If you haven't been living under a rock you already know that the Duke Basketball team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the NC State Wolfpack!

Learn how NC State Strength Coach, Bobby Alejo has the Wolfpack back on top of college basketball at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar May 17 & 18th.

BOBBY ALEJO

North Carolina State Wolfpack

Assistant Athletics Director for Strength and Conditioning Bob Alejo oversees all of the strength and conditioning efforts of the department, and coordinates the day-to-day efforts of the men's basketball team.

Prior to joining the Wolfpack staff in April, Alejo served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Oakland A's, a position he also held from 1993-2001. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the organization's year-round physical preparation at both the major league and minor league levels. 

Prior to rejoining the A's, Alejo was the Director of Strength and Conditioning at UC Santa Barbara from 2005-2008. During that time he was also a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team as strength and conditioning coach for the Gold medal-winning men's beach volleyball team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. 

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from Attention and Motor Skill Learning, by Gabriele Wulf

“Not very many studies have dealt with the effectiveness of internal versus external foci of attention in “expert” performers.  In our study with novice and advanced volleyball players, we found that the two groups of performers benefited equally for feedback inducing an external focus rather than an internal focus in learning a volleyball serve (Wulf et al., 2002, Experiment 1).  Similarly, individuals with experience in soccer showed improved learning (lofted soccer pass) when provided with feedback that induced an external relative to an internal focus (Wulf et al., 2002, Experiment 2).  Finally in one of our golf studies (Wulf, in press, Experiment 2), we had expert golfers, with handicaps of or around 0, perform pitch shots.  Similar to what we had done in the first experiment in that study (Wulf, in press, Experiment 1; see chapter 2), we asked the golfers to focus either on the swing of the club (external focus), on the swing of their arms (internal focus), or on what they normally focused on (control condition).  All expert participants performed 20 shots under each condition.  The results showed that the experts were more accurate when they adopted an external focus compared to the two other conditions, which resulted in similar accuracy scores.  This is interesting because it shows that performance can be improved through external focus instructions not only at the beginning stages of learning, but even at a high level of expertise” pg 141-142           

“Based on the findings discussed in this chapter (as well as those related to instructions discussed in chapter 2), one recommendation for applied situations seems clear: Wording feedback so that it promotes an external focus should lead to more effective performance and learning than feedback that directs attention to the coordination of the individual’s body movements. For example, attention could be directed to the motion of an implement (e.g., golf club, baseball bat, badminton racket), the spin or trajectory of a ball (e.g., table tennis ball, football, soccer ball), or the amount of force exerted against an object (e.g., pole used in pole vaulting, springboard, punching bag).  Not only novices, but even advanced performers, appear to benefit from feedback inducing an external focus”

pg 104

Learn from the top Sports Performance and Sports Medicine Professionals at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar May 17 & 18, 2013!

Remember to book your hotel now before rooms get filled with area college graduations.

Audio Interview with Charlie Weingroff - The Deep Overhead Squat   

Q: How does one live to 100, be a monster on the playing field while reducing the likelihood of injury?

A: Change levels often!

How: Squat, Lunge, Crawl, roll then stand up, then get back down and roll some more, climb steps, stairs and other objects, hang from tree limbs, perform pull ups, play, climb a mountain, run Harvard stadium, bend down and pick things up, pick heavy things up, put them down, then pick them up again, do some push-ups, then squat some more

Normally 1 + 1 equals 2, but after watching Dan Buettner's TED presentation and listening to Charlie's audio interview on SportsRehabExpert.com 1 +1 suddenly equals so much more.

See Charlie at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 & 18 in Boston

Wishing you and your family all the best this coming year.

Make 2013 the year you take another step forward in your journey to becoming a leader in Sports Medicine and Performance Training by attending the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 17 & 18th in Boston MA.

Sign up before the end of the day today and enjoy our 2012 seminar price!

If there is one thing you can be sure of in 2013, it's that BSMPG will continue to provide you with the best information from the best professionals in Sports Medicine & Performance from around the world.

Based on our previous speaker sets along side the 2013 Speaker Set, I'd say we're doing a pretty good job : )

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"The plantar fascia, essentially a continuation of the Achilles tendon, attaches from the base of the calcaneus, covers the bottom of the foot, and inserts into all five digits of the foot. This band acts as both a support of the underlying muscles, thereby assisting stabilization of the foot, and a shock absorber for the body.  It has been referred to as a prime stabilizer in that it helps prevent collapsing of the mid-foot during the midstance phase of gait as the person's body weight passes over the supporting structure of the foot. Through its connections to the Achilles tendon, gastrocnemius, hamstring complex, sacrotuberous ligaments, erector spinea, and epicranial fascia, the plantar fascia has essentially direct communication with the entire body.  Inhibition of the intrinsic foot musculature can often lead to losses of structural integrity within the plantar fascia, which contributes to increased pronatroy stresses at the hip, knee, and ankle/foot complexes, and resultant stabilization issues of the lumbopelvic region. Likewise, poor proximal control of the Thoracopelvic Canister and/or lower extremity pronation tends to overload the plantar fascia, creating many of the common lower extremity compartment and overuse syndromes."

pg. 43

Corrective Exercise Solutions to Common Hip and Shoulder Dysfunction by Evan Osar

Give the gift of health and wellness from BSMPG this holiday season - Choose stocking stuffers such as a previous conference DVD or Barefoot in Boston, the book that has people thinking twice about todays modern shoes!  

Looking for a larger present to give? Try giving the gift of registration to the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar featuring the world's top Sports Medicine and Performance Training professionals including Dr. Stuart McGill.  Discounted rates appy until December 31st!

2012 BSMPG Summer Seminar Attendee Social

BSMPG 2013 Attendee Social Details

Date: May 17th 

Time: At the conclusion of the last lecture of the day

Location: It's a secret - once you register you'll obtain additional location details (Just kidding, we're still looking for a spot big enough to hold our largest attendee event to date!)

Who: All Attendees, Sponsors, Speakers and generally the smartest people on the planet will be there.

Why You Should Attend:  It's no secret that deals get done over dinner and drinks. Whether you're looking for your next job at the professional or collegiate level, looking for additional insight from one of our world class speakers, or simply trying to make a deal with one of our sponsors, the attendee social is the place to be!

BSMPG 2013 Attendee Social Sponsored by:

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by Dr. Adam Naylor, CC-AASP

Self-control on the playing field is over-rated… or at least active efforts towards it.  There is no doubt that unchecked anger and drifting attention are detriments to performance.  Yet, how to achieve positive emotions and a resilient focus needs to be considered.  In many regards keeping one’s cool when referees make undesirable calls and maintaining concentration in the face of particularly pesky opponents happens well before the ball is officially put in play.

In essence the most impressive displays of mental toughness occur rather effortlessly… or to be more precise, they are displays of automatic self-control.  This is not to say that in-game cue words, mental imagery, or diaphragmatic breathing are not helpful, but they simply too often lack the robust benefits that effortless self-control mechanisms deliver.  Active efforts to control one’s self reduce the ability to successfully control one’s self in the future.  Plainly put, each time a conscious effort is made to regulate emotions there is a cost to future cognitive abilities… attention is a bit more likely to wander… frustration creeps in more easily…. decision making becomes a bit less precise.  Just like physical muscles, mental muscles fatigue.

This is not an invitation towards wanton disregard for self-control, but rather a consideration of the benefits of priming performances in advance.  It ought to come of little surprise that the environments in which one trains and competes have incredibly formative roles in an athlete’s development.  It is clear how technical proficiency improves under the tutelage of a coach’s keen eye.  It is also apparent how shared goals and aspirations of teammates can unify and rally a team.  Now becoming more clear is how social environments can lead to successful management of emotions and attitudes.

Subtle cues and modeled behaviors can develop emotionally resilient competitors.  Without words, social norms quietly teach individuals how to regulate feelings such as anger.  Consider this on and around the playing field.  Coaches that model a stiff upper lip when disappointed will find players who follow this focused lead.  Conversely, sports parents that are quick to blame coaches for their child’s modest playing time are likely to develop athletes that are quick to play victim in the face of challenge.  Sports culture of coaches and teammates that gravitate towards calm in the face of challenge reinforces these behaviors.  The mental game is contagious… sport communities can spread strength or instability.

Recent research has gone as far as to highlight that the specific words that are heard and read literally are able to prime emotional performances.  Kevin Rounding and his colleagues found that when sacred words (“Bible, “divine,” etc.) were subtly layered into sentence unscrambling tasks research participants had deep wells of self-control following their reading.  Religion aside, Iris Mauss and her colleagues found that people’s anger could be automatically controlled when primed with words such as “cool,” “restrains,” and “disciplined.”  In a somewhat cunning manner, such studies suggest that thoughtful and consistent use of particular language by coaches and sports organizations can reap great mental toughness benefits.  This is far different than a passionate lecture about the importance of controlling one’s emotions.  Quite literally the coach that embeds specific words of self-control into pre-game speeches could potentially see fewer penalties and greater resilience from his team on the field.

The sporting landscape is filled with examples of poor emotional regulation – from Bobby Knight’s chair throwing incident to parent misbehavior at youth baseball games to hockey violence committed out of frustration.  Close inspection also reveals that too often the words of competition can be filled with themes of unrestrained aggression  – one can only imagine the language, layered throughout the locker rooms involved in NFL bounty-gate.  Aggressive play is important, but competing with unrestrained emotion leads to more failures than successes.  I am a strong advocate of priming performance, sporting environments that give themselves regular doses of emotional regulating cues find focus and well directed energy on the field.

Originally published at Psychology Today’s The Sporting Life November 2012.

Register for the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar May 17 & 18th, 2013 in Boston MA

Over the next month we will be previewing the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar speakers, their thoughts on the current state of Sports Medicine & Performance Training, how technology is influencing our profession (for better or worse) and preview their lectures.

Enjoy.

BOBBY ALEJO

North Carolina State Wolfpack

Assistant Athletics Director for Strength and Conditioning Bob Alejo oversees all of the strength and conditioning efforts of the department, and coordinates the day-to-day efforts of the men's basketball team.

Prior to joining the Wolfpack staff in April, Alejo served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Oakland A's, a position he also held from 1993-2001. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the organization's year-round physical preparation at both the major league and minor league levels. 

1. How has the field of sports medicine/performance changed in the last five years? Where do you see the field headed in the next five years

1. A little more science in the field that is being used. Science has been and always will be the basis for S&C however not everyone subscribed to or  understood it. The FMS test is another big influence, at least in my instance, that has happened recently. My hope is that there is a better realization that the basics work every time all the time. There is a lot of new methods most of which aren't the most effective choices; the methods are new but the science is not.

2. Athlete monitoring and sports analytics has emerged as leading topics within Sports Medicine and Performance Training, how has this field influenced your practice?

Well, some of these analytics have been around for longer than people think. I remember in the 80's a soccer athlete of mine was coming back from Europe where they were testing for lactate. But, if looking at your data (testing scores and literature) and designing programs from the information makes you a slave then I have been guilty for 30 years. That's what your supposed to do!!!! Intuition of what might happen in the future is one thing but ignoring the numbers is a mistake.

3. What can attendees expect to hear from you at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar? How may your lecture impact their practice on Monday morning?

Expect to hear what 30 years of experience has revealed. Not what I thought might have happened or what should have happened but rather "this is what I did and this is what happened". Don't tell me for example, that the Olympic lifts are dangerous after I tell you that I have not had one injury related to the Olympic lifts in 30 years. Or that overhead pressing is bad for the shoulder without giving one shred of evidence confirming the notion. In other words, what I do might not fit in your program or your philosophy but don't come to the conclusion that what someone has done cannot be done.

Over the next month we will be previewing the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar speakers, their thoughts on the current state of Sports Medicine & Performance Training, how technology is influencing our profession (for better or worse) and preview their lectures.

Enjoy.

Director of Athletic Development & Athletic Development Coach

Kevin Neeld is the President, COO, and Director of Athletic Development at Endeavor

1. How has the field of sports medicine/performance changed in the last five years? Where do you see the field headed in the next five years?

Sports performance is a constantly evolving field, but over the last few years it seems like people are paying more attention to the importance of grooving fundamental movement patterns, addressing common mobility restrictions, and redefining “core” work to include more “anti-movement” exercises and exercise that address the pelvis, thorax, and neck. These changes, in large part, are a result of the seminars and lectures that guys like Gray Cook, Michael Boyle, Charlie Weingroff, and Eric Cressey (among others) have put on.

In the same vein, the fields of performance training and rehabilitation continue to merge such that professionals on both ends of the continuum are learning from one another, sharing information, and ultimately gaining a better appreciation for where their clients fall along that progression and what skills they can utilize (or develop) to help move them in the right direction. From a training perspective, this has become increasingly important given the adaptations that result from living a dichotomous life of sedentary behavior and high-level athletics, which seems to be the societal trend, at least in our country. More athletes are presenting with structural abnormalities such femoroacetabular impingement or acquired postural dysfunction that significantly affects their ability to breathe, move, and ultimately to adapt favorably. Understanding the signs and implications of these dysfunctions puts the training professional in a much better position to help the athlete fulfill his or her potential. A platform of quality static posture and dynamic movement must be established in order to develop durable elite-level physical capacities.

As for the future, I think we’ll continue to see:

An increased recognition of the benefits of manual therapy

While it’s possible to over-utilize or become over-reliant on manual therapy, different manual modalities are extremely effective at troubleshooting soft-tissue dysfunction, which can provide for a faster “reset” in function and movement quality, and remove pain, which allows for the development of a cleaner motor pattern (and happier athlete). Manual work can also be used to stimulate a parasympathetic shift in athletes, which has a number of physiological consequences, but ultimately allows the athlete to recover faster.

An increased focus on recovery and management of training, dietary, environmental, and lifestyle stressors

As technology and our understanding of the human organism continue to develop, monitoring and manipulating specific and non-specific stress responses will become more feasible. As a few examples that are already gaining traction, heart rate variability and sleep quality can be easily and inexpensively assessed using BioForce HRV and Zeo Sleep Manager, respectively, nutrient and hormone levels can be self-assessed at home using tests from Bioletics, and recovery or “restoration” can be altered while you sit at a desk or sleep using Earthing products. All of these tools are likely to be refined over time to provide more information, a greater benefit, be more user-friendly, or simply more accessible (e.g. cheaper).

A shift toward greater individualization in program design

In the last few years, this shift has taken place with regard to identifying movement limitations and taking an individualized approach toward restoring fundamental movement patterns through the use of different corrective exercises and changes to exercise selection within the program. I think the next step, one that many are already starting to make, is to take the same approach toward identifying strengths/weaknesses in the individual’s various physical capacities and programming energy system work (which is really the entire program) based on the individual’s profile. This is an area I’ve learned a lot about from guys like Patrick Ward, Joel Jamieson and Dave Tenney. This form of programming is as much an art as it is a science, but you need to know the science to perfect the art!

2. Athlete monitoring and sports analytics has emerged as leading topics within Sports Medicine and Performance Training, how has this field influenced your practice? Has the field in your opinion gone too far with some professionals becoming slaves to data sets instead of providing solid clinical practice and coaching? Is there room for more monitoring? What "data sets" are you seeing as most impactful when is comes to providing athlete care and training?

I think it’s inherently good when you have a means of monitoring the effectiveness of your program. Technological advancements have provided an additional means of doing so, which will ultimately allow us to be more specific in the application of stressors. Tracking heart rate and kinematic data (e.g. GPS-drive data) over the course of training, practices, and competitions can provide extremely valuable information to coaches about the amount of absolute and relative stress applied to an individual that day. I think this data will continue to show significant differences even between two players at the same position that went through the same practice. Likewise, tracking HRV throughout the year provides evidence as to how the individual is responding to and recovering from these stressors. Taking a step back, all of this information, in conjunction with movement assessments/screens like the FMS and more traditional “performance” data (e.g. 40-yard dash time, vertical jump height, 1-RM resistance training numbers, conditioning test performance, etc.) provides the coach with an audit as to how effective their program is for that individual.

All that said, I think some of this data in certain circumstances will undermine the psychological strength of certain athletes. The reality is that the majority of team sport athletes experience some degree of fatigue accumulation, but they still perform. If an athlete’s HRV is less than optimal on a game day, it’s possible they may be at a greater risk of injury or getting sick, but it’s also possible they won’t. While this is a bit of a roulette game, I think the important thing is to collect, analyze, and track the information, but don’t become imprisoned by it.

3. What can attendees expect to hear from you at the 2013 BSMPG Summer Seminar?  How may your lecture impact their practice on Monday morning?

The purpose of my talk will be to describe common structural and functional deviations that affect the hockey athlete, their implications, and consequent programming strategies. This discussion will address topics like the consequences of FAI on exercise performance, exercise selection, and skating technique, and how diaphragm position and function impacts core stability, shoulder health, and the athlete’s ability to recover. This talk should provide the attendee with a deeper appreciation for the postures and patterns they see on an everyday basis, as well as simple cues, exercises, and programming strategies to best serve the athlete. 

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