ultrarunner
http://www.distanceminimally.com

Kim Cottrell, MS, Feldenkrais Practitioner http://www.kimcottrell.com

Aaron Gustafson, LMT, CAMT
http://www.TranscendBodywork.com

If you are in the Pacific Northwest come check it out.

For now I'll leave you with some images of the Cross Race this past weekend. Now that I'm put back together I can't wait to do it again.