Yes and no. Steroid allegations aside, the guy is an absolute monster. This is an older picture of him. He has only gotten bigger. Overeem is a great athlete and kickboxer, but he has a postural issue which is very common in MMA. Look at the position of Overeem’s hands. Notice how you can see the backs of them? That’s not how your hands should fall. Alistair Overeem’s shoulders are internally rotated.

What exactly is shoulder internal rotation you ask. Basically, it is when your shoulders are pulled forward and out of their proper positioning. When your shoulders internally rotate, this causes rotation of the humeris, which causes a chain reaction down the entire arm. Hence why you can see the back of Overeem’s hands. Being internally rotated is very dangerous for your shoulders, especially if you are an athlete. If you are confused about proper shoulder positioning, I took some pictures of yours truly to demonstrate the difference between proper shoulder positioning and internal rotation.

Here are a couple of shots of me pretending to be internally rotated:

Sorry for the big pics. I am lousy with technology. Notice in the profile view how my shoulder slumps forward. In the front view, notice how similar my hand positioning is to the picture of Overeem.

Here are some shots of me standing normally (yes, I have pretty awesome posture):

You can see in the profile view how much further pulled back my shoulder is. You can see this from the view in the front as well. Also, look at the positioning of my hand in this front view as compared to the internally rotated picture. You cannot see the back of my hand. Quick test: go stand normally in front of a mirror. Can you see the back of your hands? If so, you are internally rotated and have some work to do.

Causes

Internal rotation can be caused by a number of things. Generally, like all postural issues, it is some combination of tightness and (relative) weakness. Tight upper traps, tight pec minor, tight thoracic, and tight lats are all potentially big contributors when it comes to shoulder internal rotation.

Weakness of certain muscles can also pose a problem. Most notably the upper back. If you sit slumped over a computer all day, chances are your upper back muscles are stretched out from your normal seated posture, and weak, since you likely aren’t doing anything on a daily basis to strengthen them.

Think Overeem has a weak back? I doubt it. BUT, his upper back may be weak relative to his chest. If you have a strong upper back but a REALLY strong and tight chest, the chest will win the tug-o-war over the shoulders.

Cautions

When you are internally rotated, your shoulders are in a weak, vulnerable position. Because they are not sitting the way they were designed to anatomically, you end up being at a higher risk for injury. Try this. Those of you who read my very first blog post will remember this experiment. Sit straight up in your chair. With your palms facing each other, raise your arms up in front of you, and then straight up over your head. Now, try the same thing with your arms, but with your shoulders rounded far forward. Notice a bit of a difference in your shoulder mobility? You should. You should also notice with the rounded shoulders that pushing the range of motion can be quite uncomfortable. Overeem is a strong dude. How do you think his shoulders feel when he does heavy push-press with his internally rotated positioning? Bottom line, if your shoulders are internally rotated, you are at risk for a shoulder injury. If you have this problem, stop overhead pressing, pulling, and snatching NOW. You have a lot of mobility and remedial work ahead of you to fix your body.

Solutions

I mentioned earlier 4 key problem areas where tightness can cause shoulder internal rotation: thoracic, lats, pec minor, and upper traps. If you are internally rotated, don’t worry about which of these four areas is the problem. Chances are you are tighter than you ought to be in all of them. Use a foam roller or PVC pipe on your lats. Try a lacrosse ball on your pecs, a double lacrosse ball for your thoracic, and check out this little number for your upper traps courtesy of Mobility WOD.

In addition to the self massage work, do some static and dynamic stretching for that area. For example, try doing behind the neck overhead pressing with a broomstick. Start with your hands wide, and then move them closer together as your shoulder mobility increases.

Another important solution to this problem is strengthening your upper back. Facepull variations, TYI’s, and even heavier horizontal pulling/rowing movements can do this. As I mentioned earlier, if your upper back is relatively weak compared to your chest, your shoulders will be pulled forward. If you are a boxer or a kickboxer, think about how much time you spend pushing (punching) compared to pulling. Of course there is a discrepancy! If you are internally rotated and trying to fix the problem, not only should you ditch all overhead pushing and pulling, but you should also ditch horizontal pushing for the time being. Yes guys, this means no bench! Stretch and strengthen, and then you can get back to these movements.

However, once your shoulders are in a healthy position, maintain a ratio of at least 2 pulls for every 1 push in the weight room. That means if you are doing 5 sets of heavy bench, you better be doing 5 sets of heavy rows, as well as some remedial work such as facefulls for the upper back.

How do you know if you have fixed the problem? Besides the hand/mirror test, try this. Lie on the ground on your back. With your palms facing each other, raise your arms overhead. If you can touch your index fingers to the ground without overextending your lumber, bending your elbows, or having shoulder pain, you have likely fixed your shoulder positioning and are PROBABLY good to go with overhead movements.

Shoulder internal rotation isn’t just a problem for the elderly. As evidenced by the pic of Overeem, lots of high level athletes have this problem as well. Take it from a guy who separated his shoulder during a split jerk in the last training session before my first Olympic lifting comp: shoulder injuries suck. If you are internally rotated, swallow your pride, pull back your training in certain areas, and fix the problem once and for all. #allgo

As teachers know, meta cognition is “thinking about thinking” or developing an awareness of the learning and thinking processes. Teachers use meta cognition to design learning strategies that address a wide range of learning styles. Research has shown that learners can do this themselves by being aware of their own thinking and learning. By knowing (i.e. thinking) how they learn and think, students can help themselves be more effective learners.

In the same way, meta plasticity is the awareness and the practice of being plastic. We can use the awareness of movement and what works to get even better in our movement. By constantly assessing and reassessing what is and isn’t working, we start to own the tools to enhance the plasticity that is already there.

Like the learning process, using strategies and being aware of our plasticity, we can make ourselves more plastic. A particular movement may or may not have an immediate impact, but it offers our body the awareness that it has the potential to do it. When our body needs that movement later, like in an unexpected event, it’s more available. The sum total of our movement experiences makes our current movement more or less accessible based on what we’ve done before and dramatically reduces the learning time of a new skill. The experience and ability to move all parts of the body gives us a bigger set of skills or tools that our bodies can use when needed.

“Working out” isn’t just about burning calories. We should constantly be asking ourselves, what are we practicing to be? By setting up the environment to be mobile and plastic, we become more flexible, injury resistant, and supple. The quality of our health in general is activity dependent. By making informed decisions about the kinds of movement and activities that make us better (or make us worse), we put ourselves in the driver’s seat.

Because we are plastic, we are always changing, but if we practice change, being intentional about it, we are in charge of our own physical destiny.

205 squat for five:

Form is better overall compared to last time.  I’d like him to work more on some hamstring mobility as well as hitting his thoracic extension harder than he has.  The lean isn’t necessarily too terrible, but I’d like his chest to be a little bit more up.  All in all, when compared to the previous, this was much better.  You’ll notice on the last rep his lower back rounds.  That’s definitely because of tight hamstrings and PSOAS.

120 BTN push press for five, then he decided to get bold and do 125 for five (PR):

Finished off with an overzealous 240 sumo.  He messed around with his hip angle on this one (kinda):

I think his hip could have been a little higher, however he will be experimenting on form.  His upper back still rounds, but not to the point where I’m absolutely sick of it.  So, I’ll take this one rather than leave it.  Again, more hamstring mobility, more hip mobility, more thoracic spine mobility will go a long way.  He should probably also search mobilitywod.com for extra mobs he can do, but I can barely get him to read about Texas Method.  (lol)

I, on the other hand, experimented with some power snatches yesterday (just the bar).  Still working on the movement, but I’m pretty sure I got it.  Did six sets of doubles.

Did some hypertrophy for my arms with some preacher curls.  35 for 15, 45 for 15, 55 for about four.  Going to keep a strict rep cap on these, considering I’m doing only a thirty-second break in between (15x12x10, respectively).

Pendlay rowed 145 3×5.  Felt good to hit the outside of my lats.

Today was a light day, so I pressed 97.5 3×5 and front squatted 150 3×3.  The fun part was walking around my neighborhood and job with my sled and a 25lb plate.

Warmed up with a fasted walk and 100 jumps with the jump rope.  Didn’t do much mobility except loosening up my lats and spine a little bit.

Ivan pressed 105 5x5x10 (REP PR), did 3×10 assisted pull ups (PR), power cleaned 55 5×3 (form is getting much better), and front squatted 100 3×3.  He also joined me on the sled pulling.

Because he did so well with his assisted pull ups, I’ll be moving him over to negatives soon.  Ivan is still at mediocre weight for himself, so we should be seeing a lot out of him in the following months (which excites me).

Me and Ivan decided to enjoy IHOP for our post work out meal.  Steak omelette and pancakes, water, coffee, and hopes and dreams.

(Update on Sean: I’m attempting to convince him to start Wendler’s 5/3/1.)

Did you know that neural (brain) fatigue shows up with physical signs? We all know after we get done sitting all day in a seminar (hopefully an interesting one) that we are physically exhausted.  But what we don’t realize is this can happen to us every day because of our movement or lack of good movement.  Our brain gets tired because we aren’t moving well.

We activate our cerebellum with movement. So the deal is, if we move well, we get neural firing, better brain function.  Our brain cannot adapt when there isn’t enough stimulus, and don’t you want to have the right kind of stimulus?  It’s not just random movement that helps make us better.

We need to be aware of the choices we make in our movement patterns.  We are constantly adapting to whatever we do, how we move, and how we think.  We are the drivers of our destiny because we are adaptable creatures.  Our brain and body will adapt to whatever information it is fed.  It doesn’t have a filter to determine what is good or bad, it just is.  You want to practice good movement patterns so that you can continually improve and get better both physically and mentally. A lack of stimulus means a lack of activation of neurons means things die because they aren’t being used.

Getting back to that cerebellum, it is activated by uniplanar movements.  So if the only thing we do is walk (I’m not knocking walking), our brain doesn’t get enough stimulus.   We then get bad at rotating, bending, turning etc.  The more you practice moving and moving well, the smarter you get. Consequently, the more injury resistant you are. Win!  When I say injury resistant, that also means disease resistant.  Nothing doesn’t matter, so how well you move, how well you breath, how you eat, they all count in your overall health.

Our current conventional wisdom has put a lot of emphasis on brain puzzles, soduku, etc.  They are great, but they aren’t going to keep you young.  They will help you get better at doing brain puzzles. Bottom line, there is no easy fix or pill that can create the long term lasting change without movement.  And be mindful of the kind of movement it is.

Top 3 things you should know about passports for children

This video reviews the top three things Canadians should to know passports for children, including the fact that children who travel need a Canadian passport.

Passport Canada has a number of rules pertaining to passports, which included specific provisions applicable to children anyone aged 3 to 16 and infants anyone under the age of 3. Specifically:

• All Canadians entering the U.S. by air – including children whether accompanied by a parent or not – must have a valid Canadian passport.

• As with passports for adults, any child or infant who is a Canadian citizen is eligible to apply; once issued, the passport is good for five years for children, and three years for infants.

• Children need their own passports to travel abroad (i.e. non-U.S. destinations), even if accompanied by a parent.

• Children who are not travelling with both parents should carry a “Letter of Consent” which states that both parents agree to the child travelling. (Although this is not a strict legal requirement, it serves to facilitate a child’s entry into another country).

We hope you have found this video helpful. If you require further information about please give us a call or visit our website at www.russellalexander.com or For further information, visit the Passport Canada website at: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/index.aspx

Did my usual fasted walk and 100 jumps on the jump rope.  Loosened up the hips and calves.

Warmed up with some rolling.  The left rotator cuff and scapulae are extremely glued down.

Curled 35 for 15, 45 for 10, and 55 for seven with 30 second breaks in between.  Popped an ibuprofen because my elbow flared like a firework.  Gonna have to dial the curls back a bit.

After a lot of pacing and holding my arm, the flaring finally stopped.  Pulled an easy 135 Pendlay row.  Love this variation.  Five reps, three sets.

Power cleans.  Power cleans, power cleans, power cleans.  I love them.  And I think they are the root of my problem.

So, when you don’t have bumper plates, you have to guide the weight back down.  It’s not easy.  And it’s been doing HELL to my elbow.  I’ve also have been catching the wrong way (the force of the weight stopping at the palm of my hand instead of racking on my delts).  Pulled the weight back to 95, but had the best sets of triples I ever had because I stopped trying to catch them.  I let my hands loose around the bar, and the bar literally just flew to my delts.  Never had cleaner cleans in my life.  Instead of dropping them, I walk it into the rack, and Zercher the weight back down to my stands.  I’m doing hang cleans, because I refuse to pull from the floor anything below 135 because I hate stacking plates.

Been working around my injury successfully, and am pretty happy about it.  I also bought a Voodoo floss band from Rogue.  I intend to do this mobilization the second I get it:

Gonna be opening up my hip capsules soon, as will as attacking my PSOAs.  Tomorrow is light day, of which I’m excited for.

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Ha.

Woke up at the crack ass of 4:30 AM.  Went for a walk (fasted) and did 100 jump ropes.  Ate some breakfast and started lifting by 6:00.

Bench 170 5×5 (right here is when the elbow started to get painful)x6 (REP PR, mostly out of spite).

I stopped and decided to do some mobility with my elbow.  I rolled on the distal head of the bicep for about two minutes.  I crunched the lacrosse ball between my forearm and bicep and laid on that for about a minute.  Finished up with some banded elbow hyperextensions.  The pain felt a little better.

Rows 215 8(barely)x5.  It’s been fun doing the Yates Row.  I’m going to take 20% off this and start doing Pendlay Rows for a while.  My elbow was fine throughout this movement.

Squats 255 5×5.  As I warmed up for the squat, the elbow pain came back.  And worse.  Each set was EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL.  I got dizzy.  I saw stars.  I wanted to puke.  The pain was getting worse.  It numbed in the middle of reps, but the second I racked the bar, it came back ten fold.  I probably should have stopped squatting.

But then I remembered: I’m a man; not a bitch.

In between the sets, I curled a little bit just to send some blood flow.  Didn’t do much of anything.  Popped an Ibuprofen by set three.  It’s now finally kicking in.

I didn’t RDL.  I’ll probably do it tomorrow depending on how my elbow feels.  Ordered a Rehband elbow sleeve.  Pretty stoked for it.  Despite the pain, good work out.

What happens when you sit in a chair? Well, you just sit there. Imagine if our meat fueled, spear wielding, mastodon killing ancestors had Lazy Boys. We would be a wasteland of Lazy Corpses… which we are actually not that far off from becoming right now.

When it comes to training, lots of sitting during non-training times can create a lot of load error issues when it comes time to actually do something awesome with your ass. Like squatting, deadlifting, jumping, sprinting, booze fueled car flipping contests, impromptu glute flex off competitions, etc.

Basically, sitting for hours on end shortens muscles. Shortened muscles are tight muscles. Tight muscles are tight because they are compensating for some kind of stability problem somewhere else. Also, and most importantly, tight muscles are weak muscles. In no group of muscles are more dysfunctions and load errors seen than in the hip flexor complex.

When this area locks up, hip extension becomes limited. The last thing you want when it comes time to drive a PR squat out of the hole or sprint away from (or towards) a surprise grizzly bear attack, is to not be able to get your ass into the equation.

I have ordered a progression exercises (most of them stolen from people a lot somarter than me) to get your hip extension un-funked.

1. Anterior Traction PNF- You need a butt load of band tension… right under your butt. This position is basically a lunge with band tension being applied under the gluteal fold (under the butt cheek) of the downed knee. This band should be secured and pulling towards your anterior (front). From here, move into every position you possibly can that feels bad. Once you find a position that feels bad, flex into it and hold that tension for 10-20 seconds. Once you relax, find a new ROM in that uncomfortable position. It takes about 2 minutes for a significant change in tissues to occur. So, do this for at least that long on each leg.

2. Scissor Lunge- Step out of the band then drop right back into that same lunge position. Only driving through your front heel, stand up until your legs are completely straight. Now, return to that down position by driving your downed knee as far back as possibly while driving your front knee as far forward as possible. This creates a sort of scissoring movement in the hips and will tear up/stretch all of the bound up awfully-ness in your quads and hip flexor complex. Repeat 10-20 times on each leg.

3. Scissor Lunge with Anterior Traction- Step back into that band and do #2 with the added traction. Again 10-20 reps. Feel free to start cursing my existence at this point because this is absolutely brutal if you are really pushing your knees away from each other.

4. Scissor Lunge with Anterior Traction with Scapular Whatevers- If there is anything left of you, repeat #3 with a dowel, barbell, 12 foot Subway Party Sub, held overhead. I added this because any exercise that is worth actually doing will be a full body effort. Plus, scapular/thoracic/midback/whatever the pop-fitness name is for this area now, usually sucks on everyone. Some extra mobility work in this area will help get you ready for whatever full body awesomeness you have planned for your training session.

Video of my fat ass doing this awful stuff:

Comment and let me know what you think.

Solum Per Exitum. Now, un-funk your junk box.

The idea is that if you can get up from the floor without using hands, knees, elbows, etc. for support, that is correlated with greater longevity. 

I was laying flat on the floor after the Renegade Rowing daily WOD and the 100 situps per day that CrossFit Ignite is doing this month, and I figured, why not?

Of course I had not watched the video of how to do it, so like an idiot I had to brainstorm it.  Plus, I was not sitting, but prone.  It was quite a puzzle to figure out even how to get into a semi-sitting position without using an elbow. 

The method I came up with combined a backward rock (like an exaggerated hollow rock), followed by pulling my legs in and hitting an explosive butterfly situp motion led by my arms, rolling forward onto my feet and then standing up like an air squat using the outstretched arms to counterbalance.  The whole thing is kind of like a swimming flip turn in reverse.  It took me five tries to get the motion, but once I had the skill I nailed it!  May I still be strong enough to do that when I’m 100 years old!

Monday: Off, Mobility

Tuesday: Bench/Volume Press, Yates Row/Pull Ups, Volume Squat, RDLs

Wednesday: Power Cleans, Curls, Conditioning, Mobility

Thursday: Medium Press/Bench, Pull Ups/Yates Row, Front Squat

Friday: Off, Mobility

Saturday: Intensity Squat, Bench/Intensity Press, Yates Row/Pull Ups, Deadlift, Power Shrugs

Sunday: Conditioning, Mobility

I walked around 6:30 AM fasted, and did 100 jumps jump roping.

Mobility:

Couch stretch: 2 minutes each leg.  Little tight, but better.

Hamstring stretch with bands: 2 minute each leg

Glute/Ham Smash with lacrosse ball: right upper ham/glute tight, left leg’s lower hamstring behind knee cap pretty tight, but not too bad in general.

Tibia Smash: little tightness, but nothing too dramatic.

Heel Smash: right heel more painful than left.  Thirty seconds each heel.

Tibia Internal Rotation (right leg): Major improvement.  Getting better ROM with the heel chords and the knee is staying in place.

Unglued heel chords.  Didn’t need much.

Five minute paleo squat, balancing weight between ankle to ankle.  Needed to use the barbell to stabilize and balance myself.  My right ankle is more pinchy than the left; but it was good to get the full five minutes.

Calves were fine.

Internal and External Rotation of shoulders were fine.

Thoracic extension was pretty good, not much discomfort.

Did a static bicep stretch and low back stretch just to see how they were feeling.  Both are fine.

Hip capsule: I was actually able to sit calmly into the left hip for the entire two minutes, with bonus movement hitting the different gnarly corners (PR).  The right didn’t even need the full two minutes considering how loose it’s been (PR).

Tried a new MWOD today:

I call it trap smashing.  My neck and upper back felt amazing afterwords.  Highly recommend.  Going to make this a new staple.

Might need to try and add some elbow flexor mobility.  Left bicep/flexors are a little tender at the moment.

I should have made more of an effort to differentiate between foot positioning for a) squatting or Olympic lifting, and b) sprinting, prowler pushing, lunging, etc.

Regarding squatting and Olympic lifting, having your toes point out slightly is okay! Most people do not have the ankle mobility to drive their knees out with their toes pointing completely forward, which is fine. Starrett’s foot positioning in the squat on the right is excellent. Do NOT do this…

Look at this guy’s feet, and his right knee. His toes are pointed very far out. No surprise, you can see his right knee collapsing in slightly. Look at the difference of the angle of the ankle between this squat and Starrett’s good squat. Starrett’s ankles are angled out nicely over the OUTSIDE of his feet, while this guy’s ankles are collapsing in causing poor knee positioning and dangerous joint stress. All that is to say, pointing your toes out slightly in squatting or Olympic lifting is fine, but keep a close eye on your knees.

In terms of running, lunging, prowler pushing, etc. … It is my belief that the toes should be pointed DIRECTLY forward in these movements. For one thing, since these movements are more dynamic than say, squatting, it is more difficult to ensure your knees track properly. When I squat I always remind myself to drive my knees out. When I sprint I’m concentrating on not falling flat on my face!

Secondly, I believe having your toes pointing out even slightly in movements such as sprinting is a bit of a slippery slope. If you do it a bit, as you get tired, you are going to do it more. When you are standing, walking, running, lunging, pushing a sled, or doing single-leg squats, point your toes directly forward!

I leave you with another video of Georges St. Pierre training for his most recent fight with Carlos Condit. Watch from 4:00-4:30 to see Georges stressing his knees again by using very poor foot positioning on the prowler. For the record, I mean no disrespect to Georges and his team, but this is definitely an issue which he/they ought to address! #allgo

Many of you reading this will be familiar with the name Georges St. Pierre. He is the current UFC welterweight champ, and one of the most dominant fighters on the planet right now. He also recently returned from an ACL tear. Not to blast my own horn, but I was not the least bit surprised that GSP suffered that injury. Yes, he is in a dangerous sport, but I’m sure it didn’t help that he and his coaching staff have didn’t pay enough attention to his foot positioning and therefore the angle of his knees in certain movements.

Take a look at the following picture. This is an example of ‘valgus knee’ positioning. Notice how the toes point out and the knees collapse in.

This knee and foot position puts an extreme account of stress on the inside of the knee; stress that that joint is not biomechanically designed to handle, or to be loaded in. Can you imagine squatting like this!? When you squat or run, your toes should be pointed forward.

In this following video, Brian MacKenzie and Kelly Starrett explain how foot positioning can be a tell that an athlete will encounter knee issues. While I suggest watching the whole video because it is excellent, at minimum watch 6:00-7:00.

If your feet point out and your knees collapse in during sprints, squats, prowler pushing, etc., you are at risk for a knee injury. Try this test. Stand with your toe pointing forward and try to push your knee forward over your toe as far as it can go without lifting your heel off the ground. Probably feels fine right? Now, do the same thing, but turn your toe out to the side as far as you can. Does your knee feel strong? Comfortable? It shouldn’t, because that’s not how the joint should function.

With this in mind, take a look at the following video clip. This is footage of Georges St. Pierre training for his last fight BEFORE his ACL tear. Watch from 11:00-12:15. Pay very close attention to the angle of his toes during his sprinting.

Notice anything? GSP’s toes are pointed out to the side during his sprints, rather than straight ahead. As a result, his knee is not tracking directly over his toe, but is collapsing in slightly. While there is no way to know whether doing squatting and explosive activities such as sprinting in this movement pattern over and over caused his knee injury, it certainly didn’t help matters.

How can you prevent this improper movement pattern? When a person doesn’t move properly, I would suggest there are potentially three main causes. Poor movement patterns may be caused by one, two, or all three of these issues.

1) You have simply learned the improper movement pattern.

2) You have restricted mobility somewhere which is preventing you from doing the proper movement pattern.

3) You have weakness somewhere which is preventing you from doing the proper movement pattern.

Let’s take squatting as an example here. Let’s say after reading this article you realized that when you squat your toes are pointed out, and your knees are in a valgus position.

1) If you have simply learned the improper movement pattern, just start doing the movement properly. Point your toes forward and push your knees out when you squat.

2) If you have restricted mobility which is affecting your ability to squat properly and causing valgus positioning, the culprits are likely poor hip and ankle mobility. Solution? Spend 5 minutes a day sitting in an ass-to-grass squat with your chest high and your knees out. This will fix the problem pretty quickly. Worked for me.

3) If you have weakness which is preventing you from pointing your toes forward and driving your knees out, I refer you to the solution for the first problem. Don’t get too analytical and think that you have to spend your days doing a bunch of femur abduction work to strengthen your glute med. Practice squatting properly, and maybe throw in some pistols (single leg squats). Use light weight at first, and progress once the movement pattern becomes more natural.

Foot positioning is so important when it comes to knee injury prevention, but is not always focused on enough. As I mentioned, Georges St. Pierre has some of the best trainers in the world, and even they appear to have missed the problem. Watch your feet, and how your knees move in relation to them. Chances are your sport is dangerous enough. You should do as much as possible to avoid injuring yourself in training. #allgo

Kenneth recently made the following post on Facebook and I wanted to share his thoughts:

“More and more people are realizing that saying “strength” is the most important attribute to develop is not only tremendously wrong from a scientific perspective but automatically also puts a limit to your full athletic potential. Developing strength is indeed important but to say it is the most important factor is a dangerous conclusion to draw. Maybe it is for some but we are not all the same and for strength to be the end all be all attribute across the board implies that we are all the same. To cite Russian 60′s and 70′s so called “research” and use that as an argument is simply not cutting it. The “research”, which is not even an accurate term in this case, is completely outdated and plain out wrong.This is just some of the material we go over at the KBI certifications- we dig a whole lot deeper searching for a more profound understanding of the human being so you and your clients don’t end up short of your full potential or worse- in pain!  Merry Christmas!”

Put CHANGE and being open to it at the top of your list for 2013.  Join us for a class or join us for the certification.  Uncommonage.com.

Whether a parent has a right to move with a child – the concept of “mobility” in family law

The moment that the parents of a child separate, everyone’s life circumstances change immediately: there are usually new living arrangements and a custody and access schedule put in place.

But as time passes, there may be other developments as well; for example the parents may embark on new relationships with new partners, or may change jobs.

The potential impact on any court-ordered support, custody or specific access arrangement, and the effect on each parent’s rights must be assessed and weighed.

In cases where one parent’s new relationships or new jobs require a move to another city or province, the concern is even greater. This is because such scenarios give rise the a legal issue of whether the circumstances and preferences of the parents should be allowed to dictate the child’s living circumstances, whether such moves should be allowed and by whom, and – if so – what happens to the custody and access arrangements that are in place.

In family law, this is known as a “mobility” issue.

In Canada, courts generally recognize that the well-being of a child is fundamentally interrelated with the well-being of the custodial parent; indeed, a 1996 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in a case called Gordon v. Goertz established conclusively that judges must apply the “best interests of the child” test in making decisions about whether a parent should be allowed to relocate with a child, which in turn requires an individual, fact-specific assessment. As the court put it:
“The focus is on the best interests of the child, not the interests and rights of the parents.”

Courts are required to make a “full and sensitive” inquiry. This means that they are obliged to take into consideration a vast array of factors, including:

• the existing custody arrangement and relationship between the child and the custodial parent;

• the existing access arrangement and the relationship between the child and the access parent;

• the desirability of maximizing contact between the child and both parents;

• the views of the child;

• the custodial parent’s reason for moving, only in the exceptional case where it is relevant to that parent’s ability to meet the needs of the child;

• the disruption to the child of a change in custody; and

• the disruption to the child consequent on removal from family, schools, and the community he or she has come to know.

It is worth pointing out that in making this assessment, there is no presumption in favour of either parent (whether the custodial parent or otherwise).

The authority for a court to make such a determination on behalf of parents and children is set out in various provincial and federal family-legislation.

The federal Divorce Act, for example, provides that if a court gives one parent custody of a child, the court may also require that parent to give at least 30 days’ notice to the other parent of any planned change of residence of the child (although practically speaking, most orders specify a 60-day period).

The access parent, upon receiving such notice, can apply to the court to challenge the proposed change of residence, or seek a variation of the custody or access arrangements; this notice period also afford the parents the chance to negotiate acceptable relocation terms, before it happens.

When mobility issues arise, it is important to get experienced and competent legal advice, to ensure that the best interests of all parties – particularly the children of the relationship – are safeguarded.

We hope you have found this video helpful.  If you require further information about mobility issues and family law please give us a call or visit our website at www.russellalexander.com

As we learned in our recent certification, we mine for “nuggets of health, wellness, fitness and performance gold. By finding and helping our athletes self-correct neural deficits in their overall function, we have the opportunity to help them optimize their lives now and for the foreseeable future.”

And remember, we are all athletes. Being athletic doesn’t mean you have to be a marathon runner. It means everyday you navigate through the world with your body and senses. How we perceive the world depends on the filters we have developed through our emotional and physical experiences.

In simple speak, we do things a little left of center. While we can work out with the best of ‘em, we approach things a little differently. By working through the body, we enable the brain to function better. Through precision and repetition we can change some long held patterns. The old adage of  ”don’t expect different results if you keep doing the same thing” couldn’t be more true. We work to help people move better, which helps their brain function better, which helps them think better, and gives them a better quality of life.

Not much more complicated than that!

Having spent just four days in the city – two of them at the Moscow Urban Forum – it would be foolish of me to give a definitive answer. But I saw and heard enough to share some thoughts. A good place to start is with the Forum itself. Now in its second year, the event had all the hallmarks of a high-profile, heavyweight occasion, including a mayoral keynote and a star turn by Tim Campbell, British former Apprentice, and now London’s own ambassador for training and enterprise. So the fact that it devoted one session to the topic of ‘children in the city space’ points to a real interest in children’s experiences of living in Moscow.

That session revealed further positive signs. Yulia Grimalskaya, a senior official from Moscow’s department for family and youth policy, said that in 2011-2 alone, the Mayor had improved or created 50 city parks, 123 artificial skating rinks, 46 workout areas, and no fewer than 1,100 playgrounds. All clear evidence that, as she put it, “Moscow is trying to turn its face to children”.

In another session, Andrey Nesterenko from developers Red Rose set out his company’s plans for a new Moscow district, V Lesu. His sales pitch for this “big and magnanimous” family-oriented development highlighted “education and development for children” and “playgrounds for children of different ages” alongside the promotion of walking and cycling and public transport improvements.

Outside the conference bubble, I came across another encouraging sign: an initiative called the White City Project, which aims to make a central area of the city more liveable and child-friendly. This video gives a flavour of the project’s aims and approach.

So does all this add up to making Moscow a great place to grow up? Not at all. At the conference, Moscow’s chief architect Sergei Kuznetsov gave a damning assessment of the postwar Soviet microrayons or ‘sleeping districts’ where 90 per cent of Moscow’s families live. “Children are living in such faceless environments,” he said, “that it is leading to psychological deficiencies.”

What is more, the city has a huge and growing problem with car traffic. Out in the microrayons, parked cars litter many public spaces. As the comments on my recent blog post show, parents are fearful of the threat of speeding traffic. In the Forum, the topic of traffic was a constant theme. The Mayor of Moscow’s opening speech laid bare the tensions. After declaring that “cars create a better quality of life” he said that Moscow’s most urgent task was “to tackle transport collapse”.

The most fleeting visit to the city confims that it is being overrun by cars. Whilst trying to walk down one narrow city centre street, I found that parked vehicles had blocked both pavements. On another occasion I saw a car driver all but run over a man, as he aggressively asserted his right to park (illegally) on a pedestrian crossing.

Even the new playgrounds the mayor’s administration is so proud of may be less of a blessing than they seem. Several mothers I spoke to complained that these were largely sterile, unimaginative and boring for children. The ones I saw at first hand were not overly inspiring.

Some of the parents I spoke to highlighted another barrier to children’s free play: lack of time. In Russia, as in many other countries, children live in a culture where educational attainment is at a premium, and where they face growing pressure to climb up the ladder of formal learning – from an early age, and whether or not they are ready for it. This can leave children starved of the chance to simply play freely. Indeed one mother told me about a kindergarten she visited, where the programme was highly structured. She was amazed to see that the children were desperate to stay on, even at the end of a long day. Why? Because they knew that their only opportunity for free play was after 6 pm.

In my session at the Moscow Urban Forum, I invited the audience to recall their own memories of childhood, and specifically their favourite places to play as a child. Asked whether these places were out of doors - and out of sight of adults - the vast majority of delegates said yes. Just as in London, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Melbourne, Ottawa, Utrecht, Brussels, Auckland, Cardiff, and every other city where I have posed those questions. It was clear that, once revived, these memories of everyday adventures beyond the anxious gaze of adults were full of significance and value.

Adrian Voce, who succeeded me as director at Play England, also spoke at the session. Introducing his take on the rise and fall of government interest in play, he shared a quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic exploration of human spirituality, The Brothers Karamazov, that beautifully captures the power and value of a good childhood: “People talk to you a great deal about your education, but some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education.”

Everyone I spoke to in Moscow was aware of the contrast between their own childhoods and those on offer to children today. Russians were in effect asking themselves “what sacred memories will this generation of children carry with them into life?” – and were not happy with the answer.

I may have the chance to return to Moscow; to explore how it can bequeath its future citizens rich, resonant memories of growing up. If you have any creative ideas for encouraging the city to raise its aspirations for children, I’d love to hear them.

Update 25 February 2013: My visit generated some interest from websites and the media. Here are some links to interviews and feature articles (all in Russian). Thanks to Nadia Pavlovskaya for sending me these links.
http://kidsters.ru/2013/01/18/timgill/
http://kidsters.ru/2013/01/24/tim-gill-2p/
http://ezhikezhik.ru/interview/tim-gill-u-detei-dolzhno-byt-bolshe-shansov-na-svobodu
http://www.strelka.com/blog_ru/6585/?lang=ru
http://www.afisha.ru/article/jekspert-po-detskim-ploshhadkam-o-tom-kak-sdelat-gorod-udobnim-dlja-detej/
http://bg.ru/kids/kak_sdelat_gorod_druzheljubnym_dlja_detej-16038/

Update 8 May 2013: here is one more interview (in Russian):
http://letidor.ru/article/tim_gill_my_dolzhny_otvergnut__35361/

However it means IT has to manage new and more devices; In a budget perspective it means IT is replacing CAPEX (Capital expenses) for OPEX (Operational Expenses).

A recent survey from CDW, shows that IT managers surveyed report that 89% of their employees use personally owned mobile devices for work.

But is your enterprise ready for it? And is your Datacenter ready for BYOD?

BYOD requires a strategy, process and policies, as well as hardware and software platforms, and applications, to secure, support and manage these new devices and endpoints.

So what are the challenges facing your organization?

What are your user’s expectations?

What are the benefits for your organisation?

What do you have to do to be successful?

1- The Challenges facing your organization and Datacenter

A new survey conducted in EMEA showed that 70% of the enterprises surveyed allowed their employee to bring their own devices, 40% allowing access to corporate applications and 30% allowing only access to internet.

First challenges that come to mind are, of course are bout security and bandwidth, in fact they come in that order: Employee device introducing a virus, Employee losing a device with critical data, Employee staling data.. but there are more. Here are the details results of this survey about those challenges:

- 20%: Securely connect employee device

- 18%: Ensure mobile device security

- 16%: Establish a corporate policy for acceptable use

- 14%: Enforce access rights, based on user, device and application

- 11%: Build enough wireless coverage and capacity (bandwidth)

- 10%: Avoid the use of more IT resources

- 9%: Evaluate the business benefit relative to risk

We can add a few more challenges you will be facing like policy enforcement, physical theft, malware prevention, IT support increase, storage infrastructure readiness, education …

2- What are the benefits of BYOD for your organization?

The BYOD brings some challenges but also provide some benefits:

- Increase in employees productivity and job satisfaction

- Reduced number of devices to purchase and support

- Reduced set-up and training time and cost, employees using devices and tools they like and know how to use

- Reduce maintenance of devices (employees take better care of their personal devices)

- Improve communication between field and office personnel as well as increased availability to customers – resulting in better customer service.

- Improve Work-Life balance of your workforce

The CDW survey also shows that 67% of small business mobile device users believe their company would lose competitive ground without mobile devices, and 94% believe their mobile devices make them more efficient.

85% of IT managers believe that mobile devices make their company more efficient.

3- What are the users expectations?

Based on a Forester research, 60% of companies offer BYOD, and Gartner predicts it will be 90% by 2014, accessing company data with at least 2 mobile devices.

Users love to be able to use their own device at work, not to carry multiple devices, they understand the security, policies and management challenges it generate, however they hate having to keep entering 8 digits passwords for each app., specially when it requires special characters (!)

The chart describe quite well some of the key users expectations:

- Users do not want their personal data to risk to be wiped-out

- Users do not want to have to enter enterprise passwords for personal apps

- Users want to be able to keep using personal apps as facebook, twitter, iCloud, Pandora, Spotify, dropbox etc.

Best scenario would be to create virtual separation on mobile devices applying different policies to personal and company data.

4- What do you have to do to be successful?

- Define a BYOD Strategy

- Create and communicate clear and strong policies and guidelines

- Educate your employees on Cybersecurity

- Plan for network bandwith and storage

- Secure personal mobile devices to protect your network and data accordingly

- Implement a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution.

- Implement a Mobile Application Management (MAM) solutions

- Other option is to contract a managed service solution from a service providers, ie in the cloud managed services solution

- Approve any mobile device being used in your business

- Have a separate network designed solely for BYOD devices

- Optimize your web platform for mobile devices and offer mobile apps for your business to your employee and to your clients

- Monitor results: security, performance, resources, cost, employee and customer satisfaction.

In summary, Does BYOD make sense for all businesses? Probably not. Different organisations have different business needs and security requirements and Risk policies.

Does it always provide all benefits promised? Probably not. Some businesses will get more benefits than others. As an example, about Capex vs Opex expenditures, Kris Lovejoy, VP of IBM IT Risk Management, declared at the recent Reboot Ottawa Conference that IBM spends more on securing and managing employees purchased devices than they do on those provided by the company, even when cost of the device has been factored in.

BYOD has become one of the main drivers of IT and Network transformation, it poses some serious challenges to IT organisations and to datacenters but it can be successfully managed and the benefits are real and worth embracing it. However One Size Does Not Fit All !

I mainly work from my home office, but tomorrow I will bring to my company corporate office my own BlackBerry Bold and my own Blackberry Playbook tablet to work, but will still bring my company owned Lenovo laptop. They’re better be ready, I know they really are as a matter of fact, but ARE YOU READY?

and IS YOUR DATACENTER READY FOR  BYOD?

So what does all this mean ???

The mobile revolution is well and truly here. Organisations of all sizes need to have developed a solid and robust mobile strategy, or face being left behind by clients and competitors.  Whilst there is still some contention over the best strategic approach to mobile application development, there is no doubt that mobile applications are front and centre in leveraging market opportunities, client engagement, process efficiencies, and strategic innovation.

In a recent blog post I proposed the inclusion of a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (or MEAP) as an integral part of any mobile strategy. Of course, this particular strategy depends on the nature of the organisation and its key mobility objectives; however MEAP should not be overlooked when considering a long term view to deployment of multiple different mobile applications, using multiple back-end systems, across any device.

For medium to large sized healthcare organisations, a MEAP based mobile strategy has several advantages over a natively developed application, which is often built with a pre-defined range of objectives, or based on one back-end system.  In this scenario, a mobile platform approach is superior because it:

-          Enables the organisation to customise a solution into fit exact requirements, tailored to the business needs and processes

-          Can provide a competitive advantage, as no one else has that particular mobile application

-          Ensures that changes to the mobile solution are immediate, flexible and more cost effective

-          Is not restricted by the type of mobile device. Mobile platform applications built using HTML5 ensure availability on any mobile device

-          Aligns to organisational “bring your own device” policies (if applicable)

-          Ensures that any development code (apps or API’s) can be re-used to help build other apps

-          Fits into the organisations long term strategies and e-health vision to provide mobile solutions for other uses, for example

• Bedside medication management
• Bedside electronic progress notes and electronic care planning
• Capturing of client and staff incidents, risks, compliance and improvement initiatives
• Mobile business intelligence and analytics
• Mobile clinical assessments
• Information management (eg, mobile access to policies or corporate documents)
• Others ???

The above examples are likely to need data integrated from multiple in-house systems, which plays into the hands of a mobile platform. While organisations may not require mobility solutions for all the above examples right now, establishing a mobile platform caters for immediate AND long-term organisational use of mobility, even if the future state is not known.  The mobility platform approach has already harnessed recognition across all the major ICT industry research groups including Gartner and Forrester, and is a key component of the ICT Strategy toolkit.

• A beautiful, thick, large-format book packed with hundreds of slow-motion stills of every CrossFit exercise as well as running, swimming, and cycling technique.
• A nuanced view of the pros and cons of traditional endurance training and the CrossFit approach.
• Finally, a clear explanation of CrossFit Endurance programming that “clicked” with my brain – I never really understood the methodology behind the website programming until I read the book!
• A comprehensive “manual” of CrossFit, incorporating weightlifting, gymnastics, sport skills, mobility, and nutrition.

In short, it far exceeded my expectations.  It deserves a place next to Tudor Bompa’s classic Periodization for Sport on my bookshelf, representing a radically alternative philosophy.  PSE advocates constant variation with a lot of flexibility in programming, but also admits that in order to compete in endurance events, you have to practice the skill of the sport and do time trials at distance.  Bompa agrees on the skill aspect, but advocates a highly regimented program that is proven but breaks down easily if you don’t have 800-1000 hours per year to devote to training.  It will be interesting to read (or re-read in the case of Bompa) both books and draw out the nuggets from each.

I will tell you the following impacts in the first week:

1.  I found out that what I thought was Pose running was not.  When I tried it after reading the running skill section in the book, I was exhausted and felt like I had just done 1000 deadlifts, meaning that I was using completely different muscles.  Humble pie indeed.  In 25 years I had never thought about midline stabilization when running.  Duh.

2.  I got in the pool and found out I was actually swimming pretty well.  Core engaged – check.  Both push and pull on the kick – check.  Etc. Etc.  Again, never really thought about it before.  Eye-opening.

Congrats to BMack on a great product.  Plus it’s heavy enough to turn my backpack into a weighted vest!