Robertson Training Systems Newsletter 5.05
In This Issue:
– Robertson Training Systems Updates
– Michael Boyle Seminar Review
Robertson Training Systems Updates
Aussie Updates
The seminars are going great, the weather is warm, and I’ve got a day off! I definitely love it over here, but I’m also a little antsy to get home as well. Two more seminars this week (Thursday and Saturday), and then I’ll be on my way home!
This newsletter is going to be short and sweet. I wrote the review while flying on the plane over, so it may be a little dated. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it!
Reviewing the Mike Boyle Winter Seminar
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of hanging out in Boston for 3 days. Needless to say, some of the absolute best and brightest in the industry reside on the East Coast!
I got in late Thursday night, and the Eric Cressey taxi service picked me up. The best part? He even had some John Berardi style snacks on hand. Score!
Friday morning I grabbed some breakfast at the local dinner, then headed over to Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning to watch some of the morning sessions. It’s been a while since I’ve been around collegiate/pro level football guys, and I guess I forgot how huge they are!
That afternoon, I took his staff through a presentation on Program Design. It was a little difficult, as you know these guys are way ahead of the curve with regards to training. At times, I felt like I was preaching to the choir, as I know they have a great grasp on the fundamentals of program design. Like any other science, though, I think it’s hard to get enough of that core, foundational material. Hopefully they picked up a thing or two along the way.
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out and talking shop with the staff and mentees. Coach Boyle really has a top-notch staff, so it’s no wonder they’ve been so successful over the years. More than anything, it was just a great training atmosphere overall.
Friday evening I met up with Tony Gentilcore, Josh Bonhotal of the Chicago Bulls, Eric Cressey, and several other members of the Cressey Performance team for dinner. All I can say is that the Triple Play is not messing around with the portions on the meat!
After breakfast Saturday morning, my buddy (and IFAST member) Lance and I headed over to MBSC. It was amazing to see how quickly the staff had turned the training facility into a lecture hall.
All presenters were excellent on this day, and there were a wide variety of topics. Here’s a brief rundown on the speakers and their presentations:
Brijesh Patel spoke on training basketball players. This was a very comprehensive presentation, covering everything from stretching and flexibility to strength and even conditioning work.
Next up was John Pallof. While you might not have heard of John before, he really is a brilliant PT and someone I hold in very high regard. John’s presentation covered the hip – specifically hip impingements, and then sports hernias. These are two budding areas of interest, so it was great to see someone cover it in presentation format.
The next presenter really caught me off guard. I knew I had seen him before, but had no clue from here. Turns out, he was a star in the WWE! Chris Nowinski discussed concussions and the long-term effects they have on people. While this wasn’t necessarily within my scope of practice, it was definitely an informative and eye-opening presentation.
I spoke next on the topic of low back care. My goal wasn’t necessarily to wow people with theory, methodology or the like, but instead to give them a conceptual idea of how I progress someone who suffers from low back pain. As many of us know low back pain is often multi-factorial, yet many only focus on the symptoms – i.e. the pain in the lower back. I hope this presentation, if nothing else, inspired people to improve their treatment skills and understand that the body works as a functional unit.
Eric Cressey spoke next on training baseball players, and specifically shoulder training. I’m pretty sure Eric has forgotten more about shoulders than I’ll ever know, so it was great to have him show people not only what he’s doing, but all the information that he’s tracking along the way. With all the great players coming through his facility, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for EC.
To wrap the day up, Michael Boyle presented on training hockey players. Now, I hate to admit this, but I don’t have a ton of interest in hockey. I never grew up around the sport, and it’s one of the few I can honestly say I don’t understand many of the rules to.
With that being said, however, Coach Boyle’s presentation was fantastic. Even though many think of him as a “corrective” or “injury prevention” guy, this presentation really showed that while those are obvious foci of his programming, two of the primary goals are improving strength and power.
I always enjoy Coach Boyle’s presentations, if for no other reason than he doesn’t mince words and you know exactly where he’s coming from. I really appreciate that., and this presentation really reinforced a lot of my own thoughts on training athletes.
A large group of us hit The Tavern again that evening, and yes, I dominated the Triple Play again. What can I say, I’m a glutton for punishment!
To wrap up the weekend, Lance and I headed over to Cressey Performance Sunday morning were I gave his staff an impromptu/hands-on presentation on how I treat knee pain and dysfunction. I didn’t know I was going to do this until Wednesday, so I was really pleased that it went as well as it did. Much like Coach Boyle’s staff, EC’s staff is really hungry to learn and take their skills to the next level. It’s always a pleasure to work with motivated individuals.
So that was the big Boston trip. It was a great time, and I can’t wait to get back there in the future. Many thanks to Coach Boyle for bringing me in; it was amazing to speak with such a great group of presenters. As well, thanks to Eric Cressey, Kevin Larrabee and Jonathan Fass for shuttling me around all weekend.
But most importantly, thank you to all the great people whom I had the honor and privilege of speaking and working with this weekend. I always enjoy it, simply because I know people are there for the right reasons – to get really, really good at what they do.
I’m actually writing this in my 16th consecutive hour of flight, so wish me luck while I’m in Australia. I’ll do my best to get some pictures posted to the Flickr account over the course of the next two weeks.
Stay strong
MR