Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

Love him or hate him, the above clip demonstrates phenomenal athletic prowess from President George Bush.

Not only does he dodge the first shoe, but the second one as well. Now that is focus and concentration. 

His reaction time is incredible. Two shoes thrown and only two people move: President Bush and the shoe-throwing reporter.

As you can see, not even the highly trained Secret Service agents reacted before the projectiles had stopped flying.

Cheers to dodging shoes!

Beyond that, Bush was unfazed by it all. Like I said, love him or hate him, that man can move.

This is definitely a testament to his fitness regime.

Keep moving and keep dodging.

Dev Chengkalath

stiff spine and mobile hips = healthy back

In my physiotherapy practice, I use overhead squats to assess alignment, joint mobility and motor control.

This squat variation is a fantastic diagnostic physical therapy tool and is an important part of my clinical movement screen. These can be used to improve spinal stability while improving hip and shoulder mobility at the same time.

How does your overhead squat look?

Are you able to keep your heels on the ground?

How far down can you squat?

Does your torso lean forward or are you able to keep your chest up?

Where do you arms sit? Are they right overhead or do they angle forward?

Grab a stick and give it a try.

To your overhead squats.

Dev Chengkalath

Now these are serious hops. 

Intense plyometric training is not for the beginner.

But when used properly, this form of high intensity training will improve power and explosiveness like nothing else.

Keep on jumping. 

Dev Chengkalath.

Stay hydrated while avoiding empty calories!

Replace drinks containing empty calories (e.g. fruit juice, colas), high amounts of caffeine or alcohol with water or green tea.

This is one of the easiest ways to cut out those extra calories while making sure your body is hydrated for optimal performance. 

cool and wet, what a combo!

Unfortunately, too many people end up dehydrated all day long. The negative health effects are many and the solution is simple.

Your skin, joints and organs will thank you. 

To your hydration.

Dev Chengkalath

The purpose of athletic training is to elicit a specific physiological response. This change then leads to improvements on a specific athletic task. For example, a football player training sudden changes in direction is then able to dodge a tackle because of this newfound ability.

What is often confusing to coaches and athletes themselves is the expected training outcome.

What athletic changes should be expected from a training session?

How can these changes be broken down and classified?

The following is a list of potential athletic training effects and the general timelines in which they occur.

• Acute Effects: These are considered the changes that occur immediately during the training.
• Immediate Effects: These are the changes related to a single training session and are seen fairly rapidly post-workout.
• Cumulative Effects: These effects take place as a response to consistent training.
• Delayed Effects (Chronic Effects): These effects are noted after a specified time period.
• Partial Effects: These effects emerge as a response to a single training activity 
• Residual Effects: These effects are the retained changes that occur after the exercise has been discontinued, and past the time frame when adaptation can take place.

By keeping these classifications in mind when formulating or reviewing a training program, the coach or athlete can better gauge the current outcomes and compare them to the expected outcomes. 

Using these can serve as a method to monitor training sessions and aim for higher levels of athletic performance while staying injury free.

Train Hard.