Jennifer Stone, Head Athletic Trainer/Manager, Clinical Programs, U.S. Olympic Committee Sports Medicine in Colorado Springs, Colorado for 23 years and 4 Olympic Games.  

“In 1986 I began working with Dr. Scherger to implement spinal fitness training and treatment procedures with Olympic athletes.  For the next 16 years, I was personally part of a collaborative effort that resulted in this material finally being made available to the public.   Now you can find these techniques in these courses.

I could tell you that the simple training and treatment procedures work, but I will save that for the next fitness fad salesman. What I will say is, in my professional opinion, if you are sincerely interested in performance enhancement, injury prevention, rehabilitation and/or the science of human movement, you should take these courses.  The theoretical and practical information you gain from these courses is an absolute must to help your athletes stay healthy and perform better.”

 Jennifer Stone, MS, ATC, CSCS

Bob Beeten, 23 years as the Director of the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine and Research Center in Colorado Springs Colorado.

“I have always been interested in the science of human athletic training.  I started first as a college track coach and then moved on to work in Olympic medicine and research. Now that I am retired and back to coaching track and field at the high school level, I am still interested.

I watched this material develop just as I watched the development of many other training and treatment courses and procedures here in the US and around the world.  I watched the constant and steady research and development quietly go on for 17 years.  As I watched, I saw this material begin to separate itself from all the others.   I saw, as you will see, that in the claims that are made, mathematical proofs are developed to prove the claims validity.   I have personally, in all the research I have witnessed, never seen this done before.

There is no other sports training or treatment program in the world that I am aware of that has ever subjected itself to this much development, this much validation, and then finally after 16 years when ready to present itself to the public, first subject its findings to a professional peer review.  I watched as peer review professionals worked for over 1 year to find fault with the material until finally, when no fault could be found, it was released to the public.

I first authorized use of the robotic exercise equipment at the 1986.  I am currently implementing the simple training procedures you find in these courses to improve my athletes’ ability and to prevent injuries.

If someone asked me, in my 23 years of observing all the athletic training and treatment world had to offer, if there was one course or training procedure I felt everyone should learn about, it would definitely be this material.

On what this material has gone through to develop its worth, to prove its worth and, last and most important, the profound significance of its worth, I have to recommend it.”

 Bob Beeten MS, ATC

US Olympic Training Center Sports Medicine Director 23 years retired Track Coach

 Doug Wilson D.C., Vancouver Washington

 “I have taken these courses and found them an easy and informative way to learn material that I could not get from going to a typical class.  I work with athletes and was especially interested in the fitness concepts of the courses.  I am using the exercises and they work well to get people out of pain, as well as improve their strength and posture.  I also gained new and simple ways to clearly explain to patients what I am doing and what is wrong with them.  This is helping to achieve better patient education, retention and results.”

Doug Wilson, D.C.

Vancouver Washington

Richard Smith, York Barbell

 “I first heard Dr. Scherger speaking about Spinal Fitness at the National Strength and Conditioning Convention in New Orleans in 1986.  What he was saying made sense so I tried his simple training procedures for the spine and they felt like they made sense.  I have continued to use them in my personal training and at the fitness center for United Defense where I currently assist as a fitness coach.   I invited Dr. Scherger to speak to weightlifting coaches in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center and at the 2000 Olympic Weightlifting Open in Seattle Washington because I feel he has vital information of a solid scientific nature that strength and conditioning professional should be aware of.

Here’s a little bit of the perspective on my history and why I would recommend these courses.  I bought my first weight set from York Barbell in 1938.  In the 1950's I became part of the York Barbell team when we were know as "Muscle Town U.S.A." and got to work with the greats like John Grimek, Tommy Kono and the Father of Modern Weightlifting, Bob Hoffman.  In fact, I accompanied Mr. Hoffman to the Senate hearing in 1962 when they were trying to prosecute him for putting the word “Health” on his protein powders.  In 1982 it was my swing vote on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Weightlifting Federation that allowed women into the sport of Olympic lifting.   I have been a coach for 5 Olympics, 20 world championship teams and countless other international competitions in 39 different countries.  I could not begin to tell you the countless times that I have sat down with international coaches and strength and conditioning experts and discussed physical training.

My point is, those of us who were there in the early days were like missionaries spreading the word on the benefits of physical training and weight lifting.  We were eager to find scientific evidence that would reveal the under the skin the interaction of the neuromuscular skeletal parts that resulted in the superior Olympic weightlifter, or, in better fitness and health for all.  Beginning in the early 1930’s and for years, York Barbell’s publication, Strength and Conditioning was the only the only forum for the dissemination of scientific thought on training for health and fitness.

Today words like biomechanics and the multitude of papers on biomechanics of muscle training are common.   In the old days words like biomechanics were unheard of and papers on scientific training rare.  But nothing I have ever seen is as rare or uncommon as these courses on biomechanics.   The theories for training not only include hypertrophy or use of muscle, they are also designed for training the spinal skeletal system that the muscles attach to for improved performance and health.  This type of training, in all of my 64 years in the industry, has been unheard of.  To top it off, these courses back up their concepts with physical or mathematical demonstration. 

In the early days we knew the value of a strong healthy spine.  The closest we came to identifying it was to say the guy with the good spine has a “high chest”.   We then looked for the guy with the “high chest” because we knew that meant he would probably have a big curve in his lower back.  The guy with the high chest and the big curve in his lower back was the guy you could teach Olympic weight lifting techniques to and expect him to excel.  The guy with the dropping chest and flat back was never going to be strong or have the explosive power and agility necessary to be good.

I just wish we would have had these courses back in the early days of weight lifting so Hoffman and all of us at York Barbell could have used them to train for the big curve in the lower back and the natural “high chest”."

Yours truly,

Richard Smith