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An Uphill Battle to Reach the NFL

Posted on April 26, 2012 by John Elder

I had the privilege of working with two players last year who were training for the NFL Draft, Kyle Adams (who signed with the Chicago Bears) and Clint Boling (who was drafted in the 4th round by the Cincinnati Bengals).

This year, I worked with former Northwestern quarterback, Dan Persa. Dan is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around. It’s a good thing, because he definitely has an uphill battle in his attempt to make an NFL roster. As with any quarterback who isn’t one of the top handful of guys at the top of the list, there are questions about his size and arm strength. Scouts and team General Managers wonder if he’ll be able to stick at quarterback in the NFL. Many teams are looking at him to play other positions–special teams, defensive back, receiver–because he’s extremely quick and has great football instincts.

In addition to being questioned about his size and arm strength, Dan is also still trying to get back to 100% from a torn Achilles he suffered in the 2010 season:

 

 

Not only did Dan tear his Achilles, but he also tore his calf muscle (on the same side) twice during rehab! I first met Dan at D1 Sports Training here in Franklin this last February. I was talking with an A.R.T practitioner at D1 while both of us were watching Dan run. The A.R.T. practitioner noticed that “something wasn’t right” with Dan’s gait. I noticed that his right hip wasn’t functioning properly and he was rotating a LOT in his upper body when he walked. His body was compensating BIG TIME from the Achilles tear about 18 months prior. I gave Dan three e-cises, right then and there, asked him to run again, and his gait had completely changed. The A.R.T. practitioner looked at me, noticing something was totally different, and said, “What did you just do?”

I started seeing Dan once a week after that, and continue to see him via Skype now that he’s back home getting ready for training camp with whichever team he ends up with. He’s made huge improvements. His right hip continues to gain function while his upper-body rotation is virtually eliminated. He’s also gaining more function in his ankle and Achilles.

Dan will have to work hard to make an NFL team, but I believe his work ethic will pull him through! All of us at Egoscue Nashville wish Dan the best of luck this weekend during the NFL Draft!

QUESTION: Who are you wanting your team to take in the Draft this weekend?

 

 

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The 10-Year-Old Who Saved His Family

Posted on April 25, 2012 by John Elder

Photo Credit: Travis Dove for The New York Times

I’m NOT a fan of bullying, but for one family from Sanford, NC, it just might have saved their family tree. Meet, Marshall Reed, the boy who was told he was fat on the last day of fourth grade and then decided to do something about it.

Marshall had been bullied about his weight for years. To fortify himself for school, he took comfort in breakfasts of cans of roast beef hash, plus biscuits and gravy. That year, the school fitness report said his body mass index was 32.3. He was emphatically obese.

But it was the student’s jeer that pushed him over the edge. As Marshall walked slowly into the house that day, he said, “Mom, let’s do the opposite of ‘Super Size Me’ ” — Morgan Spurlock’s documentary about a McDonald’s-only diet for 30 days — “and be healthy for a month. I’m tired of this.”

Marshall brightened, adding, “We can call it Portion Size Me.”

Be sure to read the rest of Marshall’s story HERE…

What a remarkable accomplishment for such a young kid! His kids and grandkids will thank him for it, I’m sure.

QUESTION: What impresses you most about Marshall’s story?

 

 

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TD1: The Dominant One Challenge

Posted on April 24, 2012 by John Elder

I wanted to share with you all an amazing opportunity for high-school athletes. I want to introduce you to The Dominant One Challenge. Created by my friend and colleague, Kurt Hester, the winner of TD1 will be awarded a $50,000 college scholarship! 

Kurt is one of the leading strength and conditioning coaches in the nation, training the likes of Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning, just to name a few. Here is Kurt’s full bio:

Coach Hester credits his career to USA Weightlifting Coach Gayle Hatch and Speed Coach Tom Shaw as well as Louisiana Fountainbleau High School Football Coach Larry Favre and Louisiana Northshore High School Baseball Coach Rick Mauldin. Kurt Hester is a graduate of Tulane University where he majored in Exercise Science. He has been a Collegiate National Championship Strength Coach with Skip Bertman’s LSU Tiger Baseball teams in 1996 and 1997. The 1997 team was considered the strongest baseball team in America setting the all-time collegiate home run record of 188 runs which still stands today. Writers dubbed it “Gorilla Ball”. After leaving LSU Kurt opened his own training facility in Mandeville, Louisiana – HS2 Athletic Performance where he trained over 8,000 junior-high and high school athletes as well as over 100 professional athletes. After Hurricane Katrina, he joined D1 Sports Training as their National Director of Training. Kurt is a consultant to many top-25 college programs in football and baseball as well as to the NFL. His client list includes NFL stars: Kyle Vanden Bosch, Alan Faneca, Tim Tebow, Demico Ryans, Stephen Peterman, Dominick Raola, Chris Johnson, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, AJ Hawk and Mike Vrabel.

I’ve known Kurt for a few years now after meeting him through D1 Sports Training, and he and I see eye-to-eye on the importance of functional training. There is no doubt in my mind that the workouts you’ll be receiving through TD1 Challenge will be second-to-none. If you’re a high-school athlete, you own it to yourself to enroll in The Dominant One Challenge.

If you know someone who could benefit from a $50,000 college scholarship, please share this post with them! Be sure to “Like” TD1 Challenge on Facebook and follow them on Twitter as well.

QUESTION: Are you The Dominant One?

 

 

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Five Simple Ways to Eliminate Fatigue

Posted on April 23, 2012 by John Elder

Are you tired all the time? Do you feel like you’re never “caught up” on sleep? I know the feeling. About two years ago, I was tired. All the time. And it wasn’t just the I-need-a-quick-afternoon-nap kind of tired. It was the I-can’t-keep-my-eyes-open kind of tired. I was sluggish, and I could tell my body was operating extremely slowly.

In an attempt to get to the root cause of my fatigue, I made several changes, including seeking out the help of a nutritionist, a friend and colleague of mine in the health & wellness field.

Here are some of the changes that I made, and some things for you to focus on as well:

1. Posture

As I blogged last week, your posture has a huge impact on your metabolism. The two are inextricably linked. Your metabolism will only be as good as your posture is. Period. The better the posture, the higher the metabolism, and the more energy you have. The poorer the posture, the slower the metabolism, and the less energy you have. It’s pretty simple, really.

The key for me in this area was rededicating myself to doing Egoscue daily. While I was still pretty consistent with my menus (what we at Egoscue call your exercise routine), I wasn’t doing it daily. I was getting to it four to five days per week, on a good week. I can honestly say that I’m much more consistent now and most weeks will have at least six days of doing my menu. Try some Egoscue e-cises for FREE by CLICKING HERE.

2. Sleep

This may sound like an obvious one, but there really is something to getting to bed early. I’m not one of those guys who can get by on four to five hours of sleep per night. I need at least six hours of sleep, but I would prefer seven to eight. I know that my body (and yours) needs time to recuperate. I’ll caution you against thinking you can burn the candle at both ends and keep it up for very long. Get sleep. Get it early. And Get it often.

4. Exercise

The more I workout, the better I feel, and the more energy I have. While that may sound like an oxymoron, reread the first point from above. Remember that the faster the metabolism, the more energy you have, and working out has a direct impact on your metabolism!

3. Diet

After consulting with my nutritionist, and experimenting with eliminating certain foods and then bringing them back in, I’ve found that gluten has a huge impact on my body. I instantly become fatigued. If my wife and I choose beer and pizza for our date night, then I have to realize that I’ll get pretty sleepy, pretty quickly. While I still enjoy those foods, I have them more sparingly, and I understand the consequences going in.

4. Supplements 

I fell off the supplements wagon for a while, but I recently got back on track taking them regularly, and they’ve made a remarkable impact on how much more energy I have. Personally, I take Vitamin D, CoQ10, Fish Oil and a digestive enzyme that contains probiotics. Let me say that this is a good combination for me. You’ll have to see how your body reacts to those and/or that combination and find what’s right for you. But I can honestly say that I noticed the difference in my energy level after just a couple days of taking them.

QUESTION: What works for YOU when it comes to fighting fatigue?

 

 

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How Many of Your Friends are in Chronic Pain?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by John Elder

A recent report stated that the average Facebook user has 245 friends. Here in America, roughly 20% of all adults are in pain. That means if we combine those two numbers, and if you’re an average Facebook user, you know 49 people in chronic pain! That’s a pretty staggering number! Yet, that number is based on you being “average.” I know that some of you have thousands of Facebook friends! (By the way, be sure to click the Facebook icon above to join the discussion on the Egoscue Nashville Facebook Page!)

My challenge to you today is this: If you have tried Egoscue, if you are a client of mine, if you have found relief by using this Method, if you are living life again with decreased pain and with fewer limitations, share your story! I believe it’s your duty to share what you’ve found with your friends. When we find something really cool, we tell others. Whether it’s the latest gadget, a great website, or a killer recipe, we share it. We want to tell others. You should be doing the same with Egoscue! My guess is that Egoscue has, quite literally, changed your life. Why wouldn’t you want to tell your story?

If you aren’t sure how to tell your friends about what you’re doing, here’s a great video that you can share with them.

 

 

QUESTION: Which friends are on your list?

 

 

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Yoga: The Hangover Cure?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by John Elder

It’s the weekend, which means some of you might be indulging in a few adult beverages over the next couple of days. I’m certainly not judging–I’m a red wine or martini guy myself–I’m here to offer you a potential cure for your hangover!

According to an article on foxnews.com, you can now use yoga to alleviate everything from a hangover to a broken heart. One move they recommend for a hangover is a handstand. I’m just guessing here, but I’d imagine the last thing someone would want when hungover is a bunch of pressure on their head:

Celebrity yoga instructor Tara Stiles has been teaching people for years how to heal through the power of yoga. In her new book, Yoga Cures, Stiles gives simple routines that can help alleviate more than 50 common ailments, ranging from hangovers to broken hearts.

“A little bit of meditation and simple movements have a way of getting everything out of your body and your mind…It brings out the organs, and gets your nervous system going and gets the brain activated,” Stiles, who also is the founder of Strala Yoga in New York, N.Y., told FoxNews.com.

For something like a hangover, Stiles recommends a basic twist to help lessen the sluggish feelings.  A headstand can also help – though beginners should only apply a little pressure to the head.

“As you inhale, you make a little more room in your body, and as you exhale, twisting sort of gives pressure to the organs and wrings out toxins and things like that,” Stiles said.

Yoga can even ease some of the pain of getting dumped.  Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association have shown that ‘broken heart syndrome,’ known clinically as stress cardiomyopathy, actually mimics some of the symptoms of a heart attack.  Stiles said a simple tree pose can help bring balance to a person’s life and move on.

Stiles also includes beauty tips in her book, such as a quick, easy way to fix bags under the eyes.

“You can rub your hands together pretty quickly,” she said, “Create some heat there, and then close your eyes and press the heels of your hands into your eyeballs. Stay there for a few breaths, and it really brings some energy and circulation and life into the eyes and gives you that refreshed feeling.”

I think yoga is extremely beneficial for your body, but I’m not sure I buy 100% of what Stiles is saying. While I may not be sold on everything she recommends, I’d be curious to find out of some of you have tried, or will try, some of her suggestions.

QUESTION: If you have used these yoga moves to alleviate hangovers and heartache, what was the result?

 

 

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Keep Calm and Play Fearlessly

Posted on April 18, 2012 by John Elder

I saw this on Facebook today and it got me thinking. When it comes to chronic pain and/or your body, how many of you have this mindset?

How many of you can HONESTLY say that when faced with a new or unusual pain, you keep calm? Not very many, I’m guessing, because I know it’s human nature. I know that when your knee starts to hurt many of you aim directly for the top of the freak-out scale. When you get knee pain, for example, you assume the worst–“Surely I must be dying!”–and you jump to a “10.”

Once you realize that you aren’t dying and have checked “10″ off the list, you quickly move on to “9″–“It’s probably some horrible disease!” The good news is, for the vast majority of you, through various tests and exams you discover that you are “horrible-disease” free. The bad news is that you keep counting.

Next up (or down depending on how you want to look at it), is number “8″–“What if it’s a blood clot?” Surely life will never be the same, you’ll be on blood thinners the rest of your life, and “Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro,” the 72nd item on your bucket list, isn’t even a possibility now.

This trend continues until you get to “5″ or “6″ on the freak-out scale. By that time, most of you stop counting and your “mysterious” knee pain is a puzzle to everyone involved. You’re told that “there’s nothing more you can do” and you’re tossed to the scrap heap like the rest of the folks in your position.

But what if you changed your mindset and started from the other end of the freak-out scale? Think about how much easier life would be if we “kept calm” and started counting from “1″ and worked our way up. For the majority of us, by the time we hit “3″ or “4″ we’d have that “mysterious” knee pain figured out. Doesn’t “figured-out” have a better ring to it than “freaked-out”?

Lost in all of this is the “play fearlessly” part. In the midst of our counting backwards, not only do you not “play fearlessly,” but you are instead riddled with fear. If you would stop and look around, you’d find yourself on the exact opposite end of the spectrum from “play fearlessly.” You not only stopped playing, you stopped moving. You used to run, but now you ride your bike. You used to ride your bike, but now you swim. You used to swim, but now you walk. You used to walk, but now you…

See where I’m going with this? See where you’re going with this?

My encouragement to you is to do exactly what the picture above says: Keep Calm and Play Fearlessly.

You’ll be much better off for it. Trust me.

QUESTION: How do you react when faced with something new or unusual (pain, or otherwise)?

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Mixed Results with Spinal Injections

Posted on April 17, 2012 by John Elder

If you’re suffering from back pain and thinking that an injection will be your panacea, you might want to rethink that. A new study suggests that steroid injections may not be any more beneficial than saline…the same solution I put my contact lenses in every night!

According to a foxnews.com article:

(Dr.) Cohen’s study involved 81 people who’d had sciatica for at least a month. The patients were in their early 40s, on average, and treated at one of four military medical centers and two civilian hospitals.

Study participants were split into three treatment groups. They were given two spinal injections, two weeks apart, of the steroid methylprednisolone, etanercept, or normal salty water, called saline. Neither the patients themselves nor the doctors treating them knew who got which type of injection.

At check-ins one month later, patients’ back and leg pain was reduced by a similar amount, regardless of which treatment they’d received. Their back pain scores fell by average of one to two points, and leg pain by two to four points, on a 10-point scale.

People who had gotten steroid or saline injections reported bigger improvements in how well they could get around and perform usual activities compared to those in the etanercept-injection group.

So…if you’re battling sciatica you can either inject yourself with a harmful steroid or saltwater. Either way, you’ll get the same results. Sound like a good plan of attack? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Another option is to get into an Egoscue clinic and eliminate why the nerve became impinged in the first place. You can take back control of your health and learn exactly what to do, why to do it, and when to do it. Sound like a good plan of attack? That’s what I thought!

If you have questions about Egoscue, email me at johne@egoscue.com or give our clinic a call at 615.771.8556. You’ll thank yourself for it.

QUESTION: Which option would you choose–Steroids, saline, or Egoscue?

 

 

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All-Natural Headache Remedies

Posted on April 16, 2012 by John Elder

Are you tired of your monthly, weekly, or for some of you, daily migraines? I’m sure you are. There’s nothing worse than a sharp, shooting pain right behind your eyeball to put a serious damper on your day. I’ve blogged about headaches before, and if you want to find out why you get them, then you need to READ THIS.

Foxnews.com posted five natural headache remedies today, and I thought they had some really good suggestions:

Feverfew and ginger:  Feverfew, an herb with a long history of use for migraines, has been combined with ginger, a known anti-nausea therapy, in a sublingual tablet called LipiGesic. A recent study, authored by Cady, found that 63 percent of migraine sufferers using LipiGesic found some relief compared to 39 percent of those taking a placebo. Of those taking LipGesic, 32 oercent were pain free at two hours after the onset of a migraine, compared to 16 percent of those on placebo.

“These are very respectable improvements and certainly worth a try,” Cady said.

Butterbur:  Butterbur, another anti-inflammatory herb, has also been fairly well studied, but for preventing migraine attacks. It’s not effective for treating an acute migraine once it starts, said Dr. Frederick Taylor, adjunct professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota. You need to take 75 milligrams twice a day.

Magnesium: When taken daily, magnesium may help reduce the frequency of migraines. The mineral helps to calm nerves, which tend to get overexcited during a migraine. Some studies have found that migraine sufferers tend to be deficient in magnesium. You’ll likely need more than the average multi-vitamin contains or about 400 to 600 milligrams a day. Look for amino acid-chelated magnesium (many brands contain magnesium oxide, which is not absorbed as well). You can also increase your magnesium by eating dark green vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): “We recommend that all our migraine patients take a B complex vitamin,” Cady said. Studies have shown that having adequate vitamin B2 can reduce the frequency of migraines. One theory of migraines is that too many demands are being made on nerve cells, and there’s not enough energy being produced to support the demands. Vitamin B12 (as well as magnesium) play important roles in boosting energy production inside nerve cells, Cady explained. You need about 400 milligrams of riboflavin a day for prevention, which is more than the average multivitamin contains.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D deficiency is becoming more common, as people spend more time indoors or avoiding the sun. Whether that is contributing to migraines is unknown, but studies have shown that vitamin D may play a role in the way you perceive pain. Most people can safely take about 2,000 milligrams a day.

While these are great suggestions, I think the most all-natural method for headache elimination is to address why you have the headache. The remedies listed above are great, but they they are all treating the symptom. Not the cause.

If you’re ready to treat the cause, try these simple e-cises. When you’re finished, focus on what’s different.

QUESTION: What felt different after doing the e-cises? What changed with your headache symptoms?

 

 

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The 86-Year-Old Gymnast

Posted on April 13, 2012 by John Elder

Yes you read that correctly. Check out these videos of Johanna Quaas, an 86-year-old German gymnast! Remember the George Bernard Shaw quote, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old…we grow old because we stop playing.” Johanna is a perfect example of that!

 

 

 

QUESTION: How many seniors do you know who are functioning at Johanna’s level?

 

 

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