I was honoured to attend the Society of Weight Training Injury Specialists Symposium here in Toronto, November 13-14. With over 40 sessions scheduled over the weekend in the four categories of training, treatment, rehab and nutrition, there was plenty to learn. I am very thankful for my team at Totum Life Science for inviting me to this event.

I started my Friday in the Treatment stream in a course on “Neurostim”.  This course highlighted the use of light therapy to treat scars that have been turning off muscles since the initial injury, causing dysfunction and often pain. Following this I went on over to the Training stream and settled in to learn about “Strength Correctives, Building Armour for Your Athletes”. This interesting course went over a selection of specific correctives for basic exercises like the squat. Whereas an athlete may not be able to squat right now with full range of motion, there are many ways to get him/her there eventually.

Following an afternoon break, I made my way over to the Rehab stream where SWIS rehab presenter delegates were having an open panel discussion demonstrating their favourite rehab techniques for specific weight training injuries. Not only is a panel discussion like this great for weight training injuries, many of the injuries discussed can be sustained during sport or any other activity like triathlon training. On the panel were Dr. Dale Buchberger, Dr. Rob Rakowski, Dr. David Leaf, and Dr. Jerome Rerucha.

In the late afternoon, Paul Check, a holistic practitioner from California presented on “Athlete Management – The Four Doctors”.  This course was also under the Rehab stream.  The four doctors are “Dr. Happy, Dr. Quiet, Dr. Movement and Dr. Diet”.  According to Paul Chek, these are the last four doctors you’ll ever need.

This course was a great review on the fine art of creating a balanced training schedule for your athlete that addresses items not normally considered but highly important, like sleep, stress and meditation. Interestingly enough, three of the four doctors are in this Chinese Proverb,

“The best doctors are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Merryman.”

Just before the first day of SWIS 2015 ended, one of my favourite nutrition experts, Dr. John Berardi spoke about “Nutrition for Injury Recovery”. I have shared this talk before in previous posts and will share it again here . For example, did you know that you should be eating more calories while recovering from an injury?

Saturday, was another fabulous day of learning. I fit in an early morning weight training session before the day began with my super-duper awesome client “J”, who has come along way with her weight training. “J” is a mother of two, age 48 who has chisled here figure down substantially while working with me over the past year. “J” has lost over 3% body fat with heavy weight lifting and proper nutrition. “J”s program includes a quite a reduction in her overall weekly alcohol consumption. If you were able to read “My Top 10 for 2015” article, reducing your overall alcohol intake is number 10 and by reducing your overall alcohol intake, you can significantly improve 1 through 9.

At 7 am on Saturday morning, “J” and I completed a 3-set full body continuous 12 rep circuit that included squats, push ups, stability ball core work, horizontal pull ups, followed by prone posterior chain and related mat-based core work.

Following my morning weight training session with “J”, I started the SWIS sessions in the Treatment stream with Dr. Jerome Rerucha who discussed “Treatment Modalities – Laser Percussor/Adjustor for Weight Training Injuries”. Being trained in Cold Laser Therapy myself, I found this course useful. Treating the main pain centre may not always be best route was the premise here, as treating the area causing the dysfunction may be better a better place to start.

Following Dr. Rerucha, I fit in a lunch session of cycling intervals for 40 minutes followed by the SWIS buffet of chicken breast, veggies and sweet potatoes.

After lunch, Paul Check completed his “Four Doctors Approach” in the Rehab stream, and following this I popped into learn about “Advanced Nutritional and Biochemical Applications for Muscle Hypertrophy and Fat Loss” with Dr. Daryn Willoughby in the nutrition stream.

Did you know that if working out a night puts you to sleep then you most certainly have adrenal fatigue issues and/or high cortisol and should not be working out at this late hour? 

Dr. Daryn highlighted the many mistakes we make when trying to gain muscle and lose fat, when really it can be quite simple.

The last presentation I attended at SWIS 2015 was Charles Poloquin’s “Individualization of Strength Training through Neurotransmitter Dominance Profile”. This was also in the Nutrition stream. Poloquin is most widely known for his BioSignature Modulation. He has now gone on to develop training methods that correspond best with our individual neurotransmitter prototypes. Poloquin believes “the greatest determining factor of an athlete’s physiology is their Neurotransmitter Profile”

This was particularly convincing to me when Poloquin touched upon the fine balance of the Acetyl-Choline athlete, which I  most closely resemble. As an Acetyl-Choline athlete I am witty, highly creative and quick thinking. I respond best to a variety of training intensity and volume and have a tendency to over train very easily if volume is excessive.  I feel there is some sense here, so I’m going to look into these neurotransmitter training methods into further detail.

It’s a wrap. Once again, thank you to my team at Totum Life Science, without whom I would not have been introduced to the SWIS 2015. And of course a huge thank you to Dr. Kinakin for bringing all of the experts together under one roof and putting on such a great event.

Please feel free to contact me regarding any of the new learning I have discussed above.  I am always happy to share!