Episode 068:  Before you can help basketball players in the weight room, you need a movement assessment that will quickly show a player's strengths and deficits. Dr. Gary Gray, founder of the Gray Institute and creator of 3DMAPS, joined me on the podcast to share how in just 6 movements you can assess 66 vital motions of the human body.  

Dr. Gary Gray is the smartest movement scientist in the world and I'm grateful to call him a friend and mentor.  I remember when I first got exposed to Dr. Gray's work… It was 2004 and we’d just started U-District Physical Therapy.  My business partners told me that I had to watch this series called the Functional Video Digest, so I went home and popped the tape into the VCR.

I was immediately in awe of Gary's ability to see and explain how the body was one big chain reaction.  He effortlessly described how the foot influenced the knee and the hip and the spine, and how the spine can influence the foot.  That one moment started my journey of studying the Gray Institute. 

Since then I’ve completed their 40-week fellowship programs and was lucky enough to be a facilitator for the GIFT program the last couple years.  I’ve also taken their Functional Soft Tissue Transformation course, their Foot/Ankle Specialization and completed their Certification in Applied Functional Science. 

Today I got to pick Gary’s brain on how to do movement assessments with basketball players.  Now you know I’m a little biased, but I can’t say enough good things about their 3DMAPS certification, which stands for Three-Dimensional Movement Assessment and Performance System. 

Please know I’m not part of any affiliate program and don’t make any money if you sign up for 3DMAPS.  I’m just promoting it because I use some form of the assessment or performance system every single week with my players.  I can confidently say that Gary and his work has made the single biggest impact on my training philosophy as a strength & conditioning coach. 

Listen to this week's podcast on Movement Assessment for Basketball Players and learn:

• The test is the exercise and the exercise is the test
• How to quickly assess your athletes every week
• What makes a movement assessment functional
• Why assigning players a number or score isn't helpful

Click HERE to listen to his son, Doug Gray, talk about Movement For Basketball

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