Functional Range Conditioning / Dr. Andreo Spina

[SDowd]

Has anyone attended one of these live seminars?

 

http://www.functionalanatomyseminars.com/functional-range-conditioning

https://instagram.com/drandreospina/

 

I've only seen various videos around the internet and it looks like he takes a someone different approach to "mobility" training incorporating things that he calls "PAILS, RAILS, Passive Range Lift-offs", etc.

 

I'd be curious to hear anyone's feedback about his live "functional range conditioning" seminars as I'm always curious in learning new techniques and methodologies!

 

 

[Kit_L]

Why don't you post that question on his forums? Or you could take one of his workshops and contribute that knowledge back here. 

[Rik]

Progressive angular isometric loaded stretches, and regressive angular isometric loaded stretches are what PAILS and RAILS stand for. Buzzwords at their finest: just loaded stretching.

Passive range lift-offs can be found in stuff like pike pulses if you're familiar with those.

 

So stuff that is relatively well-known. No super sekkrit program or anything. I don't mean to say Spina is a snake oil salesman; an overabundance of acronyms is generally an inauspicious sign, but I've heard good things about his stuff, so do what you will.

[Frederik]

Most likely there is no "his forums" ! I agree with Kit's sentiment; Do it and share (but that may violate agreements that you have to sign, who knows?)

 

It comes down to whether you are sufficiently interested and it is within your power to attend.

 

I have personally looked at a number videos of his system (him and a senior teacher),it is obvious that they are definitely displaying high levels of active flexibility : which is of great interest to me.

 

What frustrates me in general is that people who are obviously doing good work, lock themselves into closed systems and/or creates new complex terminology, a lingo that you as a bystander then have to decode: you have alluded to some of it above.

[[DW]]

"overabundance of acronyms is generally an inauspicious sign"

Aye, it is!

[jon.valentine]

I like his stuff in general, and have been playing around with some of the concepts but agree that the whole secret squirrel side of things is a bit off putting.

 

One of the things that he does which I have talked to Dave about is he uses BJJ as a physiotherapy tool, basically utilising many of the joint locks as assisted stretching (this is something that I've talked to people about before I'm pretty sure). Obviously that is super-simplified and probably doesn't capture the nuance of the technique but there you go.

 

Would like to attend one of his seminars but they aren't coming to Australia anytime soon I think.

[ChrisScott]

Dr Spina is in no way trying to be, I don't know the word, but basically he's really not into bullshit nor is he claiming to have any secrets. From what I've seen, it's the opposite. He's a strong believer in properly utilising what we know for sure, in an effective way. I believe his system is one of the most comprehensive there is.

[Emmet Louis]

I had someone attend both my seminar and his and said we basically said the same thing with mine being more practical and his being 10hrs of lectures with a few hours of demo's. 

From what I've seen there's nothing unknown in his system he's just organised it and name it to fit his views. Also afaik Spina has done some coaching with Ido before coming up with FRC so there'll be similarities there too I suspect.

My only criticism is the over use of acronyms, smart business but annoys me, and weekend certs. 

[ChrisScott]

How sure are you he's work with Ido, Emmet? That's quite surprising to me as I don't really see what they do as similar. I've also heard him recommend against certain exercises popularised by Ido.

Dr Spina has as Chiropractic background and isn't really interested in movement outside of bjj. His courses seem to fit that would exactly to me.

[ChenZhen]

Hey friends, haven't been around here for some time as I was quite busy.

 

While I'm highly interestesd in his system, the only thing I can contribute here is that he did train with Ido in 2012. Here's some footage of him practicing floreio at the movement camp:

 

I also found this short blog entry: http://functionalanatomyblog.com/2012/08/13/day-1-2-in-berlin-germany-for-the-2012-ido-portal-movement-camp/

[SDowd]

Kit's point is well taken - I don't think he has a forum but "go and try it out and report back" is a fair statement...

 

The only reason I asked first is because of what some people have alluded to...namely, when I watch his videos I'm left with..."well that sounds scientific...but what did you just say?" (hard to decipher sometimes...)

 

I was hoping someone had already attended and could put his terminology into laymens terms so I could see what he's actually teaching before dropping a bunch of cash. :-) Not to mention visiting Kit and all you Aussies or even attending an Ido "Corset" workshop are higher on my priority list...just hadn't seen a discussion on Spina / FRC on this forum so I raised the question :-)

[terje]

I watched a lot of his videos and my summary conclusion is that he stresses end range strengthening exercises. He has a lot of terminology for this. PAILs is basically c-r. RAILs is contracting with the stretch. Then there are joint rotation exercises, lifting the limb against the stretch for reps, various forms of loaded stretching, etc, etc. If you check out his instagram and that of Dewey Nielsen and you'll get the full picture.

[Rik]

Excellent info on this system, courtesy of a reddit user going by the name "ruffulous".

 

http://www.postcompetitiveinsight.com/2016/01/the-interesting-science-behind-functional-range-conditioning.html

http://www.postcompetitiveinsight.com/2016/03/getting-articular-independence-new-joint-by-joint-part-2.html

http://www.postcompetitiveinsight.com/2016/02/exploring-controlled-articular-rotations-cars.html

http://www.postcompetitiveinsight.com/2016/04/decoding-pails-and-rails.html

[Kit_L]

terje said: 

 

he stresses end range strengthening exercises

 

As do we (what else is the Contract–Relax approach but end-range strengthening?), depending on the needs/requirements of the student. What is important for BJJ might not be for surviving computer work. And apart from the "apprehension reflex", in the millions of words I have written over the years, no new acronyms or terms. My prejudice is that ordinary language can be used to express the finest of meanings, and when it can't, direct experience is the only alternative. And enlisting the support of science in marketing one's products is common these days.

 

@Phi: thanks for those links.

[Ciaran]

From reading the articles the only major difference I can find is that he emphasises alot of inner range control as well (i.e. RAILs). I have only seen this in the Master the Squat series where you work on static holds of the hip flexors. His rationale seeming to be that you increase both ends of the strength/length relationship curve. Of course I don't know what the extent of the exercises that the Monkey Gym used to do as there isn't usually too much talk about that here.

[Joshvogel]

I've attended two of Spina's FRC courses and one Corset workshop with Ido's crew. Very different approaches, though there is some cross over, from what I saw.

I highly recommend Spinas work. Like every other system on earth, the individual components can be found elsewhere (isometric stretching, lift offs, etc...) but the difference is in where these techniques fit into the system, what purpose they serve within the system, the general concepts applied to the techniques (how they are performed) and the operating system that guides the approach.

There is a lot of lecture on the science behind how it works. Some people find this stuff boring, but I found it super helpful in understanding how this stuff works. If you pay attention to how it works, you can answer a lot of your own questions about his system and other systems of stretching, strength work, etc...and it really helps in giving someone like me, who is relatively uneducated in this area, a way to think more critically about what I come across.

He goes over how to implement his system for different goals. Performance, "bullet proofing" the joints, rehabbing the joints and training specific movements. It was also cool that Dre and Dewey are both Bjj guys like me so they had lots of interesting ways for me to apply it there too.

The technical portion is where they take you through the different components of the system (CARS , PAILS, etc....) and how to apply these to every joint in the body. I find the acronyms helpful because they describe clearly the action you are trying to perform. If you know exactly what CARS are and the concepts behind how they are performed, then saying Controlled Articular Rotations is much clearer than calling them joint circles or something else equally vague.

Does that help at all?

[Joe_S]

The guy who developed 'FRC' mentions in this video that the existence of reciprocal inhibition has been disproven by a number of researchers. 

Is anyone familiar with this research? Whether or not it is valid may not be the most important thing for us, as most people on here are probably fairly convinced that contracting opposing muscles is effective at gaining range (whatever the mechanism may be). Just curious if people think 'the literature' offers any good reason to call the mechanism into question.

 

[MarkusO]

4 hours ago, Joe_S said:

The guy who developed 'FRC' mentions in this video that the existence of reciprocal inhibition has been disproven by a number of researchers.

That is not what he is saying. All he mentions is that EMG activity is not decreasing post PNF and that the result is more neurological. So what? That the brain is the most important thing to stretch is nothing new in the ST world. He also is telling that EMG activity would increase post PNF which is actually contradicting what one of his cited studies is saying. That the contract-relax method works, i.e. improves your flexibility, can be tested in seconds, so keep on stretching :-)