Review: Donnie Thompson's Low Back Seminar

[arn710]

I thought I would share this since a lot of people here might be interested. I attended this past weekend.

Cost was $50. That included coffee and donuts before it started, a ton of pizza and refreshments for lunch and an entire day of interacting with Donnie and his helpers. The seminar was held at Donnie's gym in Columbia, SC. Its a pretty typical warehouse garage gym. Not a ton of equipment outside of typical powerlifting stuff

The seminar started with a brief introduction followed by a half hour presentation by a PT covering anatomical basics and a bit of the science behind what Donnie is doing. Donnie came up next and dove right into the applications of his techniques. We started with demonstrations of his 3 hanging protocols that he uses for warm ups, prehab and rehab. Following that, Donnie went over his strengthening exercises for the back and hips. Next we finished up the formal presentation with Donnie's tempering implements and how he uses them.

After the formal presentation was over, the floor was open to have Donnie or his helpers assist you with the body tempering or lower back protocol. This went on for a further 4 hours. Donnie and his staff were available for just about anything you had questions on. Donnie went over his techniques for everything from biceps to feet in an informal setting through out the day. His assistants were available for questions on anything that Donnie presented and were manipulating people via body tempering and setting up lower back hanging for whoever wanted to try

The seminar started at 10 a.m. and we didn't end up leaving until at 5 p.m.

I really can't say enough good things about this seminar. It was really well presented. Donnie speaks intelligently on all of his methods, explains all of the applications and how they effect the body. Donnie and all of his assistants were friendly and helpful through out the day. Donnie encouraged us to take as many pics and vids as we wanted. During the application portion, you could feel immediate relief from his exercises and various rehab/prehab protocols.

Cliffs:
- Went to Super D's low back clinic
- $50 for 2 meals and an entire day of rehab, prehab and strengthening for much more than just the low back
- 10/10 would recommend

[RmBoyos]

did you learn anything??

you got any stuff that youre going to implement into your workouts?

cliffs on the key prehab/rehab for low back? alot of people seem to have those issues... always good to be able to tell them the right stuff haha

[arn710]

I learned a lot. Still trying to digest it all to be honest. I finally had a light bulb moment for what I thought was a hamstring issue I have been fighting for years which actually turns out is likely an issue with my L5/S1 and/or interaction with my piraformis and sciatic

My plan right now is to implement the hanging protocols into my warm up and then the strengthening exercises after squatting or deadlifting. I'm going to have some of the tempering implements made at some point but I want to take my wife to his facility to see which ones she can maneuver before I invest

Kind of hard to cliff 7 hours worth of material but Donnie provides a lot of his stuff for free via social media. Go find it. He also had a professional photographer there videoing the entire thing so I assume there will be a video available at some point

[RmBoyos]

I learned a lot. Still trying to digest it all to be honest. I finally had a light bulb moment for what I thought was a hamstring issue I have been fighting for years which actually turns out is likely an issue with my L5/S1 and/or interaction with my piraformis and sciatic

My plan right now is to implement the hanging protocols into my warm up and then the strengthening exercises after squatting or deadlifting. I'm going to have some of the tempering implements made at some point but I want to take my wife to his facility to see which ones she can maneuver before I invest

Kind of hard to cliff 7 hours worth of material but Donnie provides a lot of his stuff for free via social media. Go find it. He also had a professional photographer there videoing the entire thing so I assume there will be a video available at some point

sounds goooooood man - will check him out

[Rags85]

Donnie provides a lot of his stuff for free via social media.

He is a good dude. From what I've seen you can tell he has a huge passion for strength and just wants to help people.

[arn710]

He is a good dude. From what I've seen you can tell he has a huge passion for strength and just wants to help people.

His passion is obvious from the second you meet him. The whole day was so much more than just lower back work. He's a huge wealth of knowledge and really well spoken

[wollo7]

very jelly

[43Steelers]

Is the low back stretch/hang with the monster band good for scoliosis & sciatica? Did Donnie talk about that?

[arn710]

Is the low back stretch/hang with the monster band good for scoliosis & sciatica? Did Donnie talk about that?

Yep

The one he recommends most for sciatica is hanging right side up from the big bands and placing some weight on your lap. I did that for about 5 minutes when I was there and felt the effects immediately

He has a demonstration vid on his Instagram

[43Steelers]

Do you have a link? I dont have an instagram.

[arn710]

Its a pain here at work. Shouldn't be hard to find though

[jmil]

Great writeup!! During the portion where him and his helpers assist with the tempering/lower back protocol, do you feel you learn enough to implement tempering on others, or is that not the point of it? Thanks again for the writeup.

[arn710]

do you feel you learn enough to implement tempering on others, or is that not the point of it?

I think that really depends on how in tune you are with that stuff in the first place. For an advanced lifter with a good understanding of physiology, for sure

He also encouraged people to video things themselves