She Pulled the Pin!

It was around this time two years ago I received a text from a client saying she had a really sore foot and wasn’t able to run. It was the morning I was flying out to the DVRT Master Trainers Summit in Las Vegas. At this time, I wasn’t able to assist, but what I did do is refer out. The GP called for an MRI and the results that came back were something a runner would never want to hear.

“You can’t run”.

Wait I have heard that before. Read here about my come back from knee surgery.

Diagnosis: A non-displaced ligamentous / capsular avulsion at the calcaneocuboid joint, basically a VERY SORE FOOT. The recommendation; a boot for 8 weeks, no running and strengthen.

“You need to strengthen your glutes, calves and foot”.

OKAY!

As good as boots are to immobilise the foot and needed for cases like this, they are extremely harsh on your gait. Generally people find over time issues in their hips and lower back due to the compensation when walking. You can try and match a shoe height to the boot height, but it is very difficult. Determined to hit the track when the boot was removed, Beth was given advice to work on strengthening the glutes, hips and calves.

But, was this the solution……..

Could we do more? Well the Boot was ‘GONE’ and running it was…..we now programmed to gradually build the kilometres with no pain. Beth was on track for the SUNNY Noosa 1/2 Marathon.

What happened next brought me to tears…….a text message on race day with what should of been her finishing time!

“I broke down at 8km in so much pain, I couldn’t keep going”.

Instantly things go rushing through my head, what happened, was something not looked at..........I repeat, “WAS SOMETHING NOT LOOKED AT”.

I remember thinking we got her up to 18km no pain! WHY, WHY, WHY????

Ok so I was missing something but what was it. At the time, I couldn’t work it out so I referred out for the 2nd time. Plan 1 didn’t work! What are we missing??? 1st the podiatrists, which then lead to another health professional. I trusted my judgement to refer out but I was now out of the loop.

Beth was frustrated and needed answers and I needed a solution! I went back to the books for answers, infact I went to Josh Henkin and said I need to start reading again, I’m finding this problem. He sent me the title of the below book and WOW did it open my eye’s and give me not just a better understanding but……….

Read more.

That’s it, that’s the answer I was looking for.

But was it too late…I had referred out it’s now almost 12 months on until we get an email.

Dear Cam,

I want to thank you for all your help and support however I have spent $$$$ since I last saw you on further treatments and still no better. I have decided to stop all treatments with all health professionals.

Hmmmmmmmmmm!

My reply: Thank you for the email…..BUT I’M NOT GIVING UP AND WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, we are going to reassess.

At this point I had just completed my Ultra Marathon after knee surgery and knew if DVRT could fix me, I knew we could give this a CRACK.

I said to Beth that I had read this really cool book and it aligned with everything we spoke about within the DVRT system.

Wait that can’t be ‘Glutes, can it’????

John Gibbons a UK Osteopath in his book ‘The Vital Glute’ talks about the importance of glute strength and how everything connects together.

But wait, she was doing glute bridges and foot exercises.

CONNECTS TOGETHER......well there was the missing link.

So we retested the glute firing pattern. The right side fired ok but the left side (pain side) the pattern was hamstring, NO GLUTE, opposite low back.

“NO GLUTE?”........Well there’s your issue!

John Gibbons talks about the cylinders firing in a car, if the mechanic puts the leads on the wrong way it will run but not that efficient. This is no different to our body and I quote John Gibbons, P70, ‘The Vital Glute’, “In our case, if we are particularly active but have a misfiring dysfunction, our bodies will also break down, ultimately causing us pain”.

So what did we do!

We sent her away for 4 weeks and asked her to do 100 squats a day! With a dysfunctional hip..

I DON’T THINK SO!

But what we did do is work on a few of the exercises below with the importance of connecting the upper and low body together through grip strength and firing the lats, glutes and core.

The glute began to work……. so we continued….

We threw a lot at it as Beth need answers and best of all results.

From mobility to lunging patterns we were gaining momentum quickly. Strength gains began and so did the kilometres.

And then????

Sunday 13th October 2019 THE BEST PART!

What went from an initial foot issue, to an ongoing injury, to PULLING THE PIN!

Beth regained hope and always trusted the system and Beth ran her first marathon ‘Injury Free’.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

The journey with us started 2 years ago, but Beth’s real journey started 6 years ago. Check out her post race speech here

What I learnt was, I needed to back myself trust that it would come together. Being able to learn from the best is a real honour and now we get to share that with Australia.

2019 Master Trainers Summit

Want to learn more and how you can assess your clients to take them to new heights? We will be covering this and so much more in our upcoming workshop in November. To register follow the link!

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Trainer Smarter Not Harder

Bouncing back!

A month or so ago I woke to the excitement of Josh posting about how Ryan Reynolds has been using the Ultimate Sandbag for his upcoming Deadpool movie.  Jessica a HUGE fan of all movies Ryan Reynolds was over the moon the Ultimate Sandbag was being used in his training.   See the full article HERE

This got me thinking as I prepare for our upcoming Certifications.  Our previous workshop at Hustle Fitness Sydney, I broke the Ice with "Introduce yourself and tell us who your favourite Super Hero is".  

I know, I know you have probably been asked this question before, however I thought it was quite appropriate as 'Avengers' was on the TV the night before the workshop. 

More to the point it was one of the responses I was given that has stuck with me.  The owner of the business said his favourite Super Hero was his Dad, which I thought was a wonderful answer and set the seen for an awesome workshop.

My wife (Bec) has watched my journey grow over the past 7 years and my passion grow stronger and stronger for the DVRT system.  Going back a little over 12 months, Bec not by choice under went major abdominal surgery.  Little did she know that everyday lifting, movement and the things she took for granted became really challenging.

Determined to get going again her first goal was in six weeks to get strong enough to get on a plane and fly for 20hr to the Arbonne International Conference in Las Vegas.  After the first couple of weeks of rest we would spend 5-10 minutes a day on the floor completing ISO pull exercises to start activating the core.  A simple movement using the Ultimate Sandbag and squeezing the floor with her feet was enough to active her tummy muscles.

Making it to Las Vegas and having an AWESOME time, the next goal was hitting the sunny sandy beaches of the Gold Coast for the Australian Conference.  This is where we started to really spend more time on movement and was able to start seeing big gain.  

Still having some challenges with movement we had to think lateral and play around with things like the Dead Bug and the Glute Bridge as raising of the legs to high still showed some weakness.  Until you get your hands on an Ultimate Sandbag you don't realise how much you can get from 'PULLING THE HANDLES APART'

Pulling the handles apart activated her lats and core, which allowed for a stable pelvis giving Bec the ability to start increasing the movement in her arms and legs.  We have a running phrase at one of our ladies sessions 'Proximal stability, gives distal mobility', meaning if we work on strengthening the core and muscles closest to our spine our arms and legs will move more efficient.  

A huge stepping stone, creating tension to allow the legs to come off the ground.

Adding the Ultimate Sandbag into traditional movements such as the Dead bug and the Bird Dog not only brings the body together to connect as one but gets us results faster.  No we are not asking you to throw the USB's or move them really faster, in fact we are asking you to slow it down and create as much tension or friction as you can depending on the movement you are completing. 

Being able to use the core Ultimate Sandbag as a tool of feedback allowed tension to be achieved in the right places for a beautiful corrective exercise.

Having a tool or piece of equipment is one thing, but knowing what to do with it to train and move with intent is another thing.  That's why we are really excited that 12 months on Bec is now able to achieve what you see in the below video.  It actually bought a tear to my eye when we were filming this workout because I would honestly say 12 months ago we had a vision and when it all comes together it is EXCITING.

Not only can you use the Ultimate Sandbag for corrective exercises you can also put it into awesome workouts with true functional meaning.  It's now your chance to take advantage and learn how you can train at home or in the gym.  Reply to this blog and we will send you the education discount course code to apply to your next DVRT Ultimate Sandbag course.

Click the image and check out or up coming workshops and certifications.

MORE IMPORTANT THAN NOT GIVING UP

Never give up

Working in the fitness industry, as a lot of fitness professionals will know it can be a life changing experience for our clients and on the flip side and extremely rewarding position for us.  You get excited when you see your clients achieve and reach mile stones and you definitely feel for them when....it just doesn't work out for them on the day.  

We've all heard the phrase, "you need to get back on the horse". Well when we have a set back in life sometimes it's not that easy.  We can push and push and push our clients to give it another go but at the end of the day, it takes determination to 'never give up'.

Recently posted on the Ultimate Sandbag Fitness Facebook page was the above image our photographer captured of myself and a client training in the 4EVERfitness training studio.  To the naked eye this image is of a coach and his client completing an Ultimate Sandbag front loaded squat, but here's where an image can mean so much more.

Born with a congenital orthopaedic issue where his femur or thigh bones are internally rotated or both of his knees face inwards. Specialists said to him as a little boy the option of surgery would mean breaking his hip, resetting and being wheel chair bound for 12 months with the potential oflearning to walk again.  Opting out as a young boy he played high level cricket and followed his passion basketball.  Knocking his knees together when running and riding, he was not able to perform at his best, let alone knee pain and tightness through his pelvic muscles was never ending.

As time when on he learned to deal and adapt with his issue and for years as a young adult would train himself at home on a multi function weight machine.  I approached him a little over 12 months ago and asked how his training was progressing. To my surprise he said, “Great, I have been maxing out my machine for 12 months”. “WHAT” I replied.  I was shocked to hear he had stayed at the same weight for this long.  He went on to tell me he would love to run but it caused him pain and as his weight training didn’t cause him grief he wanted to continue.  I could read in his face that he was frustrated and wanted change. He was stuck and didn’t know what to do.

So what did we do!

We set up a plan and introduced him to functional training. Being a DVRT Master instructor, I felt confident that using the DVRT system we could create some pretty amazing changes. Setting up a plan of progressions, identifying and addressing his specific issues we got to work. Did it work? Well here he is today and what a difference.

So what changed???

We started working on ..............

Wait! The real question is what HAS changed.  As you can see from the picture above this is Dan’s very first ½ marathon in 36 degree C temperatures, he’s completed a 10 day charity ride from Adelaide to Ocean Grove a little over 1000km and best thing yet is he has shot over his weight limit of 60lb in the Ultimate Sandbag Clean and Press Challenge knocking out 40 reps at 80lb in 5 minutes.

Writing this blog gives me goose bumps thinking of how far he has coming and the hurdles he has jumped to get him to where he is today.

The take home message here is have a vision, voice it and listen to your client.  We all get hooked up with the latest fads and crazes and forget to listen to number one.....the clients goal. 

What DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training has given me is a great possibility of leading my clients down a path of success. An ability to more accurately and effectively identify their needs and address them. Having great will is part of the equation, having the right know how is the other! 

Until next time train safe and with purpose.

Cam Ward

DVRT Ultimate Sandbags Master Instructor

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Can you really use a sandbag to fix an injury??

Cam Ward, DVRT Master Australia (4EVERfitness)

Can you really use a sandbag to fix an injury??

As we sink our teeth deeper into the health and fitness industry it becomes more and more noticeable that it takes a team to fix a problem.  Having an issue looked at from all angles and levels goes a long way to educating your client to a better outcome.

About two months ago I wrote a blog telling my story of how I over came major knee surgery to running a marathon (Read Here).  Well the story continues with a success story about my wife and best friend Bec.

Bringing two beautiful children into our lives and setting up a functional training centre from home was the best decision we made.  Not easy but a great way to watch the kids grow up and allow them to see what it took to get mum pain free and moving.

Two years ago!!!, Yes two years, Bec is now on track to getting back to her passion of running.  Without getting to gory Bec had a dislodgment of her pubic bones and would find it hard walking or even moving around to complete her day to day activities.

Working with Bec’s Chiropractor we took to the studio and worked through the DVRT system using the Core and Power Ultimate Sandbags.  Now keep in mind kneeling or putting any asymmetric load through the pelvis was painful, which is why we started with glute bridging movements.  We wanted to fire the connection between the lats and the glutes to allow us to progress to more powerful movements later on.

Once we could achieve fluid movement through bridging patterns we advanced to cross pattern loading with one of the movements the bird dog. What we found interesting about this movement was when executing the traditional bird dog pain was experienced through the lateral hip.  However when introducing the lateral drag bird dog using the Core Ultimate Sandbag the pain disappeared.  

Huh! No pain! There must be a trick and why would this take away the pain.  Well what we did different is by dragging the Ultimate Sandbag along the ground it light up the lats and connected with the opposite glute giving us the cross pattern connection.  

BOOM follow the make and design of the body.  Like our walking or running patterns we move in cross patterns with the opposite arm and leg tracking forward as we move. Training the body as it is designed to move, not shockingly, improves strength, movement, and pain-free actions so much faster! 

This is different than how most people perform a Bird Dog. They create the same motion, but the intent is quite different. There isn’t the tension and connection to this chain that automatically “turns on” the right muscles!

Having an understanding of movement and how the body connects and communicates will go a long way to achieving your clients goals of pain free movement.  It’s a very humbling feeling when your client once struggled to stand on one leg to moving through the below patterns.