Today, I am reposting an article that I wrote back in May 2011. This article is called "What Do You Do to Better Yourself?" It was a favorite for many clients and readers and thought it would be fun to revisit it. At the time I wrote this, I was still in massage therapy school, was still training out of someone else's gym and was still recovering from my injury and working my way back to heavy powerlifting. I have accomplished a lot since I wrote this and some things have changed so it is pretty cool to read through it and see how I've progressed on some of the points and goals that I talk about in it. If you've read it before, then ask yourself what you've improved on since then or if its your first time reading it, set some new goals for yourself. I'll go over some of the things that I've accomplished or improved upon at the end of the article. Enjoy!!

    Taking care of one's self is of utmost importance to be fully successful and happy in life.  If you don't have your health, everything else down the line will suffer.  If you can't take care of yourself, then good luck taking care of other people and improving their health. 

    Being a strength and conditioning coach and trainer, I am a very busy person.  I train clients 8 to 10 hours a day, five days a week on average.  Sometimes that is nonstop without any real break.  On top of this, I usually spend at least a few hours a week designing and updating programs for current and new clients.  I spend a decent number of hours keeping up with reading and research.  As if that doesn't seem like enough, I also spend time writing either for my website, my newsletter column or articles for other publications.  Oh yea, now I am also going to massage therapy school three nights a week and work in the clinic every other weekend, and on top of that, need time to practice and study.  With all of these things going on, there is no way that I could ever find time for myself right?  Wrong!!!!!  There is never too little time to take care of yourself.  If I didn't take care of myself, not only would I be a complete fraud, but everything else that I do would go downhill.  It all comes down to prioritizing and managing one's time. 

    Too many people make too many excuses for why they are unhappy, out of shape, in pain, don't have time for this or that and blah blah blah.  The fact of the matter is that it is on the individual to make things happen with their lives and to figure out ways to make themselves happy.  Many people work jobs that they hate, get no exercise (and if they do its usually useless exercise), eat like crap, and forget how to enjoy life. 

    Not too long ago, I read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.  It is an all around great book.  A great principle he discusses in his book is "The Time Management Matrix."  This matrix is made up of four quadrants.  Quadrant I consists of urgent, important activities such as crises and deadline driven problems.  Quadrant II consists of important activities that are not urgent such as prevention activities, relationship building, planning, educational activities and opportunity recognition.  Quadrant III consists of urgent activities that are not important such as interruptions, some phone calls, popular activities and some mail.  Quadrant IV is made up of activities that are neither urgent nor important, such as TV, video games, bar hopping, some mail, busy work, time wasters, etc.  

    People who manage their lives by crises spend about 90% of their time in quadrant one and the rest of their time in quadrant IV.  This is not healthy or ideal.  These people deal with excess stress and burnout which leads to a host of other problems (i.e. fat gain, depression.) To try to combat these problems, they go to IV and drink, smoke, etc. which ultimately makes things worse.

    There are also lots of people who spend most of their time in quadrants III and IV.  In III, they work on things that are urgent but not important.  They think they are working on important things but in all reality are basing their own priorities on the priorities and expectations of others. In IV, they are basically doing useless and unproductive things.  "People who spend most of their time in III and IV basically lead irresponsible lives."  In my experience, these are the same people who constantly ridicule others for actually having goals and passions in life because they have none themselves. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. "Effective people stay out of quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren't important."  By spending more time in Quadrant II, crises and pressing matters in Quadrant I can be limited and Quadrant I will be shrunk.  "Effective people are not problem minded, they're opportunity minded." 

    In my opinion, spending lots of time in Quadrant II is essential to success. Continuing education through reading and research, taking care of your body with exercise, working on your career or business, building important relationships, etc. are all very important activities that improve the quality of life and lead to success.  These are activities that lead towards a major goal. Everybody has to deal with urgent, important activities from Quadrant I but when preventative measures are taken, these things will be limited.  And obviously, everybody needs a little bit of time here and there for pleasure activities from Quadrant IV; most people just overdo it, A LOT.  If you haven't spent time today doing productive things from Quadrant II then get out of Quadrant IV; you haven't earned it.  So what do I do to manage my time and live an effective life each day?
 

    First off, I have big goals and aspirations that I plan on attaining and I WILL reach them.  Nobody will stop me.  I am sure to do multiple things each day to bring myself one step closer to those goals.  If a day goes by where I don't do something to better myself as a person or professional, then to me that is a wasted day.

    I absolutely love working out and training.  I haven't had a gap in my own training in over ten years. I've competed in powerlifting for over five years and have consistently trained at least four to five days a week for as long as I can remember.  I lift weights, perform conditioning, perform appropriate mobility exercises and stretches, do my appropriate corrective and prehab exercises, do my soft tissue work through the use of foam rolling and other various tools and work hard week in and week out to stay in great shape.  I eat clean at least 90% of the time and to keep my sanity, endulge with a couple of cheat meals here and there. I am always sure to eat at least five to six meals a day and am sure to get plenty of protein, quality fats, lots of water, veggies, fruits, fish oils and any vitamins I may miss.  Being strong, lean and staying in good shape definitely helps mentally with everything else in life.  It is a lifestyle and has to be a long term, ongoing practice to be in top condition.  Too many people want the quick fix and easy way out.  Having a good, fit body just doesn't work like that. It takes years of hard work and dedication.  My training is one of the top priorities in my life and has been for years.  And guess what, I still have a LONG way to go and  A LOT to learn.  It is a continuous journey and I am sure to do something everyday to inch myself further on down the road, whether thats an intense, balls out workout or an off day where I utilize some tissue work for recovery.
   
    I suffered a back injury that "set me back" with powerlifting.  Did I just sit around because I couldn't deadlift max singles for a little while?  No, I busted my ass bringing up weak points and fixing movement faults that contributed to the injury and previously held back my numbers. I utilized as many recovery modalities as possible to help with rehab. Now, I am almost back to normal and am going to come back better and stronger than ever.   To me, the injury was a required wake up call and stepping stone in disguise to help me get to the next level with my lifting.  I am too driven towards my goals with training to let something stop me.  As a matter of fact, I have been feeling stronger than I ever have before and have been hitting some nice PR's as of late. 

    While my own training is very important to me, my career also is.  I am sure to do something every day to get better at what I do and to advance my career.  I work hard training lots of clients 5 to 6 days a week, reading books and articles, writing, going to class 3 nights a week, attending seminars and doing anything that will help me learn and get better.  Dan John says "If it is important, do it every day."  Call me crazy, but learning is extremely important; therefore, I do it every day.  Bill Hartman is pretty much the smartest man I've ever had the opportunity to spend time around.  Everyday, he used to ask me what I learned that day.  I took that to heart and now am sure that I can answer that question to myself every single day.  There are a lot of knowledgeable people out there that are a lot better than me.  I would be stupid if I didn't make the effort to soak up every single piece of knowledge that I possibly can.  There is always more to learn and there is always room to get better and grow.  People who "know everything about everything" rarely get very far in life. How many people do you know who actually spend time reading something educational? And I'm not talking about Shape, Muscle and Fitness or Glamour.
   
    I am also just finishing up "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.  This book is basically a classic business and success book that many successful people have read.  In one section, he discusses some of the major causes of failure.  One reason that jumped out at me that I have witnessed in people many times is the following.  "Lack of a well defined purpose in life.  There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal at which to aim.  Ninety eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed had no such aim.  Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure."  NINETY EIGHT OUT OF ONE HUNDRED!!  That is pretty huge.  If more people had goals, aspirations and passions, the world might be a happier place. 

    If you don't currently have something you are aspiring towards, perhaps you should do some soul searching.  I think that a lot of people have things that they want to do or once wanted to do but just didn't have the courage to make them happen.  Now is the time to make something happen.  Its on you.  Simple minded people will always try to bring you down to their level because they can't understand what you are doing.  Guess what?  Screw em.  Do your thing and don't let anybody stop you or hold you back.  Wanna get in shape?  Get in the gym and make it happen.  Wanna work for yourself?  Find out what you need to do and make it happen.  Wanna get better at your profession or better yourself as a person?  Turn the tv off and pick up a friggin book for once.  Make things happen for yourself!!!!  Forget all the haters!!!
    

_     I absolutely love what I do for a living.  I am able to do something every single day that I am passionate about.  I help all varieties of people from all walks of life move better, feel better and perform better.  It is a 24-7 deal for me.  I truly feel blessed to be able to say that I get to do something that I love every day.  I do a lot of work with muscular imbalances and corrective exercise and am absolutely intrigued by soft tissue work and its effectiveness to help with these things. It truly is amazing stuff! I have learned tons through school this year. Massage therapy is going to be a huge addition to what I do and I love doing it after ~8 months of practice; however, it is one more chunk of time that is taken up and one more activity that could possibly add in fatigue.  This makes staying on top of my own recovery modalities and time management even more important. 
  
    Managing my time wisely allows me to stay on top of all of these things and still have some downtime.  If I have clients 8 hours and class 4 hours one day, I simply set aside 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there to get programs done.  If I have fewer clients one day, I'll plan my workout there and get some reading and massage practice during any breaks.  If I know I am going to be booked solid for most of the week, I mark time off to get my own workouts in.  Since my weeks are so busy, I almost always take weekends off (though sometimes I have clinic for massage).  This allows me to get effective workouts in, catch up on reading and programs, get odd jobs done such as washing the car, doing things around the house, etc and downtime to watch a movie, go out with friends and just relax.  Taking leisure time here and there during the week is important also as going non stop 24-7 all the time would be a surefire road to burnout.  What helps me is the fact that I enjoy what I do and enjoy all of the reading and continuing ed outside of training so I generally don't get stressed out. 

    One other major thing that is overlooked by many people is the importance of sleep.  I usually try to be sure to get to bed at a decent time and not to schedule myself too early so that I can get enough sleep and recover from everything that I do.  I don't think I would get too much accomplished if I walked around like a zombie all day. 

    If you have something that you want to accomplish, make it happen! If you don't have any goals then think of some.  Get a solid workout in, read a quality book, do something special for someone you love, work on your business, do your job better today than yesterday, eat a healthier meal, do something positive to improve and better your life!!

    In conclusion, I ask you: What have you done today to make yourself better?
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    So hopefully this article motivated you or remotivated you to do something great. Since the writing of this article, I have finished massage therapy school, taken and gotten certified in two Active Release Techniques courses, opened my own facility, have gotten back into powerlifting competition, have contributed to a great continuing education product (MIR), have read many more books, attended many more seminars and continue to bust my ass to get better physically, mentally and professionally every single day. Looking at this list of accomplishments, I am pumped and excited to see what I might add to it in another year and a half. I don't write this to brag or boast, etc. I'm proud of what I've done but have a long way to go. I write this to provide some motivation so that perhaps you will get that extra boost that you need to make something big happen for you.

    If I were to write this article today, time management activities would change to actually doing soft tissue work instead of school, and working on my business would be added in. Training clients, my own training, continuing education and studying, etc. all continue to be solid and grow daily. I have new numbers I want to hit in powerlifting, goals for expansion and improvement with my facility and business, more courses I want to take and improvements I want to make as a person. Lately I have been trying to take more time to relax and have fun, which is good to do if you've earned it. Every day is one more stop in the journey and I don't know that the path will ever truly end. Why? Because there is always more to learn, always better numbers to hit and always improvements to make.

    At the time I am writing this, I have a had a very productive day. From 6am to 11am, I trained multiple clients nonstop. At 11:30, I did some manual therapy. From 12 to 2, I trained. From 2 to 3, I studied. From 3 to 6:30, I trained more clients. From 6:30 to 7, I got some stuff done around the gym. For the past half hour or so, I have worked on this reposting/new writing. After this, I am going to go get a conditioning workout in for 20-30 minutes. Then I am going to study again for a little while. Then I will relax and maybe catch a show or game for awhile before I read “The Law of Success” until I get ready to fall asleep. And yes, there was food eaten throughout the day. To some people, this might seem crazy. To me, its just another day closer to reaching more goals.  Instead of making excuses like so many do, prioritize your time, set goals and work towards them. Fyi, similar to training; after a heavy and busy day like today, tomorrow will be a lighter load.  We want success, not burnout :)  Train some clients, get a workout in, write programs, etc.  Just like training, you can't go crazy hard with work every single day either.  Work and train hard, but also work and train smart.

    Surround yourself with others who think like this and you will go far. I am blessed to have a lot of positive, successful minded people within my circle that help with advice, motivation and success and would not be where I am without their help. Many people out there surround themselves with too much negativity and it becomes locked into their minds. Don't let others bring you down. Spend time with people who bring you up and who are better or more knowledgable than you. I see this time and again with clients. Those who are the most successful reaching their goals always have a solid support group both in and out of the gym. This is a must. Make every day a great one, keep getting better and make sure those around you are of the same mindset. Get after it.

So again, I ask you. What have you done today to make yourself better?

This month's featured client is Palmer Middlecauf.  I've had the privilege of working with Palmer for about 3 years, starting off at his house in Kenosha when he was around 10 years old.  Palmer is a competitive figure skater.  These past 6 months or so, he has put forth more effort than I have ever seen from him and has a new determination that is great to work with and see.  His hard work is paying off and it shows in his strength, his posture and his on ice performance.  Palmer competed this past weekend and he and his partner qualified for Nationals.  He has come a long way since we first started out and it is always awesome to watch younger athletes adapt and grow both with their bodies/training and as people as they mature.  He is now a teenager and since he has a great base of patterning and structural adaptations under him, he will be able to push to awesome levels with his off ice training and will become unstoppable on the ice.  I can't wait to watch.  Congratulations to Palmer.  Keep up all of the hard work and you will go far!! Get ready to dominate Nationals.  

Here is a video of one the dance performances that he and his partner did.  One thing that I can definitely notice in these performances compared to some of his earlier stuff is the great improvement he has in hip and pelvic control and also his overall posture, especially up top. He is beginning to own his movement, which is a huge deal.  This has shown both in the weight room and on the ice.  I have an article I put together on off ice training for figure skating and will post that soon so stay tuned. 

    If you've ever read any of my writing, you've probably come to realize that I love learning, studying, getting better and perfecting my craft. I love what I do and make it a point to learn and get better every single day. I recently attended my second ART course in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. For those of you that don't know, Active Release Techniques is a specialized treatment that involves the practitioner putting a very specific tension on an adhesion while a muscle is shortened, followed by the muscle actively being lengthened through its range of motion away from the adhesion. This method is extremely effective for freeing up fibrotic tissue that is causing pain and movement faults. (read my Got CID? Article if you haven't already for more on this) There are hundreds of specific protocols to free up muscle, ligament and nerve entrapments with an upper extremity, lower extremity and spine course making up the big 3. I did the upper course last year and just completed the spine course. Now, before I got into massage therapy, ART was one of the big things that I wanted to be able to do and was a huge driver for me making the final jump into the world of soft tissue. What I would like to do here is provide a little review about the ART courses I've done and what I've experienced with it as a treatment modality.

    This technique is very similar to an old school method simply known as “pin and stretch.” Some people seem to think that ART is nothing more than pin and stretch with a patent on the name. In my experience, this could not be farther from the truth. ART treatments involve very specific palpation, contact, tension and motion with each protocol being unique with the specific entrapment that is being treated. Over the years and through tons of experience, Dr. Leahy (creator of ART) and colleagues have discovered many common/specific entrapments that occur between fibers of a single muscle, fibers of adjacent muscles, fibers of a muscle and a nerve, fibers of muscles and ligaments and even joint capsules. If a practitioner is good at finding local entrapment sites through touch and palpation and is able to perform the treatment correctly, it is insane how effective this treatment can be. Chronic pain can often be ridden of in a few treatments. Specific protocols have been developed to treat common entrapment areas for many common problems such as carpal tunnel, plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, back pain, headaches and issues associated with many activities such as desk jobs and multiple athletic activities.

    What is also unique about this treatment is the “combo” movements that it employs in order to facilitate relative movement among adjacent tissues. For example, the rhomboids and serratus posterior superior can get stuck on eachother and cause issues in the upper back. With ART, you can get them to move and slide relative to one another, assisting scapular and neck movement. This is not something that can be done very effectively with your typical stationary massage modalities.

    Now, ART is not the end all be all of soft tissue treatments. There are many great tools and modalities that can and should be used for different cases.  In my opinion, it is an amazing tool that most manual therapists should most definitely have in their tool box. It is definitely one of the most effective ways to treat areas that need release. The tension combined with the active motion not only effectively breaks up fibrotic adhesions but also stimulates the body neuroligically and can awaken and retrain sleeping muscles.

    Another great thing about ART is the mastery of anatomy. Since the protocols and the treaments are so specific, you have to know your anatomy inside and out or you will be lost, suck at doing it and fail the course. You learn and get better with functional anatomy and learn how to develop a good contact and tension that treats tissues extremely effectively. Pretty much every muscle, nerve and ligament from the feet on up are involved in these treatment protocols and you have no choice but to get good with anatomy. With any manual treatment, the therapist should always know what they are touching and treating as very subtle mistakes can cause big effects on the body. As unfortunate as it is, this is not always the case with therapists.

    What this course will not do is teach the why behind the treatment. Sure, you are finding fibrotic areas with tissues and treating them, but you still need to be able to figure out WHY they are fibrotic. What caused them to have this issue? You need to have a solid assessment approach to determine what is going on with the body and movement as a whole in order to determine where your treatment should focus and then what should be included in the exercise program to prevent the issue from coming back. So someone has very tender scalenes full of adhesions and inflammation. Why are they like this? Maybe their breathing pattern is off and their diaphragm isn't working how it should be; therefore, the scalenes are working overtime to elevate the ribs all day and are a problem because of this. Treat the scalenes all you want but until you fix the breathing pattern, you'll be treating them over and over again. This is obviously just one example.

    That being said, IF you can figure out whats going on with the big picture, then ART is definitely one of the most effective modalities for helping to restore proper function and get rid of pain. The instructors will even come straight out and say this if you attend a course, which I like.

                                   Releasing these                 and                          activating this    can be a beautiful relationship             

    Now, for a little review on the course itself. I've attended the upper extremity course in Chicago last year and the spine course in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. They were both amazing learning experiences. Now, when you sign up for a course, you get a book and dvd to study and practice with before attending. I usually spend a few months going over the material so that I have it pretty well mastered before attending. There are just under or over 100 some protocols for each different course. If you don't know the stuff before going, good luck! So you learn a ton before even attending. What amazed me is the significant amount that I improved my contact and skill after a 3-4 day hands on seminar. The instructors at both courses were amazing and know the body inside and out. I improved my ability to locate and palpate specific tissues, improved my specific contact and tension for each specific treatment and improved myself as a hands on therapist ridiculously. Like anything else, the more you practice the better you get. So the course helps a ton and you then take those skills and perfect them on clients. I have personally had great success using ART to get people out of pretty chronic pain and even acute pain or a movement fault from a bad movement on, say, a set of squats. When combined with the proper movement and exercise training, this stuff is wicked effective. Forearm problems, back issues, headaches, shifting or rotating in a squat, poor hip extension; you name it and this stuff can help.



    Whats cool though is that you even help other modalities outside of ART. My touch and palpation skills have improved so much that I feel that I have gotten better with other modalities as well, which is a very great thing!!

    Another great thing about these courses, like many courses, is all of the other great motivated professionals that you meet and network with. I met lots of great people in San Diego, many of whom I will probably stay in contact with. Great strength coaches and therapists like Kevin Neeld, Brad Lecraw, John Rusin, Jeremy Ward and Tara Parsons to name a few. Everybody always has something to offer and advice to give out so between the instructors and other students, you have no choice but to get better. I even had a great time just hanging out with new friends when we were done for the day. Just a great overall experience! Any time I attend a seminar, I always come out of it feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to make myself, my clients and my business better than ever. This San Diego seminar definitely did that and more.

    So, if you are a manual therapist in any way, shape or form, I highly recommend taking an ART course. It will take your mastery of anatomy to another level, improve your touch and hands on skills and give you a great tool to put in your toolbox that can help improve client's lives significantly.

    Next up for me is the Postural Restoration Institute's myokinematic and respiration courses. I have heard and seen some amazing things from their stuff and look forward to growing my toolbox with some more new skills. I also plan on checking out David Weinstock's Neurokinetic Therapy and would like to do one of Thomas Myers' Anatomy Trains/BodyReading/Fascial Release courses as well. Always so much more to learn!!! I just turned 27 yesterday and as I think back to how much I've learned and gotten better at what I do since I started working with the body at my age now, I can only imagine how much I can learn and get better with by the time I'm, say, 37 and so on, so forth. It has been, continues to be and will be an exciting journey for sure. I look forward to every step of the way.

    In closing there are some main points that I have taken away from the courses that might help you. Some are new, some are things I've improved with.

    *Use a flat contact, don't poke your client

    *Generate tension, don't compress. Do this using your whole body, not the thumb or hand.

    *Use an appropriate amount of tension for the individual, the tissue and the treatment at hand

    *For many treatments, allow the movement to help create tension. Too much on your own can hurt the client

    *Give tissue time to free up. Don't rush

    *Don't forget about breathing. Deep breathing helps tissue to relax easier.

    *If you are not sure if you are on the right muscle, have your client fire it and get good and differentiating what is what.

    *Understand the anatomical layers and know how to differentiate the amount of depth you use with your contact. (i.e. erectors deep to rhomboids deep to trapezius in the upper back)

    *Learn how to feel nerves and whether or not they are sliding correctly (This is one area I'm working on getting better with)

    *Develop a feel for relative motion between adjacent tissues

    *Don't do more work than is needed to get the job done.  Just like training, doing too much can be detrimental rather than helpful

    *If something is not holding, then look elsewhere to fix the problem

    *Understand repetitive motion injuries and how they change tissue. Read my Got CID? article for more on that.


I could go on forever but these are some big bang points that, without getting too specific and in depth, can help out with many people.

Get better everyday and enjoy the journey.