I recently interviewed Mike Robertson on the release of his new product: Bulletproof Knees and Back Seminar.  For those who might not know Mike, he’s a brilliant strength coach who has been in the trenches for many years.  He has helped clients and athletes from all walks of life achieve their physique and sports performance goals.

His new product is an depth resource about injury prevention for the knees and lower back. It’s no secret that knee and lower back pain and injuries are becoming a plague among athletes and in society in general.  Mike goes into great detail on how to address these issues; understanding of the functional anatomy, complete assessment protocols, corrective exercise protocols and how to efficiently coach clients and athletes, and much more.  Mike was kind enough to give us a couple minutes out of his busy schedule to answer my questions on his new product.

DL: Mike, thanks for the taking the time to be with us today.  You recently launched your new product called The Bulletproof Knees and Back Seminar.  It’s a 6-disc DVD set that covers everything you need to know about the knees and back.  It’s definitely a great resource, but let’s face it: it’s not the first knees and back injury prevention resource out there.  What do you feel differentiate this one from the other knee and back resources out there?

MR: There are a couple of reasons I feel this piece is different:

1 – I blend research and in-the-trenches information. Some resources are great with regards to their literature review, but the people haven’t spent a ton of time actually training clients and athletes.  In contrast, other people may have spent the time in the trenches, but their methods are misguided because they haven’t done their homework when it comes to the research.

I do my best to blend the two to get maximal results.

2 – This is VERY complete.  In this product I cover everything from functional anatomy, to the assessments we use, to program design, to proper and effective coaching. I literally take you step-by-step through the entire process, so that you’re a much better coach when you come out on the back end.

DL: This is definitely true!  When buying the product you get a 6-disc DVD set and 10 different bonuses, so it is indeed very complete! Mike, who is this resource for?

MR: My target audience is obviously coaches and trainers, but the industry has changed so much that I absolutely have to include the broad term of “fitness enthusiasts” as well. After all, there are people who read my site daily that are wicked smart, yet their day job is managing hedge funds or selling Blackberries!

Bottom line – if you are serious about learning more about knee and back training, you’ll really enjoy the DVD series.
DL: It’s been somewhere over 3 years since you launched the Bulletproof Knees manual.  Has your view and the way you deal with knee pain has changed ever since? If yes, how?

MR: You know, it hasn’t changed as much as might think!

I’m always striving to improve, but at the end of the day, the hips and the ankles are still critical in knee health. If I’ve changed anything, or improved upon anything, I think now I’m much more cognizant of the roles of hip and core stability in knee health.  If your core and/or hips are unstable, again, the knees will take a beating.

But overall, I haven’t really changed that much – just refined more than anything else.

DL:  Mike, as you already know, trainers and coaches alike have to deal with a lot of knee and back pain (amongst other injuries) with their clients.  Some do too little to help them get better, but some others try and do too much, and sometimes cross some boundaries (i.e. doing a physical therapist’s job, per se).  When do we need to refer out? and how important do you think it is to have a good network of professionals around you?

MR: As I’ve mentioned before, there are three times when I ALWAYS refer out:

• Neck injury
• Low back injury with radicular signs
• Acute injury

Let’s be honest – I’m not a physical therapist, chiro, or sports med professional. It’s not my job to diagnose new injuries and give them a treatment plan. This is why you need a great PT, massage therapist, chiro, etc. on your team or in your network. You refer them out, get them right, and then they come back to you ready to train.

What I can do is get them moving and feeling better on the back-end. A lot of people don’t have “knee pain,” so much as they have movement patterns and muscle imbalances that hurt their knees! If you squat knees way forward, your knees are going to hurt. If you only train quads and no hamstrings, your knees are going to hurt.

So much of what we do is really simple, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get people feeling better!

DL: Mike, thank you so much for your time!  All the best with your future projects!

To purchase Mike’s Bulletproof Knees and Back, click HERE.