Ok, Ok, of course his genes have something to do with it too!

Just recently announced, Darnell Dockett, a Stretch to Win Center client who is #90 on the Arizona Cardinals football team, received a 4 yr contract extension of $48 mil and $30 mil guaranteed. Ann and myself have worked on Dockett using Fascial Stretch Therapy and fascial manipulation techniques ever since he came in as a rookie 7 years ago. We also had the amazing experience of going to Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1, 2009 with Darnell Dockett and the Cardinals. Of course, we also worked with him and the team this summer at camp in Flagstaff, where we have gone for the last 15 seasons to help players get through those extra stressful training periods.

Many of our clients ask us, why do professional football players and other athletes come to see you when they supposedly have the best training facility and best staff taking care of them for free? Well, the Cardinals staff of 4 athletic trainers and 1 physical therapist does a great job with what they are able to do but they are out-manned with 53 players on the roster needing almost daily care of some sort. So the players are willing to pay out of pocket so they can have more private time with therapists off-site to help them recover faster and play better.

Such is the case with Darnell Dockett, who has some of the thickest legs you will ever see in the NFL! Despite this, his power and speed are incredible at 290 lbs and his flexibility is off the charts. So it is this combination of traits, along with the right genes and hard work that have made 2 time Pro Bowler Dockett, what he is today. Fascial Stretch Therapy, creation of Ann and Chris Frederick, PT not only keeps Darnell Dockett flexible but actually increases his power and strength. This is because athletes, like everyone else, get structurally out of balance, with some muscles actually becoming more dominant while they simultaneously inhibit others. While athletes are even better than us at masking this and still play at a high level, over time, this imbalance will inevitably lead to injury, in many cases ending careers. Ask Dockett and he will tell you that we have helped extend his career (the average NFL career is only 2.6 years) and therefore his contract!

While athletes get out of balance with over-training and extreme training, the rest of us can get out of balance from under-training or from not training at all. Too much activity is just as toxic to the body as is too little (and there is no magic number of hours or parameters, as activity tolerance is highly individual specific) but to start training without getting a structural check is risky too. A doctors physical is only one type of check and a very poor one when it comes to assessing you for proper strength, flexibility, and structural analysis. If you’re living in or visiting Arizona, stop in for a proper and complete evaluation and assessment by our physical therapist, Chris Frederick, PT so we can help you reach your goals faster and more completely.

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David Thornton (#50) has entered his 9th season in the NFL, beating the average years (2.6) that a player stays in the league by a long shot. However, like all vets, as the years tick by and the young ones struggle to stay on the roster at camp and current pre-season games, questions start working their way into the vets head: can I keep up my speed, strength, agility and recover quickly and completely, preventing injuries that are avoidable?

The online news, Tennesean.com, stated that “Doctors haven’t cleared him for contact. He remained on the Physically Unable to Perform list, still recovering from a variety of injuries that derailed his 2009 season.” Even though the Titans are giving Thornton time, #50 knows that ‘times a tickin’ and he needed to do all he can to stack the cards in his favor to recover as soon as possible, as the starting, unarguably fastest linebacker on the team.

Needless to say, Thornton left the Stretch to Win clinic VERY happy – not only more flexible but much STRONGER and ready to accelerate his rehab. Chris interviewed him right after receiving his second day of treatment in this brief video – enjoy!

By Chris Frederick, PT

Fascial Stretch Therapy™ helps Titans David Thornton from Stretch to Win on Vimeo.

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2010 Cardinals on the practice field

Today’s the last day for us here at the Arizona Cardinals football team’s preseason training camp and this year makes it our 14th season using Fascial Stretch Therapy to help the athletes recover faster and perform better!

 Starting running back, Tim Hightower, brought in Joey Porter(#55) in to see us. He’s the new Pro Bowl linebacker who, after 12 years in the NFL, still has plenty of steam left to be a major playmaker this coming season. Porter absolutely loved how Fascial Stretch Therapy felt on his body and made sure other players knew about it. Porter is going to make a great team leader for the Cardinals and just as great a cheerleader for how Fascial Stretch Therapy extends athletes’ careers!

Our client Darnell Dockett(#90), is another playmakerwho has risen to be the key leader of the defense for this coming season. For a football player that weighs in at 290 lbs, he has an unusual combination of speed, strength, power and flexibility for such a big guy. Fascial Stretch Therapy helps Dockett recover faster and perform better than ever, now in his 7th season!

Tim Hightower(#34) is a lean 214 lbs, stronger and faster than ever (he was 234 lbs when he set rookie records). Check this video and listen to Hightower tells you how Fascial Stretch Therapy has been a key part of his success:

In this short clip, we arrive at the practice fields of NAU:

Finally check this link of our client, Larry Fitzgerald, in action making a great catch:

Athlete or not, we can help you, children and adults of all ages reach their optimal level of function and performance with Fascial Stretch Therapy, Fascial Manipulation, Physical Therapy, Pilates and Deep Tissue Massage. Come see us at www.StretchToWin.com or if you are not in Arizona, check out our trained students at http://www.stretchtowin.com/therapist-locator.

Chris Frederick, PT  / Co-creator Fascial Stretch Therapy™ / Co- director Stretch to Win Center / Author ‘Stretch to Win’ 

 Co-director – Stretch to Win Institute- “Training professionals in Fascial Stretch Therapy™ / At Facebook / At Twitter / At LinkedIn

Brian Dawkins of the Denver Broncos has been our client for 8 years and Donovan McNabb now with the Washington Redskins and a client since he was a rookie, both gave us hugs and goodbyes until we see them again.

McNabb brought in his new team of wide receivers to train in the infamous Arizona summer heat and to recover at the Stretch to Win Center, where they received services like Fascial Stretch Therapy, a unique pain-free connective tissue assisted stretch technique, after getting deep fascial massage by Jezy, our massage therapist extra-ordinaire.

AZ Cardinal players Tim Hightower and Darnell Dockett were the first among many Cards to come in to prep their bodies with us for camp this coming weekend. It’s hard to believe that it was only 19 months ago that we were in Tampa Bay giving Fascial Stretch Therapy and deep massage to players like Larry Fitzgerald and the rest of the starters for the Cards at Super Bowl XLIII!

Now we’re getting ready to take care of our home team Cardinals at their camp in Flagstaff. As their bodies (and minds) adapt to the stresses of high altitude and playing football again, key players of the Cards need us to help them regain the flexibility lost through training but also to get their structures re-aligned and balanced. Stay tuned to get the whole story when we go to camp with the Cards next week!

While we do treat some of the most elite athletes in the world, we are also passionate about helping anyone who wants to achieve goals of full mobility and strength. Come see us at www.StretchToWin.com or if you are not in Arizona, check out our trained students at http://www.stretchtowin.com/therapist-locator.

Chris Frederick, author ‘Stretch to Win’ / at LinkedIn

Leonard Davis of Dallas Cowboys loves Fascial Stretch Therapy from Stretch to Win on Vimeo.

The Stretch To Win Center in Tempe, AZ uses its proprietary Fascial Stretch Therapy™ to keep Offensive Lineman Leonard Davis of the Dallas Cowboys at the top of his game.  Ann and Chris Frederick, co-Founders of The Stretch To Win Center and staff member Crystal, all work as a team to take great care of Leonard Davis.

Leonard went to the Pro Bowl the last 2 out of the 4 years he has been a client at Stretch to Win and gives much of the credit to Ann’s unique blend of assisted stretching called Fascial Stretch Therapy or FST and Chris’ fascial bodywork called Structural Integration.

Ann and I both agree that Leonard is one of the more challenging clients to work on, structurally speaking. He’s 6′-6″, plays at a lean 360 lbs (when you look at him from the side, there is NO belly!), practically has to walk sideways when going through doorways due to his enormous chest and shoulder girth, and sounds like he’s from the bottom of the sea when he speaks.

In the video above, Leonard speaks about how FST helps him be a better football player in a candid interview by Chris Frederick, PT. Enjoy!

PS Here’s YOUR invitation to learn how to feel your very best:  FREE Guide To Fascial Stretch Therapy

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Certified Fascial Stretch Therapist Level I at Poliquin Strength Institute

At the Stretch to Win Institute, we’ve typically organized the Level I & II certifications split into separate dates for the upper & lower bodies. After teaching our first 5 day complete Level I certification sponsored by the Poliquin Strength Institute, we saw transformations in our students & in ourselves never before realized.

Our sold out class had high level students from all over the world commit themselves to a week long intensive training that affected them deeply on both a personal & professional level. Hours of focused structural & movement analysis followed by cutting edge assisted, table-based stretching resulted in remarkable personal, positive changes for many of them.

One student who is a personal trainer, had her pre-professional career as a gymnast cut short when she fractured her arm in multiple places after landing on it from an aerial maneuver. Her arm was surgically re-broken twice because it was originally never set right. Despite having many variations of manual therapy, she could never straighten her elbow much less fully pronate or supinate because of significant fascial tissue restrictions. After Ann Frederick stretched her in front of the class, tears streamed down the student’s face, as she was able to straighten her elbow for the first time in 20 years!

Another student, who had been in chronic pain for years, had such an amazing epiphany of a complete nervous system transformational release. After the pain had left her body, she felt like an enormous weight was removed, leaving her with the newfound feeling of complete freedom, as if she never had pain in her life.

The important thing for these professionals, is that not only will they more deeply understand the needs of their clients and patients, but after going through their own personal transformations that touched many of them in their very essence of being, they were now in a much better state to receive more information coming through their personal filter of increased awareness.

If you use manual therapy of any kind with your clients, Fascial Stretch Therapy will radically change your outcomes. Check out http://www.stretchtowin.com/institute-workshops for the next course.

If you are a person who is in pain, has joint stiffness, muscle tightness, weakness, needs to improve athletic performance or wants to receive the anti-aging effects of Fascial Stretch Therapy, then check our Therapist Locator for a certified practitioner near you at http://www.stretchtowin.com/therapist-locator.

Check out testimonials from the students themselves:

http://www.vimeo.com/9252295 – male Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Lawyer

http://www.vimeo.com/9256448 – female Personal Trainer, Nutritionist and Fitness Competitor

In my video interview with him, Dansby tells me how he won the game for the Cardinals over the Green Bay Packers 51-45 in overtime in what was probably one of the best games in recent football memory.

I had trouble uploading my video to this post so please go to this link & enjoy:

Dansby wins the day for the Cardinals at Playoffs!

Also, here’s the YouTube replay video link: Dansby takes it in for a win!

Chris & Karlos Dansby

We’ve been here since Monday, starting with a workshop called “Coordinating the Peripheral Nervous System” with Christoph Sommer & Pilar Martin, both Rolfing instructors & Christoph also teaches for the Barral Institute. It was the kind of experience that will radically change our practice as we learned to appreciate assessing & treating fascial dysfunctions of peripheral nerves, most of which are composed of 40%-90% connective tissue.

Then there was celebrating the 15th anniversary of Kinesis & as well as the reunion of graduates like us who who completed 500 hours of training in Kinesis Myofascial Integration. For those of you who don’t know what that is…well, read “Anatomy Trains” by Thomas Myers & go to www.anatomytrains.com. It will take you on an unforgettable journey through the lines of fascia in our bodies that up until recently have been totally ignored by mainstream medicine.

Getting back to the reunion, only 2 out of about 40 people actually studied & worked with Dr. Ida Rolf, PhD who founded Structural Integration as a full body therapy that re-organizes just about all of the connective tissue that we largely call fascia. That would be Tom and Ed Maupin & it was a joy to hear them speak of their times with Dr. Rolf who I think will soon be granted posthumous status as one of the great contributors to the health & well being of humankind.

We also had the privilege of listening to Dr. Robert Schleip, PhD, who is both a Rolf instructor, fascial scientist & a tireless flame bearer for fascial research (see www.somatics.de). His discussion titled “The Nature of Fascia” revealed the latest research as to what scientists have come up with in the past few years that will radically change medicine, bodywork, physical therapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, movement therapy & personal training as we know it today.

If you are in any of the related fields noted above then we strongly suggest that you join us in Amsterdam this October at the 2nd Fascial Research Congress (go to http://www.fasciacongress.org/2009/). We are dedicated to the research of fascia as it has helped us continue to evolve Fascial Stretch Therapy & Structural Integration to help our clients lead happier, more productive lives.

Wow!! We just finished teaching a 3 day workshop yesterday in Fascial Stretch Therapy^TM at Athletes’ Performance (AP) here in Tempe, AZ. It was an amazing group of high level professionals representing a multitude of fields: osteopathy, naturopathic medicine, chiropractic, kinesiotherapy, physical therapy, strength & conditioning, Poliquin Performance training, personal  training, Pilates, Bikram Yoga & massage therapy.

AP is known as a center of performance training for professional & other high level athletes as well as a center of continuing education for fitness & health professionals. Their President & Founder, Mark Verstegen, has wanted Stretch to Win to get on board with them for years. Now we can officially announce that we are partners in post graduate professional continuing education & that, unless otherwise noted on our website, all future workshops will be held at the Athletes’ Performance brand new center in Phoenix, AZ.

Five staff members from AP were in our workshop this weekend: Joe Gomes – Director of Performance, Darryl Eto – Senior Performance Specialist, Nick Winkelman – Education Performance Specialist, Sue Falsone – Director of Physical Therapy and Jeremy Hassler – Director of Soft Tissue Therapy.

We were overwhelmed by the students’ testimonials commenting on the excellence of the workshop experience & instruction. We can’t wait to hear from each & every one of you about how Fascial Stretch Therapy^TM will transform you, your clients & your business! Enjoy the class photos below!

[For info about workshops go to : http://www.stretchtowin.com/institute-workshops]

She ran what she called an easy 4 miles then the next day did an “easy” hike with hills. She noticed on the hike some mild discomfort in the inside of her right shin which later swelled to a low level associated with discomfort when walking. She later iced & rested it.

When I examined her, there was mild swelling of her inside right calf, between her calf & tibial bone over her posterior tibialis region (the deepest muscle in the lower leg). Since she had good athletic shoes that adequately supported her mild pronation, I started examining her hips.

In brief, I found out that she had a weak right gluteus medius muscle while all else tested normal. The question then was whether it was inhibition versus genuine weakness. In searching for muscles that could inhibit the gluteus medius, I found that her right psoas (a hip flexor & postural muscle) was shutting down her glutes. After treating the psoas for trigger points & tightness, the gluteus medius muscle tested normal in strength thus confirming my suspicions.

Since the gluteus medius muscle is highly responsible for keeping the pelvis level when balancing on one leg, I suggested that her shin splint resulted from the lower leg getting repetitive strain from trying to compensate for an inhibited gluteus medius muscle above. This made total sense to the client & she was satisfied that her home program of self myofascial release & stretching of the right psoas followed by activation exercises for her gluteus medius would calm down her shins & get her running soon again.