10 Lessons I Learned at SWIS 2023
The last two weeks have been all about seminars and learning. Two weekends ago, I took the short trip to Orangeburg, NY to learn from the GOAT Ed Coan and Josh Bryant for the day. This past weekend, we attend the SWIS 2023 symposium (the Society for Weight-Training Injury Specialists).
SWIS is where the absolute best doctors, therapists, trainers, and athletes assemble to present and bring their heads together on everything strength training— with a particular focus in treating or mitigating injuries. In most cases, you could swap out members of the audience to present on topics, and the presentations would still be excellent— which speaks to the quality of those attending as well.
Attending SWIS the last few years has given me as much anything ever has in my career. It’s where I do some of the best learning and deep thought every year because you’re not only sitting through lectures, you’re discussing things in the hallways, at panels and in the hotel lobby after hours. We had a great example of this courtesy of Brian Carroll this year.
It wasn’t until midweek upon my return that I realized my biggest takeaway from SWIS this year: that you learn more by doing something with someone (or people) than you’ll ever learn from simply watching or reading alone.
There’s something that happens when your mind is warmed up from hearing presentations, taking notes, and then ultimately discussing it with others after. Even if you don’t have anything to share or say immediately following the intake of the new information, it’s in your head in the coming hours and days.
I found myself learning different aspects of functional anatomy that were interesting at the time, but then when discussing training with someone hours later, it hit me over the head how to really apply that. It would make me ask better questions at seminars. It gave me better questions to ask about things I already did.
Then, there I was back in New York City with a podcast playing. It was a great discussion on training older populations in power and reactive training. But it was a conversation with two people I couldn’t interact with. Podcasts are great, but they are a closed loop— and you’re not in it. They can supplement, but they cannot replace actual education and discussion.
So all I can say is, whatever your interest, whether it’s jiu jitsu, strength training, rehab, or anything not related to physical culture— get out there with others to learn. And I mean really get out there, if you already see the same training partners every day— try traveling to another gym with or without them for a seminar, or even just to train for the day.
The 9 Other Things…
Charles Poliquin used to make everyone attending his seminars give him a rapid fire bullet list of 5-10 items you learned every hour, so for your benefit as well as mine, here’s 9 other takeaways I have from SWIS 2023:
From Dr Andrew Lock: microdisectomies, which are unfortunately not uncommon among my clients, have a total healing time of 18 months. Typically, people feel better in as little as 6-12 weeks after the procedure. As many know well, this will lead you to go back to training hard. This would be a mistake given the timeline. Mind your recovery appropriately.
On the subject of variety in your programming of exercises, it’s important to remember that muscles have limited capacities metabolically— meaning they only recover so fast— and too regular and specific use of them will lead to overuse and too much mileage, risking injury and ultimately limiting your time to progress. You need to move intelligently, and using variety as a loading parameter accomplishes that. (Via Matt Wenning)
Laura Phelps-Stackhouse shared some real gold on basic lifting technique and philosophy: experienced lifters know you can pull the slack out of the bar when deadlifting, but less among that crowd apply the same logic to squats and bench (pushing movements). There’s a reverse slack— you are literally the slack— so get completely tight before you move the bar off the hooks. Think about that one for a sec if you’re a lifter and it may change the light in which you prepare for those two lifts.
Our understanding of concussions and healing from them has come a long way. Concussions were once thought to primarily affect the cerebellum, but we’ve since learned it’s a much more systemic issue than that alone. The cerebellum only takes input from muscles. There’s a lot of correction outside the musculoskeletal system that’s needed post concussion, so it would stand to reason that treating the head isn’t the only thing necessary for a full recovery.
The great Jujimufu did a seminar on flexibility and his biggest takeaway with flexibility training is to build it into what you do. Don’t try to create separate routines that you’ll never stick to.
Because flexibility is a question I often receive, I’ll give a bonus: the best flexibility exercises are usually not sitting passively— it’s usually thing that look like the movement you want to get flexible in, and have a component of “contract, relax.” There are many resources on this, but considering PNF stretching.
It’s not always true, but patches of body hair that develop on the back that weren’t previously there can be an indication of nerve restriction. Dolphin MPS treatments (which we offer at DiSalvo Performance), acupuncture, and the right soft tissue work would be a good idea in these cases.
JL Holdsworth did one of the best presentations I’ve ever seen on coaching language and the power of words when communicating to clients and athletes. Language is not just verbal and what we hear; it’s also what we see and feel. The three have to be lined up to get the desired outcome.
Dr Stu McGill, besides being the foremost expert on back pain and its treatment in athletes and having measured the best in the world on their strength and health metrics, offered something interesting and very logical to chew on. I will give no commentary and let you draw your own conclusions: the powerlifting style squat (or even a half squat) has far more erector spinae activity over the ATG/Olympic style squat.
Until next week…