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If you aren’t squatting every day you’re probably doing more harm than good. And, if your squat is perfect, you’re lying to yourself. On this episode of the Doc and Jock Podcast, Dr. Danny and Coach Joe cover tips and tricks to get you on the right track to getting ATG… Ass To Grass. Before the guys tackle your squat, Danny and Joe catch up on what’s new. Danny, preps for a camping trip with his son while Joe wages war on his kids' rain boots. The first Squat topic of the day is valgus knee position and knees out as a cue gone wrong. Coach Joe discusses using the toes and feet as a guideline for tracking knee movement while a person squats. Jumping off of a 12 inch box has a lot of uses. Danny and Joe discuss jumping and landing as a means to increase awareness and increase stability and its use to develop a dynamic hip hinge. Its Danny’s opinion that ankle mobility is the biggest factor regarding squat depth and performance. Joe also provides a handy trick to remember and find the proper foot placement while squatting and performing general athletics and creating stability in the hip. Danny gets us back on track regarding the ankle and says that it’s a lack of dorsi flexion that forces athletes into a 3 and 9 o’clock foot position while squatting and moving. Joe asks Danny about the Achilles tendon. Is it a tendon to loosen up? Danny lets us know that by working compression and release techniques around the Achilles we can free up some space but in a general sense you will be hard pressed to increase ROM of the Achilles. Your best bet regarding the ankle is to attack the joint itself and unglue any impingements that might be locking up sliding surfaces. The boys then get into a conversation about what is causing all of this poor ankle mobility. Danny feels that there is a genetic set point regarding joint laxity. You can also trace a lot of ankle issues to folks who played a lot of jumping or high impact sports, suffered sprained ankles, and also never really healed them properly. The biggest factor in poor ankle mobility is probably sedentary behavior and footwear as factors limiting ankle performance. Joe engages Danny on corrective exercises to help strength the limiting factors causing a valgus knee position. Joe then discusses that regardless of squatting technique, a good squat is easy to recognize. Danny lets us know the rolls of the hamstrings and quads in squatting. Squat variations become the topic. Which variations are best, when should you introduce them, and when are your athletes ready to scale up.
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Have you ever wondered what a guy like Kelly Starrett considers the most important thing he will ever do? Wonder no more because he answers that question and more on this podcast.
On Episode 30 of the Doc and Jock Podcast, Dr. Danny and Coach Joe discuss kids health with Kelly and Juliet Starrett. The Starretts are on a mission to drastically change the direction of kids health in the U.S. Their newly launched non-profit, StandUp Kids, is dedicated to a simple mission, Fighting for Kids health, One Desk at a Time. (Side note: Dr. Matta recently announced that all proceeds from the PhysioCoach Foot and Ankle course will go directly to Standup Kids, so if you haven't had a chance to purchase, now is the perfect time!) If you are unhappy with your kid’s spine being stuck for 8 hours a day in a chair, which the only design consideration was stacking and vacuuming, StandUp Kids is a non-profit you need to support. Partnering up with Donors Choose, the original crowd funder, StandUp Kids is on mission to make global changes to the U.S. educational system. The conversation begins with simply unplugging and engaging in non-structured play and non-exercise activity. The Starrett’s discus their recent trip to southern Oregon and the Rogue River. Hanging out in an area with no cell phone reception and without most modern conveniences they were forced to unplug and go with the flow - literally. Juliet then describes an encounter with a Hippo. Yes, that kind of Hippo. After competing and winning the World White Water Championships in Africa in 1997, Juliet was attacked by an adult Hippo while taking part in a rafting trip. Amazingly enough she swam 70 yards to shore in crocodile infested water and escaped with only a small scrape – caused by the tooth of the hippo while breaking through her kayak. We quickly understand that StandUp Kids is about effecting the lifestyle of America’s youth, not simply getting kids to do more sit ups and putting a Band-Aid on a huge problem. The Starrett’s began to notice interesting orthopedic issues popping up with 1st grade kids. Anyone with pre K kids can attest to the fact that they kids run on the balls of their feet and squat pretty well. However, the Starrett’s began to notice poor movement patterns associated with a high degree of sitting. Kelly describes a light bulb moment realizing he had neglected to apply the Mobility Wod model to kids. Juliet also describes a simple calculation she performed that showed that if she stood at a desk, as opposed to sitting, she had the potential to burn an extra 90,000 calories a year! Danny asks if research from the Bogalusa Long term heart study impacted their own research or played into the discovery of stand up desks as a simple fix to a major problem. Bottom line is folks are working hard to solve the childhood obesity problem. Across the board, whether its University research or a subjective experience with 5 classrooms in San Fran, the findings are that a movement rich environment is positive for kids health. Kelly also describes some specifics about the StandUp Kids intervention. If kids are sitting there simply are not many options for kids to move. By making the simple and effective switch to a standing desk kids have more movement options to manage the learning situation, non of which include turning their backs into question marks. One of which, however, is sitting on the floor. The major point here is that sitting in a chair is not natural. Kelly challenges anyone sitting to attempt to jump, jerk, swim or deadlift with a similar posture and spinal angle. Another specific point in the StandUp Kids intervention is having the ability to elevate the foot, a la Captain Morgan. The standup desk they prefer has a swinging bar to achieve this pose. Being able to prop the foot up takes a great deal of the stress off of the back and allows for a more dynamic work station. The standing intervention also brings about the potential to discuss proper and improper positioning in regards to basic human shapes optimal for health and longevity. Across the board PE classes are being cut, movement skills de-emphasized, and general activity being cut out of a kid’s days. One of the featured curriculum points on the stand up kids site is MOVEMENT BREAK CURRICULUM. These breaks are short two minute interventions to direct kids toward more positive positions, help teachers utilize time during breaks in lesson plans, and keep kids engaged in the classroom. The proposal and implementation was relatively pain free. In the Starrett’s experience educators are clawing for fixes to a system that simply isn’t working. The Starrett’s put their money where their mouth was with the first pilot school, funding the entire 4th grades turnover to standup desks. Currently the first ever school in the U.S. with only standup desks is a reality and major donors like Tim Ferris are getting on board. If you want to help, the best thing to do is spread the word and simply continue the momentum by donating money and putting kids in your local area in a standing desk. Another call to action is to design a conversion kit of sorts to utilize current sitting desks. The StandUp Kids movement is alive and well but will only continue to change lives with your help. Check out the site, go to Donors Choose, and start today what could be the process toward changing the lives of kids on your area. Links Mentioned in the Podcast http://sanfranciscocrossfit.com/staff/juliet-starrett/ http://sanfranciscocrossfit.com/staff/kelly-starrett/ http://standupkids.org/ http://www.donorschoose.org/standupkids?id=20575828&active=true https://www.clersite.org/bogalusaheartstudy/ http://standupkids.org/movement-break/ http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ 
Episode 29 of the Doc and Jock Podcast covers a common problem seen in many CrossFit gyms with many CrossFit Athletes: poor overhead positioning in the Split Jerk. Interestingly enough, the conversation does not center on the shoulder. Danny and Joe talk about tight lats (latimuss dorsi), overextension of the back, and technique.
Danny and Joe discuss:
The guys end the talk with a short discussion about the status and growth of the CrossFit community’s performance in terms of the clean and jerk, the use of the Crossover Symmetry series, and the mind set of an athlete. In the end, the guys come together to optimize the performance of an athlete and along the way provide some tips and tricks that you can utilize to up your own Split Jerk game. Post Comments, potential topics, and questions to the Doc and Jock Facebook Page and our twitter account @DocandJock Dr. Danny also always has something cooking and quality info on the Athletes' Potential Facebook page and Danny’s personal IG (@dannyMattaPT) and Twitter (@DannymattaPT) acconts Joe’s Barbell is also up and running on Facebook. And you can reach Coach Joe on IG (@joesbarbell) and Twitter (@JoeShu2326) for all your Weightlifting needs. Thanks for listening and remember, If you have a BODY you’re an ATHLETE  Over the past few years, I’ve been fortunate to be exposed to an entire spectrum of different athletes- all the way from 8 year old soccer players to Olympic medalists. The biggest difference I see between amatuer athletes and professional athletes is the level at which they take care of their body. The amount of training you do and the amount of time you spend working on recovery are both linear. The more you train, the more you have to work on recovery. I’m of the opinion that there is no such thing as overtraining. I’ve worked with athletes that put in massive amounts of training week after week. If I did a week of their training I would be out of commision for a month. So how can these athletes train so hard and continue to make improvements and not hit a state of overtraining? They work on recovery like it’s their part time job. The training is not what separates good and great athletes, recovery is the secret to success!  Most people have no idea how good their body is supposed to feel because they are constantly in pain. It’s hard to train at your optimal level when you’re always borderline hurt. Here are 4 things you can add in with your training to spike your recovery. Better recovery=more training. More training=more athletic improvement. More athletic improvement=winning and we love winning!  1. Marc Pro I was exposed to the Marc Pro in 2012 when I was working with CrossFit 808 in Honolulu. One of my mentors, Kelly Starrett, gave me a Marc Pro to test out with the team. I’m a skeptic person at best and I need to see positive changes myself before I start buying in on things like the Marc Pro. Since 2012 I’ve recommended the Marc Pro to all the athletes I work with that are looking for help with recovery. You’re probably asking what does the Marc Pro actually do. The answer is: it gets the muscles moving. Pretty simple, right? Essentially, the contraction the Marc Pro produces is non-fatiguing but strong enough to get fluid in the muscles moving. This constant but non-fatiguing contraction is basically a lazy person’s way to recovery. If you wanted to get on an Assault Bike and ride at a non-fatiguing speed for 30 minutes you could get a similar effect. If you don’t have an Assault Bike at your house and you want to watch Game of Thrones while you recover, the Marc Pro is a pretty damn good option.  2. Recovery Pump Boots The Recovery Pump boots look ridiculous. I remember seeing an elite triathlete at a race I was doing in Hawaii a few years ago with these on. It was the first time I had seen the device. It’s just hard to look cool with giant puffy boots on your legs, but they work. The rationale behind the Recovery Pump is similar in a way to the Marc Pro. Instead of using muscle contraction to help get things moving, the Recovery Pump using sophisticated compression. This compression helps move fluid from the extremities to the torso. Think of the torso as the area where we clear non-useful elements of the blood/fluid after training. It’s essentially out with the old, in with the new when you get fluid circulating more post training. Who uses Recovery Pump? The majority of NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams. Also, multiple branches of military Special Operations groups, elite triathletes and endurance athletes. That’s pretty good company to be in.  3. Nutrient Timing I recently spoke with Anthony Almada on a podcast I do with another coach called the Doc and Jock Podcast. Anthony was one of the original founders of EAS and is the founder of another supplement company called Vitargo. Vitargo is basically a super carbohydrate that’s been pre-broken down so it’s absorbed faster. It’s a pretty cool product and you can hear the whole interview here. The reason nutrient timing is important is that you need to be able to effectively replenish your stored energy. Studies have shown endurance athletes need between 400-600 grams of carbohydrate per day. For many of our athletes that eat a very low carb diet, they may only be consuming 25-50% of this. The best way to spike recovery is to time your nutrient timing correctly so that your body has the greatest chance of rebuilding itself. When you exercise, your body depletes muscle glycogen as this is the main fuel for movement/exercise at the muscle. When we exercise and glycogen gets depleted, insulin stimulates glucose in the blood to be drawn back into the muscle to replenish glycogen. This is important to know because if we have more glucose available in the blood at the time of training we can replenish our energy source better. More ability to replenish the main exercise energy source equals more training! Try this combo next time you train: drink 35-70 grams of a carbohydrate like Vitargo with 10-20 grams of protien in it 30-60 minutes before training. Drink the same thing within 20-30 minutes post training. The pre-workout nutrients will give your body readily available sources while training and the post workout drink will re-supply the muscles at the key post workout window. Here are the two supplements I like to use together. Vitargo Hydrolyzed Whey  4. Embrace the cold
There has been a big debate on the usage of cryotherapy(cold treatment) in the sports medicine and strength/conditioning community. Here’s my stance: Use whole body cold treatment to help with recovery, don’t waste your time icing a sprained ankle. What I mean by that is local icing for an inflamed joint is not effective. It’s effective at numbing the area but doesn’t help with the healing process the way we thought it used to. In fact, the original physician that came up with RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) recently changed his stance on this to take icing out of use for acute injury. When I say using whole-body cold treatment for recovery I am referring to things like ice baths and whole body cryotherapy chambers. The effects of these two forms of treatment for recovery are two-fold. First, much like the Marc Pro and Recovery Pump, we get a pushing of fluid to the torso. This occurs due to vasoconstriction of the blood vessels in the legs/arms causing more blood to be directed toward the vital organs in the torso. Increased fluid to the torso equals better nutrient/oxygen exchange and increased potential to rebuild after a tough training session. The second positive effect is essentially a jumpstart to the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system that helps predominantly with relaxation and recovery. Increased parasympathetic function leads to increased potential to recover and recuperate from hard training. Neither of these are exactly something I look forward to since I don’t like to be cold. I would say between the ice bath and whole body cryotherapy the easier of the two to tolerate is the whole body cryotherapy. If you want to train as hard as a professional athlete or Olympian you need to prioritize recovery just like they do. You have one body, you had better take care of it. If you’re really looking for that competitive edge, a better recovery strategy is your key to success. 
Doc and Jock Episode 28 features Dawn Fletcher of Mentality WOD and Fletcher Fitness.
Listen Here! If you haven’t looked at the mental side of performance then this podcast is for you. The mental approach to sport is huge, yet often neglected. Dawn has combined her passions for sport, Crossfit, and psychology into Mentality WOD and Fletcher Fitness, platforms where she helps CrossFit Athletes and others, realize their full mental potential. Some of the major points covered are:
The goal for Dawn is to help athletes develop a mental consistency that aids performance. Whether your sport is always the same and you are in control, like Weightlifting, or a constantly varied platform, like Crossfit, the key is developing a mantra that guides performance. Developing a consistent mental approach and creating chaos in your training will also make competing easy, or easier. Any coach or athlete looking to up their mental game can check out Dawn’s online programing and course at Mentality WOD. The full course will take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to complete and walk you through the mental states and practices that Dawn believes are most critical toward developing a consistent mental game. Aside from the full course Dawn also has an E-book, Build Mental Strength, and blog that is constantly being updated. To learn more about Dawn and for information on contacting her about her services check out the links and social media platforms listed below. http://mentalitywod.com/dawn-fletcher-mental/ http://mentalitywod.com/ also check out facebook, IG and Twitter @mentality_wod http://fletcherfitness.com/ also check out facebook, IG and Twitter @fletcherfitness Post Comments, potential topics, and questions to the Doc and Jock Facebook Page and our twitter account @DocandJock Dr. Danny also always has something cooking and quality info on the Athletes' Potential Facebook page and Danny’s personal IG (@dannyMattaPT) and Twitter (@DannymattaPT) acconts Joe’s Barbell is also up and running on Facebook. And you can reach Coach Joe on IG (@joesbarbell) and Twitter (@JoeShu2326) for all your Weightlifting needs. Thanks for listening and remember, If you have a BODY you’re an ATHLETE  Full disclosure, I hate to run. There, I said it and now I feel much better. I actually have more of a love/hate relationship with running. I love the science and technique of running mechanics. I’m actually fascinated by how you can squeeze more speed and efficiency out of someone that just assumes they are a bad runner. When it comes to my personal desire to go for a run, it’s just not there. I blame the Army. They kind of ruined it for me with the whole wake up early and do a forced run almost every morning. Because everyone in the Army is technically a runner, we would see a TON of running injuries. I would guess that 50-60% of what I typically saw was running related. That’s literally thousands of running related injuries that rolled through my office during my time on active duty.  Now that I’m out of the Army and have a private physical therapy practice in Atlanta, I’m still seeing runners. I’ve actually developed some good relationships with a few of the bigger running groups here in Atlanta and it’s been a blast to help these athletes get better fast. Healing from an injury is great but do you know what’s cooler than that? Winning! As a runner you are competing against others when you run but for most of us we are constantly competing against yourself to get a personal record (PR) on a race. I recently had a runner come to see me for some plantar fasciitis. If you are reading this and have actually put some decent volume in training you probably cringe when you hear the words plantar fasciitis. It’s basically the kiss of death for a runner and will take you out of your sport for a long time, if not fixed.  This individual had seen everyone under the sun for this issue including, podiatry, chiropractic, massage therapy and a different physical therapy group. This problem had been going on for about a year at this point and he was obviously frustrated when he came in to see me. He was also very surprised when I told him that we had to watch him run. Can you believe that? This guy had been to multiple other medical professionals and not a single one took the time or even thought it was important to watch him run. This is crazy! What if you went to a mechanic and he didn’t actually drive your car around to see what the problem sounded like or how the car acted when it was running? That's basically what had happened to this athlete. After watching him run it was pretty obvious he ran like crap. I won’t get into all the specifics of the running mechanics in the blog but just remember my professional diagnosis was not plantar fasciitis, it was you run like crap. My prognosis was good. It was forget about your foot pain, we are going to make you faster! He was also had really bad hip mobility and tons of hip weakness. We spent the first two visits working on run form and getting some of the pain down in the calf/foot with soft tissue techniques to include Hawk Grips work and Performance Dry Needling.
Over the next two visits we re-tooled his running form even more and added in strength/mobility work for his hips. Think of your hips as the engine of movement for running. If you have poor hip strength/mobility it’s like riding your bike around on flat tires. Sure, you can still ride a bike this way but it's a hell of a lot easier to ride with with some air in the tires. Running is hard enough, don’t make it harder than it has to be. Below are the exact 3 exercises we nailed down for this athlete to do to help fix this chronic foot pain and none of them have anything to do with the foot directly. The order of completion was this. Pre-run (videos below) -Anterior Hip Mobility Opener 2 minutes per side -Band Hip Pull Throughs 2 sets just to muscle fatigue not failure -Band Hip Side Steps 2 sets just to muscle fatigue not failure This athlete typically ran 3 days per week so that’s all the strength work we added in for him. He did complete the anterior hip mobility opener 2 minutes per day regardless of if he ran or not that day. So what was the result? 4 visits over 6 weeks. 5 minute PR on his 10K time. Oh and no foot pain. If you’re having running-related problems, fix the cause of the problem not just treat the symptoms. If you’re in the Atlanta area and are a runner that has been dealing with injuries we can help. We’d love to chat for a few minutes and see if you are a good fit for what we do. Fill in the contact request below and we’ll set up a free 10-minute phone consultation with one of our Performance Physical Therapists.  Dr. Danny Matta DPT, is a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach based out of Atlanta, Ga. He teaches on the topics of movement efficiency, mobility and injury prevention internationally. He is also the Director of the Tactical division of the renowned MobilityWOD group started by Dr. Kelly Starrett DPT. Full bio here. 
On Episode 27 of the Doc and Jock Podcast Dr. Danny and Coach Joe touch base with Kristin Corbin, a nurse practitioner who specializing in functional medicine, covering the in's and out's of global inflammation.
Podcast Highlights:
Check out Kristin’s Bio below and her webpage. With Kristin's medical background, she has seen firsthand the consequences of improper nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle. Kristin trusts that through proper fitness and nutrition, YOU can achieve a sense of TOTAL WELLNESS. Over the past 8 years, Kristin has taught a variety of fitness classes including pilates/yoga fusion, spin, cardio kickboxing, HIIT, bootcamps, senior aerobics, kids fit and strength training. She is a certified Les Mill's Body Pump instructor, AFAA group fitness instructor, ASCM and AFAA personal trainer, and SCW indoor/outdoor boot camp instructor. As for nutrition, Hippocrates hit the nail on the head when he stated, "let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". Food is our bodies main source of fuel. We want to make sure we are fueling our bodies with the proper nutrients to perform at its full capacity. Kristin graduated Cum Laude from Georgia College and State University with her nursing degree 2011. Upon graduation, Kristin began her nursing career in the Emergency Room at Gwinnett Medical Center. During her time there, she obtained several certifications including, advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS), basic life support (BLS), and trauma nurse core certification (TNCC). Currently, Kristin is a family nurse practitioner at Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine. Through Western and Eastern Medicine, Kristin strives to provide unique, compassionate, and personalized care to each and every individual she sees. Book an appointment with her today at www.atlantaholisticmedicine.com Email: kristin@stat-wellness.com The following are links to Coaches, Establishments, and great folks mentioned in this Podcast – be sure to tell them Doc and Jock sent you!
Post Comments, potential topics, and questions to the Doc and Jock Facebook Page and our twitter account @DocandJock Facebook page Dr. Danny also always has something cooking and quality info on the Athlete Potential: Facebook page and Danny’s personal IG (@dannyMattaPT) and Twitter (@DannymattaPT) acconts Joe’s Barbell is also up and running on Facebook, And you can reach Coach Joe on IG (@joesbarbell) and Twitter (@JoeShu2326) for all your Weightlifting needs. Thanks for listening and remember, If you have a BODY you’re an ATHLETE |
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