Body Balance therapy "started out being weird," says pro basketball player George Lynch, "it's really unusual but it works!" Lynch, the power forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, had a golden career until he was hurt. As a University of North Carolina player, he went to two NCAA Final Fours and one National Championship. His experience illustrates that how you train will greatly influence how you play your sport. While strong trunk muscles are vital, your abdominals are just one portion of these powerful movers. George Lynch discovered that doing abdominal exercises the old fashioned way took him off the court and almost out of the NBA. He also found that many of the stretches and moves that were supposed to keep him well were actually stressing his tissue and setting him up for injuries.

George came to me after being diagnosed and treated by many "experts" after being injured playing in Vancouver. He suffered pain in his lower abdominal region whenever he tried the slightest acceleration down the court. It got to the point that when he would rotate and take a few steps forward, he had to stop because he was in so much pain. The first thing I did with George was stop him from doing what I call "mindless movements." These included abdominal crunches and groin stretches that continued to place his pelvis in an incorrect position. Remember, tissue adapts as you train it and someone who is 6 ft. 7 in. must train his trunk muscles in the manner they will be used, otherwise he will be at a mechanical disadvantage, a bad career move.

So why do I call these moves "mindless"? Well, the power of this basketball player to get down the court depends on the position of his spine and pelvis so the right muscles can work. If he trains his abdominals with crunches, repeatedly, he will create muscle imbalances and bring his spine and pelvis out of the natural alignment he needs to play basketball. If you do stomach crunches, you will be good at that one movement but that doesn't mean you will do better on the court. The trick with George was to show him that all of the fancy abdominal exercises he had been taught only aided him in those fancy exercises - not in sinking the basketball or weaving through the opposition down the court. I showed him another training formula that would help him improve his trunk muscles in a synergistic way. Remember, abdominal muscles automatically work when you walk, bend and move during everyday life if you move in balance.

Body Balance gave George a new understanding that what he did off the court influenced what he did on it. Within three weeks George was back on the court and has now signed an even better contract with the 76ers.

George told me that my ideas reminded him of his great coach at North Carolina, Dean Smith. Smith believed training should be for the purpose of playing basketball and that weight training was overrated, according to George. When he first got into the NBA, their focus was on being big and strong and bulking up. Fortunately, he said, the NBA as a whole seems to be changing from strength-focused exercise to more finesse and speed-type training.