To read more about each of our MTS trainers click on find a trainer page.

Saturday Dec. 5th 9am-5pm MTS (Movement Training Specialist) is offering a DO NOT MISS One day seminar. We will be offering NSCA and NASM CEU’S for all attendees.

Fun interactive sessions and a top notch guest speaker Mr. Robert Devito coming all the way from New Jersey to share his nutrition expertise.

Download our conference brochure here: Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

NSCA Conference at UVM June 6th 2009

Presentation on Mobil-Stability

Manchester Athletic Club

8 Atwater Avenue
Manchester, Ma 01944
(978) 526-8900 Ext. 233
(978) 525-6140 Fax
www.manchesterathleticclub.com
Registration for this certification will be available May 3rd.

3 easy steps to register

Just click on the apply now page and follow the 3 easy steps

Once you have completed your online registration your MTS manual will be e-mailed to with-in 24 hours. Your MTS Level 1 DVD will be shipped to your home address.

MTS Level 1 hard copy version is available for an additional $75.-00

For more information regarding this 2 day Level 1 certification contact Jennifer Poljacik @ info@mtspecialist.com

• Chronic ankle sprains
• Laxity in the ankle joint (ligaments & tendons stretched from numerous sprains)
• Poor plantar flexion and dorsiflexion of the feet
• Tight gastroc and soleus muscles (“calves”)
• Tight and/or weak gluteal muscles (‘’butt”)
• Tight iliopsoas, hamstrings, and shoulder girdle
• Weak/tight/injury prone spinal erectors (lower back)
• “Pain” in the knee(s) possibly due to limited mobility in the ankle, hips, and weakness in the gluteal muscles. Often knee pain is found to be caused by Illiotibial band tightness due to overactive and tight iliopsoas, rectus femoris, and TFLs.

Many tall basketball athletes generally lack mobility in all three planes of motion at major joints in the body (ankle, knee, hip, and thoracic spine) due to the nature of having longer levers (arms/legs) and not taking the time to work on flexibility and mobility.
The simple warm up will not only make you feel better physically but allow you to move better and therefore perform better. Give this warm up a fair chance and complete it over the next few weeks before you lift or play basketball and see how much better you feel as well as perform on the court. This workout should take you approximately 15-20 minutes.
General warm up (done circuit style, do all of A first then go to B. one exercise then the next, etc, then repeat the series)
A1) Jump rope – 3 sets of 25 jumps
A2) Mountain climbers – 3 sets of 15 reps each leg
A3) Med ball rotational throws against a wall – 3 sets of 10 reps each side
B1) Lateral band walk outs – 2 sets of 10 reps
B2) Single leg balance reach – 2 sets of 10 reps (forward, lateral, transverse)
Activation & Mobilization – 3 sets of 12 reps each leg (4 each direction/plane)
C1) Anterior (forward) lunges with posterior (backward), rotational (twist), and lateral (side bend) reaches overhead
C2) Lateral lunges with posterior (backward), rotational (twist), and lateral (side bend) reaches overhead
C3) Transverse lunges with posterior (backward), rotational (twist), and lateral (side bend) reaches overhead
D1) Calf mobilization against a wall. Similar to a calf stretch but use the knee as a driver and work on range of motion throughout the ankle joint.
D2) Inch worms – 2 sets of 15 feet
Scott Caulfield has been involved in fitness and basketball for over two decades. He most recently served as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach and Director of Camps for the 2007 & 2008 American Basketball Association Champions, the Vermont Frost Heaves. He has coached boys and girls high school basketball at both the varsity and junior varsity level as well as spending two seasons as an assistant coach working with college men.
Scott is currently a Strength Coach and Movement Specialist at the River Valley Club in Lebanon, NH, where he also coordinates the 5,500 sq ft, Sports Conditioning Center, which is a space specifically dedicated to training athletes. Some of his current clients include Dartmouth College men’s rugby, Hanover HS girls basketball, Hanover HS boys basketball, Hanover HS boys soccer, and Lebanon HS girls lacrosse.
Scott has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Castleton State College and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Scott also currently serves as the Vermont State Director of the NSCA. He is a Certified MTS Level 1 from Movement Training Specialists (www.mtspecialist.com).

The lower back pain is likely to be caused by compensatory hyper-extension of the lumbar spine to make up for the lack of hip extension. A number of activities can cause this pain such as rising from a seated position, walking or anything that requires hip extension (mostly everything).

First step is to stretch the hipflexor group three dimensionally. If we were to stretch the right hip it would look like this: (written in vertical logic)

LWI(R) L knee flexed at 30degrees R knee at O degrees

Pelvis

anterior->R lateral L lateral-> R rotational L rotational

drive (push)

LWI(R)

Or written the long way:

stride stance wider then hip width apart right leg back with foot turned in, L knee bent and R leg straight

The pelvis is what you are driving with to get the stretch

first drive anteriorly then R/L laterally and third R rotational/L rotational

Now you know why we use vertical logic

If one of these motions reproduce the discomfort then you have effectively assessed a limitation. Do not continue to drive in that plane instead choose the other two that are comfortable. Remember progressively tweak the stretch until you are able to stretch in all three without pain.

Strengthening: Which follows every good 3D stretch

XXX

R leg

Posterior lateral w/internal rotation @ R150

lunge

XXX

Chris Poljacik

My clients have learned that when I imitate them walking and place band-aids on my knee to represent the knee ligaments, I am not making fun of them but trying to understand the stresses that caused the injury. If we can understand the position of discomfort, and see the interrelationships of all the parts of the knee joint, then we can come up with a unique strategy to strengthen the knee in function.
To begin a successful knee rehabilitation or strengthening program, we must first understand that the knee is a dependant, reactive joint. It reacts to the forces transferred from the foot and hip. The knee joint is made up of two bones – the femur and the tibia. It is not a hinge joint, but a tri-plane joint that must be able to move in all three planes of
motion. If not, compensations and abnormal wear will occur. The proximal end of the femur attaches to the acetabulum to make up the hip joint. Any muscle that attaches to
the femur will directly affect both the knee and the hip. The tibia sits on top of the talus at the ankle joint. Any muscles that attach to the tibia directly affect the foot and the knee. By understanding these relationships, we can apply an appropriate amount of stress to the knee to create dynamic stability. When too much load is applied to the knee, it will compensate and change the sequencing or the timing. Simply put, all the stuff has to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right amount of load.

Finding the cause of knee dysfunction is similar to a scavenger hunt. Asking your client “What can you do,” “What can’t you do,” and most important, “What do you need to be able to do” will give you some important clues. For example, a client of mine came in recovering from a right knee meniscus surgery. Her physical therapist was concerned
that she lacked terminal knee extension in gait. While watching her walk, I noticed her body looked uncomfortable during swing phase of the right leg compared to when she
planted. She told me that it felt like her right knee was unstable and wasn’t lining up properly when she planted it. I placed her in right stride stance, what we call “RXX” or right foot forward, shoulder-width in the frontal plane, and toes pointing relatively forward in the transverse plane. She self-selected the distance. This didn’t cause pain, but she lacked balance. A lack of balance is a lack of strength in a position and/or with motion. Our body will naturally compensate in order to find stability.

Many times a weakness of one leg can force the other leg to over work, disrupting the timing. When devising a strategy, we want to start with small successes and then slowly increase the challenge based on the client’s needs. In this case, I had my client step onto a 4-inch step with her right leg to increase the load to the back left leg to help with stability. To limit the motion in the right knee, I had her perform a right knee “driver” by having her execute an anterior (forward) reach,anterior-medial (forward and to the left) reach, and an anterior-lateral (forward and to the right) reach. We progressed
by incorporating the larger muscle groups of the hips, using a pelvic “driver.” By driving the pelvis in all three planes – anterior and posterior, right lateral and left lateral, and right rotational and left rotational – we challenged the position with an appropriate amount of load. After performing these progressions, my client’s right knee felt more stable and her gait was more efficient. She soon found that this was just the starting point. Because life is full of variables and obstacles, we continually challenged her by modifying her squats into lunges, increasing the distance of the step, speed, and direction. By asking questions, and most importantly, listening to our client’s needs and wants, we can come up with creative strategies to assist the knees in function.