Building Ferrari's and Aligning and Balancing the Wheels and Tires

Dr. Lou Pack pictured with Olympic Gold Medal Pole-Vaulter, Tim Mack.

Ok, it's not another car blog! This is actually about sport performance enhancement and injury prevention.

I had the very good fortune to meet a brilliant man, Dr. Lou Pack, about 2 years ago at a seminar at the Dunwoody Country Club. Doc was doing a presentation on sports performance enhancement and injury prevention. About 2 minutes into his presentation I thought the guy was a genius. 10 minutes into it I KNEW he was. Doc is the first person I have come across in my industry that actually looks at the feet first.

Let's back up for a moment. How many of you reading this are trainers or serious trainees who actually consider the proper mechanics associated with exercise and training? How many of you people who squat hear these same comments all the time "sit back! push out on the knees! arch your back! head up! big air!" No doubt, these are ALL very important things to consider when squatting. But what about our feet? What if we were a MAJOR pronator with a leg length discrepancy? Don't you think this would affect our performance of the squat or our ability to lift a maximal weight, whether it is a personal record or a world record? Don't you think having a faulty structure could potentially lead to an injury that otherwise might have been avoided? What about a sprinter, or a football player getting timed in a 40 yard dash? If one of these athletes pronates, this will cause their foot to spend more time on the ground than if they were able to push off in a more neutral position (subtaler neutral to be exact). Doesn't it make sense that the faster athlete's feet spend less time on the ground?

Doc has built his entire system, his business, around identifying these "structural abnormalities" in athletes and general fitness enthusiasts alike, assessing the problem, then correcting it.

The end result? Athletes see immediate improvements in strength, speed and power, as they now have a better foundation and are more properly aligned on their "vertical axis" (look at a person head on, now draw a perfectly straight line from the ground up through the top of their head, most people who have a structural abnormality will be leaning more to one side, whereas those who've been corrected by Doc are much more close to being perfectly centered.) Overall this will raise the bar on all of their athletic abilities.

This also has much benefit for the general fitness enthusiast - less wear-and-tear on the joint, thus preventing injuries and avoiding surgeries like joint replacements. Not only will they get greater benefit from their exercise, they will be healthier throughout their life as a result.

As professional trainers we owe it to the clients and athletes we train to learn the best possible methods that will improve performance and enhance health. I firmly believe you are doing a disservice to your clients and athletes if you are not assessing and correcting their physical structure before loading their bodies with exercise and training. Now granted we can't put a gun to their heads and make them get treated - however, we must help them identify structural abnormalities, inform them of what may result due to the abnormalities, then refer them to Doc to get fixed.

Doc's a car nut! He loves to say - athletes and clients are Ferraris and our job as trainers is to build the ultimate Ferrari - his job is to align the wheels and balance the tires (the athlete/client's feet). It's that simple!

For more information on Doc I strongly urge you to visit his website and contact him directly at http://www.drloupack.com/ Be sure to tell him Scott sent you!