Send us a text

Ever wondered why some injuries seem to linger or why athletes frequently re-injure the same area? The answer might surprise you—and it's not always where the pain is.

Reconditioning injured athletes requires looking beyond the obvious. When working with athletes recovering from injury, I start with a crucial conversation to understand whether we're dealing with an acute or chronic issue, contact or non-contact injury, and what specific movements trigger discomfort. These details provide the roadmap for effective recovery.

What most traditional approaches miss is the powerful role of the nervous system in pain perception and movement restoration. Protective reflexes often remain activated long after tissue has healed, creating ongoing issues and setting the stage for re-injury. This explains why a previous injury remains the strongest predictor of future injuries—your body's alarm system never fully reset.

Through brain-based approaches, I've seen remarkable results—like the soccer player whose Achilles pain completely disappeared after addressing a pelvic misalignment, or the football player who returned from injury stronger by correcting throwing mechanics that caused the problem in the first place. Sometimes where the pain is, it isn't. The discomfort may simply be the final expression of a chain of compensations happening elsewhere.

My reconditioning process incorporates natural healing supports alongside proper movement training. Using food supplements, light therapy, grounding techniques, and other modalities can significantly accelerate recovery, often allowing athletes to safely return to play sooner than conventional timelines suggest. But perhaps most importantly, I help injured athletes feel like athletes again during recovery—integrating perceptual training, reactive drills, and sport-specific activities appropriate to their stage of healing.

The future of effective reconditioning lies in comprehensive approaches addressing mechanics, neurology, timing, and perception. By incorporating tools like interactive metronomes to assess and improve neurological timing, we're addressing dimensions of recovery that traditional approaches miss. The cerebellum—your brain's center for accuracy, balance, coordination, and timing—proves critical for athletes returning to high performance.

Ready to transform your approach to injury and recovery? Listen now to learn practical strategies you can implement today to bridge the gap between pain and performance.

Send us a text

Dive into the revolutionary world of jiu-jitsu coaching with Greg Souders, owner of Standard Jiu-Jitsu in Rockville, Maryland, as he challenges traditional teaching paradigms and demonstrates how using the Constraints Led Approach transforms martial arts training.

Greg has made a name for himself through his athletes' impressive results and his distinctive methodology. While traditional coaching often produces athletes who rely on their instructors for solutions, Greg's constraints-led approach develops independent problem-solvers who thrive unpredictably.

What sets Standard Jiu-Jitsu apart? From day one, beginners engage in live, unscripted training—pushing, pulling, and making decisions against resisting opponents. There are no lengthy warm-ups, technique demonstrations, or static drilling sessions. Instead, Greg designs rich learning environments where skills emerge organically through properly constrained problems.

Our conversation explores the philosophical foundations of ecological dynamics, the concept of invariance in movement, and how coaches can shift from being central instructors to environmental designers. Greg shares practical insights about managing athlete recovery, implementing high-frequency training, and monitoring physical readiness through heart rate variability and CO2 tolerance metrics.

Whether you coach combat sports or team athletics, Greg's perspective challenges conventional wisdom about skill acquisition and offers a compelling alternative that prioritizes whole practice over decomposition. His results speak volumes—proving that what many claim impossible is achievable and potentially superior. Prepare to question everything you thought you knew about coaching and learning.

Watch a Foundations Class at Standard Jiu-Jitsu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4QtQTRwwD0&list=LL&index=3

Send us a text

In this episode, we are excited to welcome back Dr. Robert Melillo, the world's foremost expert on neurological development. It's been five years since our previous discussion with Dr. Melillo, so we'll be exploring the new and innovative projects he has taken on. Our conversation will cover brain development, the ways our posture mirrors this growth, and how retained primitive reflexes influence athletic performance, injuries, and rehabilitation.

This is an episode you won't want to miss!