Pam is an excellent MAT therapist. She's very caring, sensitive, and wise in what she does. She worked with me on my shoulder, helping me increase my range of motion. She's also worked on my feet, which has helped everything else. She's given me very helpful exercises and stretches. She always remembers what she did the last time and builds on that. My whole body does better after she works on it.
-Mary Kay
Lars M. Rimol,
researcher, UCSD.
I came into contact with Pam after a left shoulder injury that occurred this summer (2007). When I sustained this injury I already had problems with an old injury in my right shoulder. Pam discovered several muscular imbalances in my body that were preventing me from healing and regaining full strength in both my shoulders. The MAT method allows her to diagnose very precisely where the problem lies and she has specific tools (massage/palpitation and isometrics) to restore proper function in the muscle. Then she set up an exercise program to help me (re)learn the correct movement patterns involving the shoulder girdle. Now my shoulder is much more stable and I can feel the difference in my everyday activities as well as in the gym, where I'm slowly increasing the resistance to rebuild my upper body muscle strength. Pam also discovered that my hips were out of alignment. This was an old issue that had been causing my left leg to be a little longer than the right and had sometimes given me achilles problems. She fixed that too. Thank you, Pam!
In my experience, this kind of treatment is something no physician or physical therapist can provide (and I have seen several of both categories). But also, in terms of training Pam can give you a program that is tailored precisely for your individual needs. Other approaches to core strength training don't really do that.
Pam is very dedicated and makes you feel that she really cares about your well-being but she also challenges you when you need that. I'd recommend Pam to anyone who needs physical therapy or just wants to correct imbalances in his or her body and function more optimally.
Yours,
Dr. Lars M. Rimol
Multimodal Imaging Lab,
Dept. of Neurosciences,
UCSD
and
Dept. of Psychiatry,
Ullevaal University Hospital,
University of Oslo
I am a 68 year old psychiatrist. For most of my life I did not accept any regular exercise. I had paid more attention to my intellectual and cultural development, so my physical condition, posture, and muscular strength used to show the results of that. On top, I had a minor stroke in 1994, with no apparent muscular sequelae.
In 1996, I decided to do something about my aching body. Luck brought me in contact with Pam Minix, then a trainer at the gym I joined.
From the beginning, her understanding of my physical weaknesses, her patience with my apprehension and hesitation, her relentlessly positive attitude and support when I got frustrated with myself, helped me to slowly learn about the mechanics of my own body, about the safe way to use weights and exercise, and about how to modify my unrealistic expectations.
I had feared being bullied or humiliated by the musclemen at the gym. Pam Minix became my friend, my protector, and my guide in the world of physical training.
In time, people who had not seen me for a while noticed that there was something better about me. They told me I looked younger, taller. And I felt well.
I have always been skeptical, doubtful, and a bit of a cynic. With my jaundiced attitude, I have questioned and challenged Pam every step of the way. With unending patience and a marvelous sense of humor, he has explained biomechanics to me repeatedly, responding to my doubts and my medically based biases with assurance and calmness. She has helped me physically and psychologically. I have even incorporated some of her metaphors, her aphorisms, and her advice into my psychiatric work.
Much thanks to Pam.
Training Camp North is happy to share the recent results of Jarrod Shoemaker (USAT National Champion) and Sarah Groff (USAT National Championship Silver Medal)
Link: Shoemaker Crowned USAT Elite National Champ
Olympians Laura Bennett and Jarrod Shoemaker took home top honours at the USA Triathlon Elite National Championship on Saturday, 25 September, topping a field of over 100 of the best triathletes in the United States. The event, which was held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will be aired on VERSUS on 14 October at 4 p.m. EDT.
The USAT Championship was held in conjunction with the Tuscaloosa ITU Triathlon Premium Pan American Cup, giving athletes from around the world the opportunity to compete. While a number of International athletes were in attendance, only those representing the United States were able to be in contention for the USAT national title.
“It’s my first national championship as Bennett. It’s an honour to be crowned national champion.”
Laura Bennett
USA National Champion
Bennett, who finished 10th in the final standings of this year’s Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, claimed the second USAT Elite title of her career, finishing the challenging Olympic-distance course (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) in 2:04:13.
“It’s my first national championship as Bennett,” said Bennett, who won the 2003 title as Laura Reback, her maiden name. “It’s an honour to be crowned national champion.”
Four women – Bennett, Sarah Groff, Annabel Luxford and Sara McLarty – broke away on the bike, building an advantage of over two minutes by the time they entered the second transition. Bennett easily distanced herself from the rest of the group at the start of the run, and held a 30-second advantage at the end of the first of four laps. She never looked back, crossing the finish line with a gap of over three minutes after posting the day’s best run split (37:32).
“I just went out of transition as fast as I could and tried to hold that,” Bennett said afterward.
Sarah Groff wrapped up the best season of her career with a runner-up finish, crossing the line in 2:07:42. Australia’s Annabel Luxford was the next across the line in 2:09:09.
“It’s something I hope to do a couple of times in my career, but it’s tough to get one of these.”
Jarrod Shoemaker
USA National Champion
In men’s contest, Shoemaker, who finished the year ranked 13th in the 2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series standings, captured his first USAT Elite title in 1:54:13. Australia’s Brendan Sexton was the top finisher in the men’s race, finishing in 1:53:48 to win the Pan American Cup. Shoemaker finished just 25 seconds later after posting the day’s best run split of 33:04.
“I don’t have a national title, so I’m really excited to have this on my résumé. It’s something I hope to do a couple of times in my career, but it’s tough to get one of these.” said Shoemaker.
Finishing second in the USAT Elite race was veteran Timothy O’Donnell, with Matt Chrabot rounding out the top three.
Along with the Elite competitions, 1,300 age-group athletes raced in the 2010 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championship on the same course.
By AMY CORTESE
Published: NY Times, August 29, 2009
TODD BYERS was among more than 20,000 people running the San Francisco Marathon last month. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, he might have blended in with the other runners, except for one glaring difference: he was barefoot.
Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
Vibram, with its FiveFingers line, is challenging the traditional idea of a running shoe.
Jodi Hilton for The New York Times
Tony Post, chief of Vibram North America, in the company's thin rubber running shoes. He says the industry is due for a shake-up.
Even in anything-goes San Francisco, his lack of footwear prompted curious stares. His photo was snapped, and he heard one runner grumble, "I just don’t want the guy without shoes to beat me."
Mr. Byers, 46, a running coach and event manager from Long Beach, Calif., who clocked in at 4 hours 48 minutes, has run 75 marathons since 2004 in bare feet. “People are kind of weird about it,” he shrugs.
Maybe they shouldn’t be. Recent research suggests that for all their high-tech features, modern running shoes may not actually do much to improve a runner’s performance or prevent injuries. Some runners are convinced that they are better off with shoes that are little more than thin gloves for the feet — or with no shoes at all.
Plenty of medical experts disagree with this notion. The result has been a raging debate in running circles, pitting a quirky band of barefoot runners and researchers against the running-shoe and sports-medicine establishments.
It has also inspired some innovative footwear. Upstart companies like Vibram, Feelmax and Terra Plana are challenging the running-shoe status quo with thin-sole designs meant to combine the benefits of going barefoot with a layer of protection. This move toward minimalism could have a significant impact on not only running shoes but also on the broader $17 billion sports shoe market.
The shoe industry giants defend their products, saying they help athletes perform better and protect feet from stress and strain — not to mention the modern world’s concrete and broken glass.
But for all the technological advances promoted by the industry — the roll bars, the computer chips and the memory foam — experts say the injury rate among runners is virtually unchanged since the 1970s, when the modern running shoe was introduced. Some ailments, like those involving the knee and Achilles’ tendon, have increased.
“There’s not a lot of evidence that running shoes have made people better off,” said Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, who has researched the role of running in human evolution.
Makers of athletic shoes have grown and prospered by selling a steady stream of new and improved models designed to cushion, coddle and correct the feet.
In October, for example, the Japanese athletic-shoe maker Asics will introduce the latest version of its Gel-Kinsei, a $180 marvel of engineering that boasts its “Impact Guidance System” and a heel unit with multiple shock absorbers. Already offered by Adidas is the Porsche Design Sport Bounce:S running shoe, with metallic springs inspired by a car’s suspension system. It costs as much as $500.
Some question the benefit of all that technology. Dr. Craig Richards, a researcher at the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle in Australia — and, it should be noted, a designer of minimalist shoes — surveyed the published literature and could not find a single clinical study showing that cushioned or corrective running shoes prevented injury or improved performance. His findings were published last year in The British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Other experts say that there is little research showing that the minimalist approach is any better, and some say it can be flat-out dangerous.
“In 95 percent of the population or higher, running barefoot will land you in my office,” said Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, medical director for the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the New York City Marathon. “A very small number of people are biomechanically perfect,” he said, so most need some sort of supportive or corrective footwear.
Nevertheless, a growing number of people now believe in running as nature intended — and if not barefoot, then as close to it as possible. They remain a tiny segment of the population — some would say fringe. But popular training methods like ChiRunning and the Pose Method that promote a more “natural” gait, as well as “Born to Run,” a best-selling new book about long-distance running by Christopher McDougall, have helped spur interest.
Proponents of this approach contend that naked feet are perfectly capable of running long distances, and that encasing them in the fortress of modern footwear weakens foot muscles and ligaments and blocks vital sensory input about terrain.
“The shoe arguably got in the way of evolution,” said Galahad Clark, a seventh-generation shoemaker and chief executive of the shoemaker Terra Plana, based in London. “They’re like little foot coffins that stopped the foot from working the way it’s supposed to work.”
The big shoe companies are clearly paying attention to the trend. Nike was first to market with the Nike Free, a flexible shoe for “barefoot-like running” with less padding than the company’s typical offerings. It was introduced in 2005 after Nike representatives discovered that a prominent track coach to whom they supplied shoes had his team train barefoot.