Function First

For as long as foam rolling has been around, it still seems that people are doing 90% of the same areas of the body and with the same moves. Having had the good fortune to speak on many of the facets around the myofascial component, I’ve both seen and explored many interventions directed toward myofascial mobility. Since most people have or have access to a foam roller, I’d like to share this very effective application for the lower back that you may have never tried. When I have participants experience this self-myofascial release application at a presentation, the oohs and ahhs fill the room. That’s because they are exploring a stimulus to this tissue that is brand new to them. This particular application does have some nuances and precautions, so be sure to watch the entire video.

Movement is medicine, and the sitting environment is one of most challenging and prevalent environments in today's world. Gentle, rhythmical variability can be a HUGE help.

Pretty awesome educational opportunity with this free seminar with a great educator out of the UK, Adam Daniel! https://mailchi.mp/vtraining/h1vnck3y9i

Here is a great opportunity to get your baseline, check progress and celebrate your win with 3 measurements!

Corrective Exercise - Static Wall + Rotations - "I'd like to disassociate from you." - "We're great together, but we have to have some independence." ... This might be a conversation you'd hear between the pelvis and femur. And that is why we are sharing with you one of our corrective exercises directly from the Function First Academy site that helps with just this outcome. What at first glance looks mostly like a hamstring stretch, it actually does so much more. This exercise takes advantage of gravity acting on the pelvis and upper body, allowing relaxation of the posterior muscles from the lower back and up. This frees up the hip musculature to produce some needed motion in the transverse plane. In this video, you'll see the key points as the exercise is broken down in its: Neurological | Physiological Outcomes Psycho | Social Outcomes Biomechanical Outcomes

Still thinking solely in term of tight and weak, stretch then strengthen with your clients in pain? If overcoming pain was a linear process, the chronic pain epidemic would have be resolved decades ago. In this quick hitter, Anthony highlights the multiple factors involved when clients experience pain, and how they all need to considered before designing a corrective exercise strategy.

Great opportunity here for all of you interested in working with clients in pain! https://hub.ideafit.com/free-webinar-pain-changes-the-game.

Wow! This looks great!

This is why we do what we do! The Champ, Oscar de la Hoya!

We are proud to be partnering with Brainstorm Fitness and grateful for the investments and efforts that they have made to go above and beyond to create a safe exercise environment.

Wow! This looks great!

Not to be missed for all of you fit pros! Join Function First founder Anthony Carey and PTA Global VP Dan Duran!

Great podcast episode with Function First Founder Anthony Carey and fitness industry leader Steve Jordan on Steve's podcast, "I AM Healthy & Fit". Two guys with a lot of experience in the fitness industry sharing ideas and observations! https://podcasts.apple.com//87-anthony-carey/id1381332747

This is why we do what we do! The Champ, Oscar de la Hoya!

This is AMAZING for the lower back!

Enroll in PFMS Level 1 now & get your full year's membership to the Function First Academy ($165 value) on us! Enroll in the only curriculum of its kind for movement professionals AND get unrestricted access to the most in-depth resource to support your programming and coaching for the client in pain. Here's your chance to provide more value to the marketplace and THRIVE while everyone else is trying to survive in this new reality. ... After you enroll, you will be sent a special code for your unrestricted access to all of the higher level support within the Function First Academy! Act now, because this is only available for the next 48 hours! https://www.functionfirsted.com/subscribe

If you missed Anthony's Maximizing Virtual Movement: Cues Matter webinar yesterday, we have the recording up for you

COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR Maximizing Virtual Movement: Cues Matter Are you transitioning to working online with clients/patients? Stupid question, right? Of course you are. ... You've been inundated with industry resources, webinars, Facebook posts, etc. on how to use online platforms. However, the HUGE gap is the verbal skill set most pros don't focus on when working face to face with clients. Although virtual training is a visual medium, the verbal cues will weigh heaviest in the end. That two dimensional screen has its limitations. Movement success, injury avoidance and client satisfaction depend on your delivery. Join Function First founder Anthony Carey M.A., CSCS MES April 16th at no charge. Space is limited and registration is required: https://us02web.zoom.us//tJUud-Crqzkrm_2GrkXa6WSlWgodXxv6Qg

Any exercise that requires you to match a force with a counter force to maintain stability, will be self regulating. In other words, you can only push or pull to a level that can be stabilized by your own internal force generation. The opposite of this would be ground reaction forces (GRF). The limitations on force production would be strength issue because you can push through the ground. This is the case with most exercises when the force is moved vertically against gravity.... But when the force applied is horizontally or perpendicular to the field of gravity, we don’t get the same benefits from the GRF that we get with a vertical load. Instead, we must turn to our own internal stability from which to create an anchor point for force generation. As such, this corrective exercise is an excellent core exercise predominantly for the sagittal plane that does just that. It’s also happens to have some great foot benefits too.

We are all in this together friends. And if you are like us, you see this as an opportunity to focus on growth and to control what we can control. Therefore, for the next two weeks we are dropping the price of the Pain-Free Movement Specialist, Yellow Brick Road and the yearly prescription to our one-of-a-kind membership site. As always, you can still test drive the site for free with no credit card required.... PFMS Save $100 PLUS a free month's membership to the Function First Academy site. Use code PFMS100 Yellow Brick Road Save $35 PLUS a free month's membership to the Function First Academy site. Use code YBR35 Function First Academy site Save 35% ($58) on a one year, full access membership to ALL of the site's content. Use code annual35 Function First is sending positive thoughts and vibes of resiliency your way. https://www.functionfirsted.com/

The American Council on Exercise is running a BIG discount on the Pain-Free Movement Specialists curriculum until tomorrow. Great opportunity to expand your capacity to work with the population in pain! https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

Here's Anthony's conversation with PTA Global in case you missed it!

We love 3D movement!

Not to be missed for all of you fit pros! Join Function First founder Anthony Carey and PTA Global VP Dan Duran!

Memories of our awesome studio on Dove St. We miss that place and so many of the amazing clients who trained there!

We continue to strive to bring to others, the principles and values that we use and have grown with. The teaching resources available here are designed to specifically meet the needs of those movement professionals working with clients in pain.

In our inaugural ‘How-To Series’, Function First Education Director Kevin Murray put on his Counselling Psychology hat and shared with our membership community a presentation on ‘how to help clients with their psychosocial stressors’. In the psychosocial realm, a key question to consider becomes who is actually the expert? Within the biomechanical & exercise realm, it’s you (the practitioner) who is unquestionably the expert when compared to your clients. Not so in the psychosocial realm! Here’s a quick clip from the presentation.

Great podcast episode with Function First Founder Anthony Carey and fitness industry leader Steve Jordan on Steve's podcast, "I AM Healthy & Fit". Two guys with a lot of experience in the fitness industry sharing ideas and observations! https://podcasts.apple.com//87-anthony-carey/id1381332747

We have some very helpful educational resources in the works for health and fitness pros! http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive

It's amazing how a few simple concepts can completely change the way we process and approach challenges. That's why were so excited to share with you this brief conversation that I had with Kevin Murray, our Director of Education. Kevin brings a dual perspective to our work with clients in pain that most other practitioners do not. After almost 10 years of learning and growing with the Function First Approach, Kevin went on to complete is graduate studies in Counseling Psych...ology. Set aside 30:00 for some incredible insight and actionable items that we can all experience massive value from.

You don't want to miss former Function First coach, DeRahn Johnson delivering key insights into maximizing your training and healthy body composition for the New Year. Sign up with through the Brainstorm Fitness link below!

There’s a great video that has made its way around social media about what occurred when 5 wolves were reintroduced to Yosemite. There are several versions of the video, but essentially the message is how introducing these wolves even changed the flow of the rivers and streams through the park. Watch on YouTube here if you’d like to see this video. Now we would all be hard pressed to draw a direct line from a wolf to impacting the way millions of gallons of water flow. But wh...at it does illustrate is the profound output that emerges from multiple inputs, especially with a biological ecosystem OR a biological human=YOU! In the case of the changes to Yellowstone, it was the interaction of all the sub systems initiated by the introduction of a predator that had been eliminated from the ecosystem. Overgrazing was controlled, smaller animals for birds of prey returned, etc. and nature took over. As humans, when we experience physical pain-especially chronic pain-there are always multiple contributing factors that are related to the bio-psycho-social paradigm around pain. You are more than a bulging disc, osteo arthritis, spinal stenosis or anything else you’ve been diagnosed with. Which is why it is often so difficult to determine why you are having a bad day. But we search for answers and as humans, desperately strive to find a connection or relationship with something so that we can make sense of it. But how come we don’t do the same with good days? We welcome them but we don’t drive ourselves crazy trying to determine what led to that good day. Let me help you. Lots of things lead to both good and bad days. And there are often patterns that we don’t look for or recognize. And it is almost never just one thing, unless the pain was felt immediately (within seconds or minutes) of a physically taxing or traumatic event. The greatest gifts you can give yourself during challenging times of experiencing pain are these (in no particular order): Corrective or restorative exercise (ideally your Function First program) 5-10 minutes of deep, diaphragmatic breathing in a restful position Non proactive aerobic exercise that elevates your heart rate for a sustained 20+ minutes Quality sleep Avoiding over processed and/or gut irritating foods Plenty of water Occupy your mind with social interaction or deep, meaningful work or projects https://youtu.be/XaSPmdm1UnM

If you missed Anthony's Maximizing Virtual Movement: Cues Matter webinar yesterday, we have the recording up for you

Uh oh! This HUGE discount on the Pain-Free Movement Specialist ends today. Save 50% https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

Anthony just covered some of this in one of his presentations at Can-Fit Pro in Vancouver this past weekend. So we thought we would share with you here Canadian Fitness Professionals Inc. (canfitpro) #myofascialmobility #mobility #fitnesseducation

Join us for our semi-private mobility classes to experience the incredible benefits and immediate results Core-Tex mobility delivers

Hey Fit Pros! The final PFMS Level 2 for 2019 has been scheduled!

Movement is life. Would you like to improve your mobility? Join our semi-private "Mobility for Active Aging" classes with Core-Tex. You can register here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/main_shop.asp

More hip mobility magic!

We are all set to make this happen in conjunction with Brainstorm Fitness! Would you like to move SIGNIFICANTLY better?!?!?

This Thursday marks our first semi-private class at Brainstorm Fitness using Core-Tex for mobility and active aging. If you have not experience the unique benefits and immedate results you get with mobility from Core-Tex, you need to! These intimate classes will be offered twice a week to start. Message us for more info

Here's another example of some of the goodness you will experience at the Core-Tex Mobility for Active Aging classes we will be holding

We are launching our Core-Tex Mobility Class for Active Aging this month. Details below!! http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive

September is pain awareness month! Part of our mission is to help fitness pros better assist this under-served population. We are excited to announce that our partner in the Pain-Free Movement Specialist, the American Council on Exercise is offering a special discount right now on our Level 1 curriculum. https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

Tissue mobility in all directions is of the most value. Many people don't realize how restricted in certain muscles groups until the move away from their most familiar stretching/flexibility pattern.

Can any fit pros relate? What if we changed "draw" to "train" or "coach"?

Hey Core-Tex fans, check this for Monday

If you live in San Diego and are 55+, would you be interested in this super effective mobility class? No lying around in awkward positions and holding static stretches. This will give you instant mobility and it feels good! Let us know as we will be preparing the schedule at Brainstorm Fitness. Space will be limited per class. Thanks!

Finishes tonight!

Would you be interested in a Core-Tex mobility class? Coming soon to Brainstorm Fitness with the class designed by Function First founder and Core-Tex inventor, Anthony Carey

This video is one of the most effective underlying principles that we use to help people improve their mobility, especially when over-protective or hyper vigilant due to pain. Using strategic movement focused on rhythm and timing with a controlled amplitude can have a profound influence on myofascial mobility. This is not a substitute for or superior to other forms of addressing ROM and/or mobility. It is an approach to call upon, early in your intervention that may open some... other opportunities for you. This is a classic example of our ask don’t tell approach within the PFMS.

A fantastic opportunity to become a Pain-Free Movement Specialists with great pricing available right now from the American Council on Exercise! https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

Incredibly informative article by our Director of Education Kevin Murray, written for the American Council on Exercise.

Hey Fit Pros! A great opportunity from ACE going on right now. A 20% discount on the PFMS!! Get yourself ready to program and coach those with chronic pain. https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

We've been speaking for years about the role of the foot in total body function and the need to allow the foot to the opportunity to move, sense and react to the environment. Enjoy this video by one of our favorite brands, Vivobarefoot. https://youtu.be/y7lXjyGO5DQ

Any fit pros going to IHRSA this week? Be sure to say "hello" to Anthony and the Core-Tex team

Do you believe?

I was just in awe with the whole ordeal, Berganio said. I’m able to play golf when I thought I wasn’t ever going to be able to play golf. Dave Berganio PGA Pro after his work with Anthony Carey

For many with chronic pain, depression is part of the struggle. We always tell our clients to find a way or ways that they can get their heart rate up that is non provocative. Here is further proof why this has to be part of the lifestyle changes. https://www.nytimes.com//exercise-may-help-to-fend-off-dep

Just two more days left on this special! Be a hero to your client when you understand how to approach pain and exercise.

Such a fun and effective way to train the back and pulling

Wow! Function First's blog has been voted one of the Top 20 Biomechanics blogs by Feedspot.com! https://blog.feedspot.com/biomechanics_blogs/

Wow! 12 Days of Savings from American Council on Exercise including our PFMS Level 1 https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

FITNESS PROS AND BODY WORKERS! ACE is running a holiday special on the Pain-Free Movement Specialist curriculum. Great opportunity it be part of the only exercise based curriculum based on the bio-psycho-social model of pain science. https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

If you work with people in pain, you don't want to miss this FREE webinar with our Director of Education, Kevin Murray in conjunction with the American Council on Exercise! #painfreemovementspecialist #pfms #coaching #corrective exercise #acefitness https://www.acefitness.org//coaching-clients-with-chronic-

This is an amazing deal!

Tremendous insight into the pain experience and relevant to all of our clientele and a great educational resource for all of the PFMS students around the globe!

We love how this targets the glutes and hips in a whole new way!

Join Function First founder Anthony Carey and some amazing speakers at the Foot, Fascia and Function Summit just 2 weeks away!!

Push ups you ask? How about these?!

We know that exercise is good for mental health, but this article dives deeper into which may be best. https://www.wsj.com//the-exercise-that-helps-mental-health

Today is the final day for the big sale on the PFMS Level 1 with through the American Council on Exercise. Don't miss the opportunity!! https://www.acefitness.org//speci/pain-free-movement.aspx

September is Pain Awareness Month and the the American Council on Exercise has made the Pain-Free Movement Specialist curriculum available at a great price until September 18th!

The Pain-Free Movement Specialist Level 2 is just 3 weeks away. If you have already completed Level 1 online, you are eligible for this live event with Anthony Carey in San Diego on September 22nd and 23rd!

If you will be at the Inspire Conference in Lebanon next month, this will be one of the topics Anthony Carey will be speaking on!