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If you've wanted something more, something different, or something better from your career, then you need to become a Rebel.

There's a rebellion happening, about physiotherapy careers. 

OR......

Let me ask you the same question I ask the pro-sport coaches I go to work for. 

What is most critical to your success, that you think I can help you with? 
 
I got into professional sport by answering this question without it even being asked. A football team wanted a trainer and I was qualified. What was critical to their success was having someone who knew how to strap their players and attend to their on-field injuries, helping them to return to training. It was a simple transaction – they advertised, I filled the position. From there, getting into higher levels of sport followed a similar path – meeting a need. 

At some point, I keep one more question up my sleeve – “what are you prepared to do to get it?” I rarely have to ask that one, but it’s there in case I meet a very aware client.
 

The question I asked you, and my clients, has a second part – “that you think I can help you with”. 
 
My Chinese Women’s Volleyball Head Coach, Jenny Lang Ping, had one critical factor for success – score more points than the opposition. But I could not help her with that, so when I added the second part of the question she replied simply, “power, and speed”. 
At that point, I knew the destination I was tasked with getting her team to. And I turned to my colleague, Performance Coach Rett Larson, and told him we now had a mandate. He rubbed his hands with glee because he loves volleyball and can absolutely program for power and speed. My job just got easier – help keep more athletes in training so they could do more of Rett’s great speed and power program. That meant using objective systems of screening, assessing and testing to find out what their power and speed profile was, and what was stopping them from getting more. Then I had to use clinically reasoned, evidence-guided and experience-shaped methodology to change their behaviour, measurable as changes in power and speed. Simple. The result – the team won more points than the opposition and the coach saw many of the athletes become faster and more powerful. 

Working in professional sport isn’t that challenging when you think of it that way but getting into professional sport can definitely be very challenging. ​I'll be coming back to you soon with tips and tricks about getting into professional sport. For now, I've got to fly to north east China to attend to some swimmers and water polo athletes. "Zàijiàn", which is "goodbye" in Chinese.

If you're still reading, you're wondering about the Rebellion. Click here to find out more.

I've already questioned the plank.

Now let me question that if you're going to plank, why on elbows? Why not on hands?

First - if you have a wrist problem that prevents weightbearing through it, but you want training of the trunk that connects upper quarter and lower quarter, think chops and lifts. Or a large number of other exercises.

But, if you still want to plank, and the wrists aren't tolerant, there's always gripping a dumb-bell and planking.

Why am I strongly suggesting getting off elbows? Because if you don't include grip or weightbearing through the hand, you're missing out on stimulating large numbers of mechanoreceptors in the hand and wrist and fingers - all of these detect and respond to pressure, sending signals to the rotator cuff of the shoulder, as well as the muscles around the elbow, scapula and thorax and neck. So, if you leave the hands out, you're excluding so much useful information to challenge stability and motor control.

Then, as per my previous article on planking, get out of it after 10 seconds and progress. Read more.