Humans were made to move. Walking continent to continent, traveling the seven seas, exploring, migrating and discovering. It’s in our DNA, as history tells us. Enter modern-day culture, and most of us have the opposite problem. Not moving our bodies can lead to many of the same problems as overusing. Both the cubicle worker and the athlete can experience severe health problems when it comes to how they move—or don’t move—their body. Not to mention, our population is living longer and getting older. We have to take care of our bodies thoughtfully, with intention and with intelligence. We have to train smart, not hard. The goal: keep moving, at an optimal level, for a longer period of time. Finding that sweet spot to optimize our health, and the way we move is key.
Enter R3Bar Alpha Pro, a tool created to inspire you to rethink training and get more in tune with your body and its moving patterns. Tim Manson, who conceptualized it out of a necessity, was a high-level athlete who found himself experiencing injury after injury. He was almost disabled after four knee surgeries and one hip replacement. As one of the first sports performance trainers in our region who has worked with athletes for more than 20 years, Tim was used to seeing athletes have many of the same problems he experienced.
After his own injuries, he created R3Bar Alpha Pro as a way to bring him back to full functionality. The tool helped unwind his injuries and chronic pain and soon had Tim competing at his highest level again. Tim claims that he now “moves better than folks half his age.” From his own success with injury recovery, Tim used his invention on his personal clients for the next eight years, and he was repeatedly asked by his athletes and colleagues to get this product to the market. And that’s exactly what he did in January 2018, with the goal of saving lives, careers and bringing people’s bodies back to a level of performance they never thought could be.
So why does R3Bar Alpha Pro work? The thought behind it starts with a deeper awareness of your body and its movement patterns, tuning into posture awareness and body alignment and focusing on foundational strength and intrinsic recovery.
“The workout is the breakdown. The recovery is where we build ourselves,” Tim says. "Really big and strong athletes were coming to see me but couldn’t hold a 25-pound weight over their head.”
Loss in mobility, stability and balance is a result of weak intrinsic muscles, and building intrinsic muscles is just as important as “active recovery” training, something many athletes with a “bigger, faster, stronger” mentality often forget.
While R3Bar Alpha Pro is strength-based, it’s not your traditional resistance, bodybuilding method. It’s not aesthetic training or an “Arnold Schwarzenegger” bodybuilding. The strength training is found in mobility and balance, which are not primary movers. R3Bar Alpha Pro targets the weak links in your intrinsic chain and builds stability and overall movement.
Ultimately, R3Bar Alpha Pro preserves and repairs joints while improving mobility. When our bodies are weak intrinsically, we, in turn, have weak balance and weak leverage, which often leads to injuries. This happens in athletes but also happens due to aging and inactivity, which is why this tool and workout can provide the same benefit for a child, senior citizen and professional athlete.
“A 70-year-old woman and Lebron James can feel the same benefit from this workout,” Tim says.
R3Bar Alpha Pro is for 13- to 70-year-olds and can help the average person function better for longer, by not overtraining and by building foundational strength. For injured athletes, Tim says training with R3Bar Alpha Pro can help them play an extra 3 to 5 years. Tim does not claim that he can help prevent all injuries, but he certainly reduces them.
After a workout, expect to feel more fluid, healthy and tuned in. With a stronger mind-body connection, with new muscles turned on and turned off, you’ll discover increased coordination, mobility and movement. R3Bar Alpha Pro is portable and comes with different band strengths for beginners and intermediate levels. It’s light and easy to travel with and can be used pretty much anywhere. It is made up of two pieces that detach and comes with a portable messenger bag.
Tim created R3Bar Alpha Pro to get our bodies moving and functioning just as they were originally designed to be. And although inspired by his experience as an athlete, don’t let that turn you off from trying it. Tim's definition of an athlete is all-encompassing. He says an athlete is “...being comfortable in the state of discomfort. Maximizing yourself and your confidence until it’s so high you can share it with others while allowing others to be comfortable to open up and share their gifts with you.”
Isn’t something we all can aspire to? R3Bar Alpha Pro is one way of getting us there.
For more training information, visit R3BAR Training.
Move 1
Standing Dynamic Front Squat to Overhead Push-Press
Stand with both feet slightly wider than shoulder length apart. With overhand grip, thumbs around R3Bar Alpha Pro chest level. Dynamically front squat to overhead push press, ( 0 to 40 repetitions - This Closed Chain Multiple Joint Exercise trains and reinforces proper Pelvic Lumbar Hip Squat Mobility and Mechanics and will reduce propensity for acute and/or chronic injury due to lack of strength and deficient movement patterns.
Move 2
Supine Lying Isometric Overhead Bent Knee March
Lie Supine with R3Bar Alpha Pro Overhead Isometrically. Dorsiflex feet and begin bent knee march, (10 to 40 repetitions). This Postural Stabilization Exercise reinforces proper Core Lumbar Stabilization and the Adductor Groin Activation necessary to leverage and mobilize the hips. Proper stabilization of the lumbar spine and mobilization of the hip will improve overall mobility and lower the probability for acute and/or chronic injury.
