Online/Distance Training

Written on January 8, 2008 at 6:22 pm, by Eric Cressey

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s a busy time up here in Boston.  We’ll get right to the meat and potatoes this week!

Perform Better – Atlanta

For those of you in the Southeast US, I’ll be speaking at the Perform Better one-day seminar in Atlanta on January 13.  The other speakers will be Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, and Chuck Wolf.  For more information, check out Perform Better’s website.  Hope to see you there!

Updates to the Recommended Resources Page

It’s been a while since I updated the recommended resources page, but that’s not to say that I haven’t been doing a ton of reading (as always).  Be sure to check it out:

http://ecressey.wpengine.com/recommendedresources.html

An Interview with EC by Mind & Muscle

This week, the guys at Mind & Muscle ran an interview with me; you can check it out HERE.

Q&A

Q: What is your opinion of online or distance education masters degrees in human kinetics/kinesiology? Do you know of any good distance education programs? I want to further my education, but I already have a good full time training job and client base that I don’t want to leave to do a master’s degree at one of the local universities.

A: To be honest, I’m not too fond of the online master’s degrees in THIS field.  Exercise Science really is a hands-on discipline; a large portion of the master’s degree should be about experiencing things.  When I look back at my time at the University of Connecticut, I’d say that about 90% of what I took away (which was a lot) was experience-based between strength and conditioning and the human performance laboratory – not to mention just interacting with labmates, fellow coaches, and the faculty – while only about 10% was classroom-based.

Are you close enough to any universities to go part-time over an extended period of time?  You have to look at this as an INVESTMENT, not an expense.

With all that said, there are a lot of great coaches out there who don’t have Master’s degrees – but they’ve picked up the slack with tons of reading, building huge networks, and interning under other coaches who have gone before them.  So, at the very least, put yourself on academic quarantine as often as possible to get some reading done, and seek out those who are doing what you’d like to do – and doing it well.

Q:  I injured my back on the lowering phase of doing deadlifts. I am thinking it was because my form was not good on my last set and my back muscles did all the work. I was wondering if what you would recommend for recovery from this injury.

A: Prevention: Don’t squat the weight down; this is a portion of the movement that gives more people trouble than the actual lift. Push the hips back, keep your spine neutral and abs braced, and don’t break your knees until the bar has passed them.  Breaking the knees too early is the biggest mistake I see.

Fixing it: First off, see a qualified professional in your area; there is only so much I can help you with over the internet, especially with so little information.  The solution will most likely be rest, but after the fact, you’re going to need to leave your pride at the door, drop the weights a bit, and work to establish good form and proper lumbo-pelvic rhythm. Get a video of your form to critique yourself, and also check out our Magnificent Mobility DVD to get your hip-lower back issues headed in the right direction.

Happy Holidays,

EC