Rich Riehl, Head Athletic Trainer
Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
Also in the middle of the 5-year Olympic Trainer Certification

             I have had the pleasure of working with, and observing Lou Gross, for the past six months.  During that time he has worked in our athletic training room, with many of our athletes.  Having been associated with world class athletes and now working as the head athletic trainer at Pepperdine University, I can assure you that Lou has a wonderful understanding of the human body  He has a knack for not only treating a particular problem but helping to correct the cause. Often times, that cause is far away from the site of pain.
          So often we as medical professionals are not open to different types of treatments.  That is unfortunate because I feel we need to treat athletes from a very holistic approach.  Lou has complemented the work we do in the training room with his own special brand of health care.  We all work on flexibility programs, but Lou really attacks the problem and usually has wonderful results.
           I can honestly say that I would not hesitate to send any of my athletes to Lou.  He can be an enormous asset to athletes and medical professionals alike.  He has definitely provided Pepperdine University's athletes with a fantastic service.

Ronald J. Allice, Head Track and Field Coach
Long Beach Community College
(Later Head Coach at University of Southern California)

              This is to advise that Mr. Louis A. Gross worked with the athletes at Long Beach City College during the 1991 track and field season, assisting our training staff by doing bodywork for our student athletes.
                Lou did an outstanding job and was a great contributor to our winning both the cross country and track and field state championships.  This was the first time that any community college had ever accomplished this feat and could only be done by having our athletes healthy throughout the entire season.
           I found Lou to be very dedicated to his profession as well as extremely knowledgeable.  His enthusiasm was contagious and carried over to all of the student athletes with whom he worked.  The athletes were extremely impressed and looked forward to working with him in order to not only reduce whatever ailments they might have, but also to prevent them from occurring in the first place.
            I have the fondest regard for Lou and can truthfully recommend him to any coach or instructor who wishes to reduce injuries in athletes and students.
           I am looking forward to calling  on him many times in the future, as are all the members of our coaching and training staffs.

Steven Glass, USPTA Certified Member,
COUNTRY CLUB TENNIS PRO
Former Collegiate Player and now Professional Instructor
(Six 2-hr sessions)
Significant Athletic Performance Improvement

          Several changes took place in my body from Lou's Structural Integration Bodywork treatment.  From the very first session, I felt I was standing up straighter and taller.  A tremendous sense of looseness, relaxation and lightness appeared in each of the areas of my body that were worked on, session by session. 
          I noticed performance related changes as well.  During service returns and pressure situations, a tightness used to appear in my shoulder and arm area, inhibiting my performance.  After the first few sessions, only a small amount of that remained.  In my leg area, the bodywork has given me a sense of lightness; I feel more flexible and move more fluidly.  And regarding recovery, now after hours and hours on the tennis court, I usually do not feel the stiffness and tightness that I used to feel on an almost daily basis.
          In addition, my neck and lower back problems have significantly improved.  Thanks, Lou, I happily recommend your work to athletes and non-athletes alike.

Carol Poto, Tennis Player & Women's TENNIS COACH,
Long Beach City College
(1-3/4 hrs on arms and torso)
Significant Pain Removal Improvement

          For the past few weeks, I'd had a bad knot in my left shoulder that was radiating pain down my right arm to the hand.  About a half hour into the Bodywork session, the pain was greatly alleviated, and by the end of the session the knot was gone and I couldn't even feel where it had been tight or painful.  I also felt much looser and more flexible, breathing was deeper and fuller.
          And Lou's Structural Stretching exercises I did the next week loosened my body even more.

Gary Anderson, Men's Head BASKETBALL COACH
Long Beach City College, and a Golfer 
(2 sessions, 3-1/2 hrs total)
Significant Athletic Performance Improvements
Significant Pain Removal Improvement

          After the first session of Bodywork, I felt really relaxed and looser, and my golf swing was smooth and almost effortless.  That lasted a few weeks.  The second session I had for the treatment of a flare up in a 6-year long low back pain condition.  After just this one additional treatment the tightness in my legs diminished, my posture was more upright and the lower back pain dissipated.  My movement and balance was also easier and I felt great, as I did after the first session.  I continued to be free of low back pain and continued to feel the loosening benefits for weeks and months afterward.
         One of my sophomore basketball players was also treated in a 2-1/2 hr session.  I'd noticed all season that he had trouble dragging his legs up and down the court.  Lou found extreme tightness in his legs and hip and leg joint flexor and extensor muscles.  I noticed in practice in the very next two days after the treatment that he moved much more efficiently.  And he himself felt his legs were much looser.

Barbara Jackson, Sports Attorney & Phys-Ed Teacher, Author;
Basketball Player & Women's BASKETBALL COACH,
Long Beach City College
(Three 2-hr sessions)
Athletic Performance & Pain Removal Improvement

          In just one 2-hr session of Lou's Structural Integration, I felt I relaxed years; that much tension and tightness was removed.  Athletically, my body felt tuned up.  I felt I could glide with my movements and think smoothly.  After the second 2-hr session, when Lou worked on my legs, the pain and tightness I'd been feeling all week was gone.  And I also felt taller.

Donna Prindle, Physical Therapist,
Former Championship Volleyball Team Member;
Women's VOLLEYBALL COACH, Long Beach City College
(5-1/2 hrs in 4 sessions, plus 1-1/2 hrs Structural Stretching)
Significant Athletic Performance & Pain Removal Improvements

          Right after the first half hour of Lou's Structural Integration Bodywork on my shoulders, back and legs, I played Volleyball and immediately noticed an improved movement on the court.  My movements to get around and to hit the ball seemed effortless, and I was quicker.
          I'm a physical therapist as well as a coach and I use my body to lift people all the time at work.  I was very tight in my upper body, to the point that it was difficult to take a deep breath.  From the next 3 hours of treatment, focused on my head, neck and torso, I got a lot of release of tension, increase in my flexibility, improved breathing and improved relaxation.  It improved my neck flexibility and range of motion; before, I'd had trouble with even normal movements of my head and neck.
          These 3-1/2 hours of treatment also helped me avoid getting spasms in my upper back.  An accumulation of tightness from work would normally cause such spasms.  Now I'm able to continue to work at a high performance level without getting the spasms from the past week
          The following 2 hours were on my legs and feet with a touch-up on my back.  My legs felt lighter and more alive at the same time.  They were more flexible; I could lift my knees higher and wiggle them around with more joint freedom.  My stance was more stable, I felt more in contact with the ground, my legs felt longer and I felt taller.

          Regarding the Structural Stretching class for the Women's Volleyball team:  They enjoyed the different approach to stretching.  They experienced increased flexibility and released tightness in the low back and shoulders.  And it helped them release stress and tension from the day.

Pedro Gomez, Venezuela, Gardena, Calif. Track Club, 5K & 10K
1983 PAN-AM GAMES FINALIST - 6th in 800M
800M Champion: 1986 Calif. Community College,
1988 NCAA Division II
COACHES CROSS COUNTRY
Significant Athletic Performance Improvement  

          After just two hours of this bodywork, my legs feel the way they did 3-4 years ago.  The session itself was more and more relaxing, and I felt good at the end.
          When I came for the bodywork, I had pain in my left hamstring, and now I don't have it.  My knees come up easier.  I used to feel a "stop" at the top of the hamstring, just under the buttocks, and now I don't feel that either.
          In fact, I haven't had any bodywork or massage on my legs in so long, and they were so tight that it interfered with my racing.  I'm trying to develop in the marathon, and in the last Long Beach Marathon I was 11th at mile 19 but had to drop out because my legs tightened up too much.
          Now my legs feel a lot better!  They're more relaxed, feel lighter, and they're a lot looser.  My heel comes back to my buttocks as before, but now it's much looser when I do it.  I feel less of a pushing down tightness pressure in my upper buttocks when I stand.  And I have more flexibility in my ankles.
          In the next week I ran a 10K.  My strides were longer.  I ran a really relaxed race; my body was more relaxed.  And when I pushed it I felt a bit stronger in my legs.

Gail Conway, Santa Monica Track Club, 800 meters
COACHES MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCE RUNNERS
at the Air Force Academy
(1 hour on legs and pelvis, done about 2 hrs after racing)
Noticeable Pain Removal Improvement

          I have a chronic problem with left achilles tendon soreness, and it's been particularly bad these last couple of weeks.  Now it feels pretty good.
          Just flexing my foot, I can feel the difference in the flexibility.  And I have been told the tendon problem is because I've lacked flexibility in my calves.  Now my calf is more flexible and I don't feel a lot of soreness.
          Normally, if I sit down for 20 mins and then get up, it's often very stiff and I limp at first.  I was lying here for about an hour, and when I got up, it's not sore to stand up and walk, and it feels more flexible.  It's only sore to the touch.

Darryl Taylor, Long and Triple Jumper;
TRACK COACH, Morningside H.S.  in Inglewood, CA
(1 1/2 hrs on legs, buttocks and pelvis)
Athletic Performance Improvement

          I trained a lot and also played basketball this past week.  A lot of the area that had been overworked this week, Lou got to and loosened.  Some places I can't get to in warm up, he got to and warmed them up today.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CONSULTANT
Patricia Owens, "Athletic Liason,"
(one 2-hr treatment) 
Significant Athletic Performance & Tightness Removal Improvement

          In my work, I travel a lot by plane and automobile, and sometimes on trains and buses.  Travel can be exhausting: packing up, carrying bags, sitting for long periods of time, early morning departures, late nights and strange beds.  In the past 12 years as a sports consultant, I have traveled well over a million miles.  And it is very hard on the body: the tight shoulders, the sore back, tightness in the gluteals (buttocks muscles) and legs.  For the stiffness and tightness that comes with my job, I've had various treatments and massages all over the world.
          When one of my clients, three time Olympic runner Christina Cahill, recommended I see you for treatment because of the lower back pain I was having, I thought, 'Well, let me give it a try.'  She said you were a miracle worker, having helped her with a hamstring injury.
          Wow!  The single treatment that I had was truly an enlightening experience.  I could not believe the mobility and flexibility that I had after one session with you.  I felt like a new person with the body of a teenager; in fact, I felt two inches taller.  I could bend and move my neck and back with a freedom I hadn't felt in years.  My entire body felt refreshed.
          Because your treatment encompasses the complete body structure, everything becomes loose and relaxed.  Very often we forget that one muscle can control the feelings and mobility of areas of the body far away from the muscles' main area.  Often, when one has a massage to work out kinks in a special area, other areas are ignored.  That was not the case with your structural bodywork.  Everything works better after one of your treatments.  I just wish my short visit to L.A. would have allowed me to have additional treatments.
          As a person who has worked with athletes for over a dozen years, I would not hesitate to recommend you to any of them.  Our bodies need to be looked after, and athletes, especially. need to keep their bodies finely tuned to get the best performances from them.  But we all should take the time to look  after our bodies, not just the full time athletes.  Thank you, Lou, I am very grateful for your help.

Increasing Athletic Performance
with Structural Integration Bodywork

SUMMARY OF BENEFITS MENTIONED BY ELITE ATHLETES & COACHES, AND BY RECREATIONAL ATHLETES, TOO.

 **   Significantly Increased Flexibility in a Very Short Time
 **   Especially Effective, and Immediate, Hamstring Lengthening
 **   Noticeably Improved Performance and Strength
 **   Much Faster Recovery After Competition & Intense Workouts
 **   Fast Removal of Both Upper and Lower Back Pain
 **   Immediate Improvement of Injured Areas
            Due to Tightness
 **   Thorough and Deep Leg and Feet Loosening
              and Lengthening
 **   Deep and Improved Warm-up Loosening