Charlie Weingroff Notes from Southwest Michigan Strength Clinic

A Systemic Approach to Athletic Evaluation

"The Greatest Improvements is made by the man who works most intelligently."  Bill Bowerman.

As therapist/coaches, we have to do stuff.  Compete at something, want to get better at something.  Don't forget what it's like to want to improve and excel.  

General physical prep is where most of our efforts will be.  As human we have minimum level competencies.  Athletes have Wide level.  Have a way to measure.  Baseline can be some thing like FMS but must be bodyweight, minimally cued and modifiable.  

Evaluation principles.  1. Movement  2. Preparation  3.Sensory Systems.

Movement.  

Locomotion testing.  Crawl-roll-step-lunge-walk-shuffle-skip-run.  

look at simple to complex, slow to fast, closed loop to open loop.  Can measure it by time or quality of movement.  

Power is single expression.  Capacity is multiple expression.  Various jump tests can give us indicators for both power and capacity.  Energy systems (all three are doing work).  

Capacity is important as clinicians.  If you're out of shape that can contribute to fibrous tissue.  Don't have the ability to use oxygen as all.  Aerobic fitness can normalize the nervous system.  Things don't hurt as much when you have good aerobic fitness.  (this doesn't mean you have to run)  

Preparation:

Measure what we can measure.  Get some biomarkers.  (objectively measured as an indicator of normal biological processes)  

Examples are omega wave, heart rate in the AM, grip strength tools like hand dynometer or bottoms up kettle bell press, vertical jump.

Are you ready to train or do you need to do some low CNS activity.  Don't dump on your patient/athlete more if their already down.  

Sensory:

5 senses (sight, touch, taste, hear, smell)  All are CNS driven and all cause a reaction. 

Vision is underrated.  20/20 vision is no longer the best.  Elite guys are showing up as 20/10 and 20/8.  Have your athletes tested.  

2nd Talk

Understanding Joint Centration (applying DNS to rehab and training)

Control in the presence of change is stability.  Motor control and timing of tonic and phasic muscles.

Joint centration allows maximum amount of load bearing.  Balance of mobilizers and stabilizers working on a joint.  Balance of agonist/antagoinst. 

Babies and the strongest,fastest people in the world do it the same.  Joint positions.  No one teaches babies.  That is why DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) is powerful stuff. 

4x4 Matrix is 4 postures and 4 variances with them.

Postures are 1.unloaded (prone, supine, on side) 2. quadruped 3. Kneeling  4. Vertical.  What can change is the following.  

1.  position 2. static vs dynamic 3. load vs no load  4.  assistance vs no assistance.

Examples.  May have poor hip centration in vertical squat, but be good in quadruped.  May give assistance to the vertical squat with a band around the knees and restore hip centration this way.

Getting the diaphragm working is a major goal.  Any of the 4x4 matrix can be used.  Powerful stuff.  Diaphragm when fully engaged will get the pelvic floor engaging as well.  Breath over the brace while lifting as McGill would say.

There is a time for bracing and a time for not.  Air squat should not have the same effort as an all out barbell squat.  Biomechanicly exactly the same, but nervous system should not be.  That's why biomechanics don't always give you all the truth.

Exercises that require all out bracing like hard style kettlebells, but perhaps should follow that up with something like Indian clubs where there is flow and big movement.  

If you train tonic muscles to be phasic muscle you are lost (I've been guilty of this)  Example Glute med is a tonic muscle, yet most exercises to challenge them are making them into phasic muscles. Clam shells/band walks.

Loss of centration when phasic muscles are forced to stabilize.  

Some interesting points that didn't really fit into the flow of my recap but I found interesting.

  Biceps can be used as a thoracic extensor with crawling.  

Taylor sits with young girls may be one of the reasons girls are predisposed to ACL injuries. (note to self, don't let my daughter sit this way)

Babies from 3-14 months development go through all phases of the Turkish Get Up.   

Deep toe flexors get active, has a very negative effect on the entire body.  Try yoga toes to walk around in.

T4-8 is an important area for mobility as it is highly proprioceptive.  

Never seen serratus anterior winging without pain resolve with push ups plus.  Put a heavy bell in their hand overhead.  Watch the winging scapula disappear.  

Brain loves extremities crossing midline, it's like candy, and their is more to PNF then just contract relax.  

Skipping in multiple planes of motion barefoot is a great for the nervous system.  Foot is loaded in multiple planes, lots of mechanoreceptors active, crossing the body is involved with things like skipping carioca.  I used to always think skipping with arm movements was a waste of time in my warm ups in college.  Now I can see the merit.  

Exercises that are crawling based don't need as much time to recover from.  Think pulling heavy ass weight as you crawl.

Everything is brain driven.  

These were most of the notes I was able to jot down.  The room we were in lost lights during the presentation so I was writing in the dark.  If you see my hand writing you would think I have an upper motor lesion, now compound that with scribbling in the dark.  Charlie is one smart dude, if you get a chance to hear him speak, definitely jump at it.