Brain training as the ability to get better at overly specific series of games or tasks is not true brain training. — Think back 2,000 plus years ago. Plato opens “The Academy” in Athens, Greece and begins holding informal gatherings to discuss philosophical issues with his buddies. As you’d imagine from a group of young men basking in the sun amongst olive trees and prolific gardens, ideas began to sprout. Conversations involved…

Every single one of us is built to win. Winning is deeply entrenched into our DNA. But winning sometimes comes at a cost. — Maybe you can’t pull off the gravity defying, high-flying tricks of newly crowned Olympic Gold medallist Max Parrot. Maybe you can’t push and steer a 300-plus pound sled down a track of ice at the blistering pace of American Gold medallist Kaillie Humphries. But that doesn’t mean you can’t win.

For most athletes, it’s about winning and nothing else. With such a singular focus, it becomes inevitable that cheating comes into play. — Olympic Champion Usain Bolt says it with the dignified air that you’d expect from someone with eight Olympic gold medals, “Progressive mind state. That’s my residency. Winning is a must.” But I don’t think you can argue that Charlie Sheen said it better. Way better.

Habits can be created in an instant, but that’s often not the case. Dopamine can be greatly connected to your success (or failure). — They come with the new year. About half of us make them. Even fewer follow through. New year’s resolutions come in all shapes and sizes. Some people want to get smaller, some want to get bigger. …

This article will clarify something that the world of COVID-19 has brought to the forefront: blood oxygen. — “Coach, do I have a problem here?” “Do you feel like you have a problem?” “No not really, but I’m trying to recover and I’m seeing drops in my oxygen saturation which can’t be good, can it?” This is the start of a discussion that I now have multiple times…

How could a guy walk into a chaotic situation and take immediate control, be the same guy who didn’t leave his house for weeks on end? — “Apple. Cotton. Movie… Ummmmm… Darn!” “ Nope. Darn was not a word” I replied. “ Apple. Cotton. Movie… Man, why can’t I remember this?” A patient I’ll call Eddy had been referred over to me from one of the physical trainers in the Canadian military. Eddy had retired from the…

Whether or not you need to nap is highly debated. Science, as is often the case, will point you in either direction. — That is the question — not to be answered via the noble pursuit of Google knowledge or sleep studies. Here we will be tackling this age-old question from the trenches of rehabilitation and performance. Why Nap? To better understand why we nap, we first need to understand why we sleep. Sleep is…

How do you weed through the troves of sleep information? How do you know which sleep strategies will get you the best bang for your buck? — Having been lucky enough to work with hundreds of professional athletes over the years, I can easily say that “sleep” forms a major pillar in their performance and overall health. Sleep has also become a very trendy nook of scientific research with folks like Dr. …

Imagine picking up your precious new puppy and dropping it off at the foot of the Amazon jungle. What are its chances of survival? — Probiotics: Puppy in the Amazon Imagine getting the call, “Hey this is Jimmy, your XYZ dog breeder here. Your beautiful new puppy is 8 weeks old and ready for pick up.” You’ve been waiting for what seems like forever for your new puppy. You’ve probably purchased some overpriced ultra-organic dog…