Unbeknownst to me this single event  would mark the beginning of a very difficult journey in my health and well-being.

The school I attended  had many different studios and one night I had the opportunity to train at a school in Oceanside.

At the school, there were many from the local Marine base at Camp Pendleton.

During a one to one session training I sparred with a Marine, who was far better trained than I was in Jiu Jitsu. As we proceeded to spar on the mat, he got me in an arm bar submission on my right arm. Unfortunately, I did not tap in time, and instead endured the hold far longer than I should have.

The result, I ended up pulling my right clavicle bone.

Since that fateful day, I have not been able to do pull ups, without causing a tightness and eventually stiffening and soreness on my right side where the clavicle meets the shoulder.

I tried numerous modalities of therapy from chiropractic, to traditional sports therapy, myocardial release, exercise kinesiology, to exercise physiology used to heal the muscles and structural alignment, to yoga, Pilates, and massage.

None of them really truly gave me back the mobility and structural alignment that I was so desperately needing.

I wanted my old body back. Pre Jiu Jitsu.

It wasn’t until last year in April 2014 that I began my road to recovery.

I was at a good friend’s house in Las Vegas, when the conversation came up about my wish to do pull ups again. Up to that point, I had a secret admiration for those that had a normal clavicle.

When I showed my friend my injury. he told me, “Oh that’s no big deal, you can fix that, have you looked into Rolfing?”

The mere fact that my good friend, a health and fitness expert, had confidence in my own full recovery and that I had a form of  physical therapy that I had never tried before, was enough for me to look into it.

I Googled, “Las Vegas Rolfing” and voila there appeared a site Love Your Posture at the top of the search. I called and made an appointment with Corey Buck. It was the best thing I ever did.
Within the first session, I was already feeling great, and after three more sessions I felt and could see noticeable differences in my clavicle bone. It was no longer protruding as before.

I knew I would fully regain my ability to do something as simple as a pull up.

Corey told me that, I had some scar tissue, and  that all we needed to do was release it.

Well lo and behold I am back and fully recovered

I thought I would interview Corey and ask him some poignant questions about Rolfing and the work he does.

Here is the brief interview.

Could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you got into Rolfing, how have you personally benefited from it, I remember you shared with me that you had an injury, could you elaborate on that?

I had Sciatica really bad for many years I was lucky that Rolfing cured me of that problem and led me to becoming a practitioner hoping to help people like I was helped.

In one sentence could you describe what Rolfing is?

Rolfing is a 10 session series teaching embodiment and shifting awareness.

What do you think are some of the most common misconceptions when it comes to Rolfing (Structural Integration)? Could you share some stereotypes around Rolfing that are not true?

There are many who think that it’s just a painful treatment but it’s really about shifting awareness.

How does Rolfing differ from other forms of therapy? What does it Rolfing offer that many traditional forms of therapy such as chiropractic, myofascial release or physical therapy?

Rolfing offers education about the myofascial integration of the body and carries over into life, i am not sure other modalities get into life applications.

Compared to other more traditional forms of therapy, Rolfing isn’t quite as popular like chiropractic or even Myofascial release? When I search on those respective terms they are in the tens of millions whereas “Rolfing” is in the hundreds of thousands.

Rolfing popularity isn’t as high as other therapies, I think the misconceptions about costs and the amount of sessions put it into a low percentage.

I realize that Rolfing is not  a magic bullet, obviously, for me you helped me tremendously, to overcome and get back to training 100%, yet how should one prepare themselves if they are truly interested in incorporating and actually using Rolfing to say, for example, heal an injury?

Rolfing brings a balance and grace to the body leaving an injury an opportunity to reintegrate into balance.

With respect to this interview and the subject matter, what question, should I have asked you that I didn’t and what is the answer?

Fantastic interview thank you Bronson..  Cheers and I hope to visit you soon.  Happy New Year

Early in 2005 I had injured my collar bone just slightly while training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After the injury I never thought I would be able to do pull ups again.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine told me about Rolfing that my life changed and my Calisthenic journey began.

For those of you thinking about giving Calisthenics a try, below are ten things that happen:

1) You will find out just how tough managing to do pull ups, push ups, and dips really can be. Not all Calisthenic movements require pull ups, push ups and dips however they are the cornerstone and building blocks, along with several others. When you first start out it’s tempting to want to begin initially like the pros. Baby steps. Work on stretching and warming up before and after every workout. And think like a turtle slow and methodical. Take your time. It’s been only four months  and I am already seeing huge changes that I otherwise never had with conventional weight lifting.

2. YouTube will be your best friend. It is amazing how engulfed I have become in watching all the Calisthenic “Superstars” from Frank Medrano to Hannibal for King to Lazar Novovic. You can get addicted to the gluttony of videos. There is so many great videos out there that I got consumed. It was definitely like I was attending, Calisthenics 101. I just had to keep reminding myself that all these guys started out from scratch just like me, so if they can get to where they are, so can I. It will just take time.

3. You may be the odd one at the gym or out and about. It’s truly amazing how good old fashion pull ups, push ups, dips, and the multitude of Calisthenic movements that have been around forever seem almost from another planet for example when you are at the gym. I recently canceled my gym membership, because, there simple wasn’t enough decent space to practice Calisthenics. All the open space was taken up my machines and barbells and dumbbells. The funny thing, I actually have more space to practice at home than I did at the gym. In addition, I noticed that I never really used any of the perks that my gym offered like the plethora of machines. i never touched any of them, just the pull up bar, dips, and plyo-box, and the occasion kettle balls. You can actually create a better gym for Calisthenics at home.

4. You will be sore and not know why. Calisthenics is incredibly underestimated, and really not given the respect it deserves. I became so accustomed to thinking that muscle soreness only came from lifting weights or working out on machines. Not true. With Calisthenics, you will workout, and not feel like you really worked out, because you are doing such basic moves, but low and behold, you are sore. Trust me. Doing push ups or pull ups or leg lifts for one set does not count. Try doing 12-15 sets of 15-20 reps. You will be sore.

5. Be an evangelist.  As you progress in your training, day after day, and week after week, your enthusiasm also increases. And before you know it you have become a full fledged fan who wants to share with anyone who will listen the benefits of lifting and working out with your own body-weight, no gym required. I often find myself stepping up on to my proverbial soap box to share with some unsuspecting person(s) the unlimited benefits of Calisthenics.

6. Creativity. It’s inevitable that you will begin to be more creative with your workouts. With each movement you do you are going to want to switch it up to avoid your body getting used to any one exercise and as such your muscle and body do not grow.  Believe it or not there are hundreds of ways just to do a push up. As you continue training, you will find out that you become more ingenious in varying up the standard ways of doing most exercises with a more uncommon method. One that is sure to really increase your overall growth and have fun in the process.

7. Forget legs. Forget Lower body. It’s really easy to just focus on the more popular movements and neglect one of the building blocks of the body, which is the lower body. Many of the more popular exercises focus primarily on the upper body. But don’t let that discourage you from working out on the lower body. I grew up thinking that you need to lift weights or work out on heavy leg machines in order t get a muscular lower body. That is not the case. Try doing one legged pistol squats or a one legged hamstring bridge. I guarantee not only will you feel some soreness but you legs and lower body will grow far greater than you can imagine.

8. Lose track of time. I often find that I lose track of time when it comes to my workouts. Part and parcel from it just being really fun. The movements, albeit, simplistic in nature, take a lot of focus and concentration. Because your body is your gym, you tend to find that you focus on technique and form. With Calisthenics, slow is better. Quality versus quantity. And as such time just files by. As the saying goes, we tend to lose track of time when we are having fun.

9.  Not rest enough.  Rest is paramount, not just sleep and but recovery between sets. In the beginning I wanted to go from one exercise to another, and I completely forgot to give my body the occasional rest break. That was not a smart thing on my part. Now if I am doing split workout routines, where I workout multiple body parts, like chest and back. I will do one set of standard width pull ups (back) and than one set of close grip push ups (chest), wait 30 seconds, and repeat with a varied movement like reverse grip pull ups and wide grip push ups, than I rest again for 30 seconds. I noticed that this significantly helps my recovery for the next series of movements.

10. Weight & Machine Withdrawals. I have been weightlifting for nearly 20 years so it’s only natural that, because of habit, I have, what I like to call barbell withdrawal. I was so accustomed to believing that I needed to lift some piece of metal or iron in order to qualify as strength training. That is absolutely ridiculous. Now I take pride in knowing that I can workout anywhere and anytime. No gym required. As long as I can find some floor or chair I am pretty much good to go.

Well there you have it. Ten Things That Will Happen as you embark on your Calisthenic journey. You may not experience all ten, and it really doesn’t matter if you do or don’t. In fact, you may come up with your own ten things that happen to you that are completely different. The important thing, is to just begin, and stick with it. Trust me, you will love it.