Do you struggle with brain fog? Or do you have any physical and brain-related limitations? Our host welcomes a special guest to help address your problems! Trent discovered that a fun, engaging method to repair his own body also became the foundation for his life’s work. Trent McEntire shares how you can fire up your brain with the use of a brain speedball. Tune in to this episode and learn how you or your loved ones with physical and brain-related limitations can benefit from this method!
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Fire Up Your Brain: The Brain Speed Ball With Trent McEntire
Trent McEntire has been helping people gain back their mobility for more than two decades. This is a story he knows well as he was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy. Trent experienced pain and stiffness every day from the time he was a child. The methods Trent discovered to repair his own body also became the foundation for what would be his life’s work.
Trent attended Western Michigan University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance. This required an in-depth study of Movement Science and Training including Feldenkrais, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Kinesiology and Anatomy. Trent was awarded the Presidential Scholar while attending Western Michigan University. From 2015 through 2016, he was named Distinguished Alumni for his innovations.
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Trent, thank you so much for joining us here. It’s delightful to meet you face to face.
Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
I was hoping you could start us off by telling us a little bit about how you got into the work you’re doing and what drives your passion for it.
It was a two-pronged story that both relate to my own recovery. I was born with class one cerebral palsy but I didn’t know it. I was never told that that was the reason why I felt so stiff and had such regular aches and stiffness and limitations in my body my whole life. I was always very athletic. It didn’t stop me from playing basketball and being athletic but I happened to get into dance. Getting into dance made something that was therapeutic and helpful for me because there was so much stretching that my body was like, “I love this. This feels good.”
For the first time, I feel pretty good in my body but I also developed a talent for it. It was a way for me to go to college. I ended up going to college on a scholarship as a Dance major. Coming from a small town on a dairy farm, that was a very unusual path to choose but it was my way to make something of my life and follow a passion of mine. As it would turn out, I would get very injured. I would wake up in the morning and have a lot of pain and restriction.
Not knowing what was going on and why it was happening, I would hobble to the shower. From the knees down, I could barely function. It was pretty bad. I happened to be home for Christmas complaining to my mom, “I don’t get what’s going on and why from the knees down? Why is it so intense? I don’t get it.” She’s like, “Trent, that’s because you’re born with cerebral palsy.”
At nineteen, it was the first time I was ever told and had an awareness that there was something going on in my body that would have caused this limitation. That would turn into an overuse injury and using my lower legs over and over again so poorly because I had such a limited range of motion. That was the spark of, “Do I want to stay in college? Do I want to keep my scholarship? Can I ever recover from this?” That was what sparked my curiosity about how to rehab my own injury. Rehabbing my own injury was the start of a several-year career now.
How did the lower leg and foot problems lead to things like Fire Up Your Brain?
The doctors did one thing for me, no surgeries but they cast my heels down to the ground to create a way for me to walk like normal. That limitation created such little range of motion that I started to investigate how I could improve my range of motion. Stretching didn’t help me. I’d be flexible for a little while and then it would go right back to being tight.
It was developing strength and patterning in a way that I could repeat the motion over and over again. That was before there were ever any literature books about the brain, bringing patterning, about the fact that our brains are plastic. We could change patterns, movement patterns, and thought patterns. It wasn’t common to think that you could make these big changes.
As I was using the exercises I developed, there’s more literature that’s being published. I’m realizing that what I’m doing is more brain-based than making muscles strong or working on joint mobility. My curiosity about the brain exploded when I realized what I also had. For many years, I fell asleep when I was reading because my two eyes didn’t work well together. Again, it’s about brain performance because when your eyes don’t work well together, then your brain’s overloaded with the stress of your eyes not functioning.
As it turns out, your mobility, quality of life, pain reduction, performance in your body, balance, fall prevention, and all these things are directly tied to your eyes. As I was putting this whole thing together and realizing that this is more about addressing all of your senses than just making muscles stronger, it exploded the idea of like, “How far can I go with this? What could I do to amplify this sensory training?” That was becoming more obvious and more proven and with science to be the pathway into better movement.
With the science of the brain and how it regulates or interprets movement because it does both, what did you develop that helps you either stimulate or train the brain in a different way?
I want to make things accessible for people. I realized when I was working with some great vision therapists that the work that they’re doing isn’t necessarily fun for kids and adults. I was like, “How could I take vision training and balance and vestibular training and make it fun?” I was like, “I love playing with the ball, so let’s do an inflated ball.”
I had a ball manufactured that is a bright orange inflatable ball that has A through Z and 1 through 12 printed on it. I invented a game where we play a game of catch and you’re tracking the ball. You are doing eye exercises that are built into the game. If you and I were playing, I’d throw the ball to you and you’d track it into your hands. You would spot a letter number on the ball and you would say it out loud. You’d throw it back to me and I’d do the same thing. I’d track it in my hands, spot a letter or number, and say it out loud.
It takes the brain through its natural processing. We use our senses to take in information from the world. We decide what to do with them and we act on it. That sense decides that cycle. It’s happening over and over again when you’re playing this game and because you’re using your eyes, you are also exercising the muscles that coordinate the eyes.
It’s this one-two punch where we can get the brain to practice its natural processing cycle. We’re exercising your eyes but it’s built into a fun game so we’re not bored with it after a minute. We can stay engaged with it for long periods of time in our life. It’s a few minutes a day. For a lifetime you have a tool sitting at your desk or next to your chair that you can use to help with regulation, help with your balance, etc.
We can get the brain to practice its natural processing cycle, and we're exercising your eyes, but it's built into a fun game. Click To TweetHow did that impact the discomfort you were having with cerebral palsy?
It’s because the eyes are directly tied to movement quality. The ability to improve eye strength, eye range of motion, and eye coordination is directly related to better outcomes in your body. Whether you want to have a better gate or want to walk better, you want to have a better balance or fall prevention or kids with ADHD, it’s all tied to the eyes.
A lot of the new research shows us that your eyes are an extension of your brain. It’s an attachment that sends information to the brain but it’s part of your brain. We know that’s real but there’s a lot that we don’t know. I’m curious. I look at this more of, how far can we take this? What can we discover in playing this simple game that can open people’s lives? We’ve seen it affect people in all walks of life and all different abilities. It goes beyond me and my story. It goes into helping people that have had some pretty tough things happen in their life.
If I’m hearing you correctly, you’re talking about playing this game with the ball. You toss me the ball and I caught it. I watch it as it lands in my hands. I pick a letter or a number and call it out. That’s doing something that’s forcing my eyes to focus and with the brain coordination that stimulates it in an unusual way, are you saying?
It’s in the way that it’s designed to function. Our brains already function with taking information through the senses, deciding what to do about it, and we act on that decision. By reinforcing that process, we can make the brain more efficient in how it functions. We’re using your eyes to track and move. We make your sense stronger and more efficient. You’re giving better information to the brain and so it can then practice processing it and you get a more efficient response.
It strikes me that one of the things you’re doing is replacing what we’ve lost by becoming a sedentary population. If you were out walking around, moving and planting, we would be using a lot more of that hand-eye coordination. Whereas, if you look at most people, they’re not doing very much of that. Is that how you think about some of this?
Yes. if you go back even when you’re in school and there was recess. Recess was built for sensory input. You have spinning, swinging, running, throwing, and catching all happening right away. You hit the playground as a kid and you’re on the merry ground. You’re hanging from the monkey bars. You’re playing kickball. You’re throwing a ball and catching it. You’re doing a lot of things that require your visual and your vestibular system to be engaged.
It’s often been looked at as a way to burn off steam, like, “Get the kids outside. Let them burn off some steam.” It’s more powerful than that. When you take away those elements and as you become an adult, you are not going out on a playground and playing as much. If you’re not athletic, then you’re not doing a sport that might require you to use your senses. You’re sitting in front of a computer or you’re sitting at your desk or whatever you might be doing. You go from giving a lot of sensory input as a kid and it becomes less and less as you get older.
Are there different uses for the ball or different exercises for different trouble areas? One of the things you mentioned was falling asleep while reading. There’s the other idea of, “I can’t pay attention. My attention gets drawn to every shiny object or every little noise.” Let’s say we have a person who struggles with depression. Are there different things you do with your ball and brain exercises for these different things or is it just one size fits all?
It’s not one size fits all. I put programs together. We have programs specifically for kids. It’s for kids that are trying to rescue themselves and have their parents rescue them from ADHD symptoms. As a parent of two kids with ADHD who are now in college, we’ve been through a lot and trying to find ways to support them. It turns out that by giving them sensory training and exercising their eyes, they have a much stronger ability to sit and focus and do homework.
By giving kids with ADHD symptoms sensory training by exercising their eyes, they have a much stronger ability to sit and focus and do homework. Click To TweetI got a call from a mom in Chicago a while back. She has a daughter. She got the BrainSpeed Ball for herself but her daughter snagged it. She started coming up with her own games and was like, “You don’t understand. We’ve been struggling with homework for so long and what this creates in my house is so much stress and anxiety every night when it’s time for homework. For the first time in her life, she could do her homework. It was from playing a simple game with the BrainSpeed Ball.”
While you can get creative and can come up with your own games, I do design games specifically for different populations. Kids have specific games. We have a seniors program that’s more focused on balance and fall prevention. It’s going to incorporate more vestibular, more head movement to make sure that we’re addressing where balance lives.
That’s in the brain and in your ear. A lot of times, athletes are getting injured because of a weakness in the sensory system or they’re able to perform at the top level because of a weakness there. We design specific games for those populations. Certainly, you can come up with your own game and we encourage people to come up with their own games and get creative but it’s better.
In one of the videos that you’ve got, AskTrent, you were taking questions from people. One person said, “We get bored passing the ball back and forth. What can we do?” One of your suggestions was to have the child create their own game, come back, and teach it to the parent. You’re encouraging creativity and you’re getting buy-in from the child if they’ve created their own game.
I know from experience that when parents are trying to help their kids, you want them to do things the right way and the correct way. With the BrainSpeed ball, it’s a different approach because if the parent takes the approach of like, “Make sure you never drop it. Make sure you’re tracking it. Make sure you’re doing it right.” You kill the fun and we got to keep it fun so the brain stays curious and engaged. It’s about the parent playing with the kid, not telling the kid what to do with the ball. It’s engaging in a game. It’s way more fun if the kid comes up with their own game because they come up with some cool games.
Brain Speed Ball: Brain speedball is engaging in a game, and it’s way more fun if the kid comes up with their own game because they come up with some cool games.
What’s the length of time that you are recommending someone if they get the ball that they are engaging with the ball and or another person in a session?
It’s five minutes or less a day. We see pretty strong results up to three minutes but you don’t need more than five minutes. You can create a regular daily practice. You can set a thing where maybe do it before you go to school or before you go on a walk or before dinner. You build it in your schedule and because it’s only a few minutes, and it’s easy to play. You don’t have this big thing you’ve got to take on now, like more time and more effort. You learn how to play the game and you can’t unlearn it. You use it as a resource for yourself.
I imagine that an individual could do this on their own. They can either toss the ball up and spin it or they can bounce it off a wall and catch it.
I have one on both of my desks and that’s a lot of times what I do. I’m sitting at the computer a lot. I throw it against the wall and get myself moving, get my senses back on track, and not stare at a computer screen for four hours.
What are the kinds of things that can benefit from engaging with the BrainSpeed Ball?
I encourage people to measure having a before and after. If you’re trying to improve a specific skill, maybe if you’re your child is struggling with homework or regulation, then you can take an assessment of what homework is like and what the regulation is like and then incorporate their BrainSpeed Ball and look and make a comparison of what’s happened for them and have them talk about how they feel after they play.
I love how you are coaching the parent to say, “Don’t feed them concepts. Ask them, what did you notice?” You’re not leading them in one direction or another and getting them to observe for themselves. Do they see a difference and if so, what?
Often, as a parent, we’ve been put in a position where we have to become mini experts in everything we’re giving our kids. We have to know how to do it, what it is, what it’s for, and how to make all the adjustments. This is different. You also learn how to play the game and you also get curious about what you notice, what happened, and what it feels like. Whatever the answer is, it is right.
Whatever they’re feeling is, it is right because it’s not about correcting them or telling them, “You’re supposed to feel something else. That’s not enough. That’s too much.” Kids don’t need to hear any more language around they’re not enough. They need the freedom to express, “This is how it feels, or I don’t know.” I don’t know is a good answer too because as you play, you become more aware of what’s changing and have better words to put on it. When it’s new, it can be hard to put words on things. When the awareness is new, you’re not sure what to put, how to say or how you’re feeling.
When the awareness is new, you're unsure what to put or how to say how you feel. Click To TweetHow long have you had the BrainSpeed ball?
I’ve been playing with the official manufactured version for about five years. Before I had it manufactured, I was making my own different sizes, colors, and shapes and creating my own craft ball to find the right size, shape, and all of the lettering.
What have you noticed about the range of things that either you and/or people that you’ve worked with or they’ve tried on their own are finding benefit from? The range of things from anxiety to depression to focus, concentration to balance?
All of those things. We have a lot of people in the space of traumatic brain injury and concussion that use the ball and find a lot of success. I have had tremendous success with a gentleman who is just a few days post using a walking device from a traumatic brain injury that he had from hitting a cement wall on a motorcycle going 50 miles an hour. It restored his gate pattern. He walked normal for the first time and it stayed. He didn’t go back. It was a pretty amazing transformation.
The mom with her daughter in Chicago with homework and restoring peace in the household is amazing. For my older clients, them having confidence when they’re walking, not missing curbs, not falling, and being more confident around their house that they’re safe is important. For kids that are on the autism spectrum, it’s incredible being able to provide a tool where they can have stronger regulation. If they are dysregulated, they have a tool that can help restore regulation. It’s quite the expansion and whom it helps and how it helps them.
With all of those things, are you saying you’re still recommending three minutes a day?
It sounds ridiculous when it’s just a few minutes. Our deficits and our eyes are pretty big. We are not exercising our eyes. We’re not exercising our inner ear. When you start exercising your eyes, it’s so powerful. It’s such a powerful and fast connection to the brain because your brain prioritizes the information from the eyes. Whatever comes in from the eyes gets top priority from the brain. If your eyes are stronger and they work better together, all of your systems function better.
I see a lot of that in people that I work with who’ve had a traumatic brain injury or post-concussive syndrome. Several of them are working with functional optometrists and seeing tremendous results with different types of filters, prisms, and different lenses. It’s an amazing connection between the energies that come into the eyes and how they’re received by the brain and how the brain functions. Both from that mental-emotional level and that physical, perceptual balance level.
We have a lot of professionals that use the tool in their practice. We have functional optometrists and functional neurologists that use it. Also, trainers, Pilates instructors, yoga teachers and those that have programs specific for MS. I have a program that’s coming out soon for Parkinson’s and one for concussion recovery. It’s such an easy and fast thing to do because people need homework.
You can go see that professional. It’s super important to have that care in your corner, especially when you’re talking about traumatic brain injury. Being able to have homework that’s easy and fun. You can do it with your spouse, even by yourself, if you don’t have one, a loved one, or your kids. It becomes something that can help take something that maybe isn’t as social and make it more social.
When you say these different programs, can you give me an idea if the ball is the same, there’s just one ball or do you have different balls for different things?
It’s one ball but the ball can be used inflated. It could be used with half the air taken out. For those recovering from a stroke, for example. They only have use of one arm well, we’ll take air out of the ball so you can catch it with one hand. That way, you can snag it, squeeze it, still track it, and still get the same benefits. You can play the game with two balls. Depending on the athletic level of the person, you can make the game faster or slower and incorporate multiple ways of playing.
At a basic level, you’re catching the ball and tracking it but then we’ve got to make it more fun. You’ve got to turn around. I’ll say go, then you turn back around as I’m throwing the ball. It’s a different experience or I could stand behind you and throw the ball from behind and hit the wall so you don’t see it coming. You could close your eyes and open your eyes.
You can play off the floor so it’s bouncing. I coach the volleyball team. With my volleyball players, we replace the volleyball with the BrainSpeed Ball and we mimic their sport. They have to mimic the eye tracking and the speed at which they’d have to be able to get to the ball using the BrainSpeed Ball. They’re tied into tracking with their eyes. It’s an easy adjustment for whatever population.
When you talk about having different programs, how are they delivered?
The programs are online and they’re short videos so that you’re not on the computer for a long time learning this. Sometimes programs can be so long online. You spend hours trying to learn how to do it but this is about showing you the games so you can like, “I see the concept. I see how I have to track it and I see the different kinds of games you can play.”
I’ve named the games. I give you instructions online that you can watch. For example, with the kid’s program, you watch me with a teenager playing the different games and helping you understand how to optimize the game. The idea is then you go play the game yourself. We give you downloads. You can track your progress and a worksheet so you can come up with your own game. Coach you through the process of inventing your own game to get in the habit of doing that.
For seniors, it’s about making it a habit. We want them to engage in this on a regular basis as a part of their normal daily activities. We give them a workbook that they can print and they can follow. Sometimes the online space is a little harder for them but we make the videos concise and simple to get through so they can get into the game as quickly as possible.
If somebody wants to look into this for themselves, where would you send them?
I’d invite you to go to FireUpYourBrain.com and you can read about the programs. You can read more about me and my story. If you have questions, you can engage in some conversation there with me. Shot me an email and ask a question.
If there are different prices, what’s the range of a price of a program?
If you just had a ball, it’s $21. The programs now come with a ball and they’re $197. That’s lifetime access to the videos. You also have support. If you have questions, you can reach out and ask questions with me and I’ll provide you with some support.
If somebody wants to get the ball, would you say they can get the ball for $21 or something?
If they just bought the ball. Most people who are buying the ball have a professional that they’re working with to help them learn how to play the game. If you’re coming in fresh, I’d recommend that you get a program so that you get the instructions and you play properly.
Brain Speed Ball: Most people who are buying just the ball have a professional that they’re working with to help them learn how to play the game.
The programs are under $200?
Yes.
Let’s imagine that we’re running short of time here. Let’s have you take a breath, get centered, and say, “Dr. Hayes didn’t ask me about this, didn’t ask me about that.” What would you want to put into it? I haven’t even asked you yet either about your work or maybe some success stories before we start moving towards wrapping up.
There is a success story with a young lady with autism that is pretty powerful. I could tell that whole story. I was at a conference sharing the BrainSpeed Ball. A woman reached out and said, “I’d love for you to work with my daughter. She’s on the autism spectrum and it’d be great to see what you could do to help her.” I said, “That’s great. Bring her by the booth and we’ll see what we can do. I was in a big ballroom. I don’t want to make it about any label that she has or the fact that she’s autistic. I want to make this about something she loves.
When I met her, I said, “What’s something that you love to do?” She’s like, “I love to dance.” I’m like, “That’s perfect because I happen to have a background in that so I feel like we can bond over that a little bit.” I said, “What’s one thing that your dance teacher is always telling you or getting on your case about in class?” “My jumps aren’t high enough and my head’s always down. I’m always looking down.”
I’m like, “Let’s do this. Let’s see if we can improve your jumps right here in a few minutes. I want you to practice your jumps going across the ballroom floor.” This young lady starts practicing her leaps across the floor and we’ve played the ball for about 3 or 4 minutes. I said, “Try them again.” She tried them again and she came back. She’s like, “What’d you do? What is that? Tell me everything. That was magic. I’m jumping higher.” I could see that she was looking up. She’s not looking down. It was like a completely different person dancing across the floor.
I shared with her some of the science and what’s behind it because she was curious. I said, “Why don’t you try something else?” She tried something else. We played again and that improved. It was a great experience for her to make it about dance and not about any label or me being the therapist that’s telling her that she’s not good enough or any of those weird things that can happen for kids.
She went out with her day. At the end of the conference, I got home. The mom sent me a long message and said, “I want to tell you what happened earlier in the day before you saw her. We were out. She wanted to see the Strip, so we went out on the Strip and all the sensory input was too much. It was overload. She collapsed crossing the street and I had to pick her up and carry her back to the hotel pretty much. You then worked with her. That night is the party for the conference. It’s about a three-hour party.” The conference was in Las Vegas.
She said, “Normally when we go, she stays for about half an hour, then we go back to the room. She has to recover and be quiet in a dark room. It’s normal activity for her. We plan on it. That night, she stayed the entire three hours for the first time ever, went back to the room, was not overwhelmed, and didn’t have any problems. I could directly tie it to her experience with the BrainSpeed Ball.”
She wanted to thank me for that experience with her. To me, that was beautiful because so often when you have a label or diagnosis, every professional and person you’re seeing is not necessarily seeing you as a person who has goals, dreams, and things that you want to accomplish. They’re addressing that label and talking to you from that perspective. It was awesome to see that the benefit that I would expect could be experienced by her without ever having to make it about her label. It was beautiful.
It sounds almost magical. As we know when we’re dealing with people if you find a good technique and someone who’s willing to use it, it can seem like a magical transformation. We do have this ability to grow and change. The old adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” is not true. I’m thrilled that you’re getting the benefit you are and that you’re offering that to people. Again, it’s FireUpYourBrain.com. Any closing comments? What would you like to leave us with?
Just the idea that our brains are plastic. You can change patterns but the way in is through your senses. The more people can start to consider the reality that better quality of life, better movement, less pain, less discomfort and better balance, it’s all possible for your senses. We think about making sure our muscles are strong and our joints are flexible. That’s important and keep doing that. Also, you’ve got to incorporate all your senses. We use them every day but we’re not exercising them. It’s easy to exercise them. I wanted to make it fun. Try to incorporate that in any way you can.
Brain Speed Ball: Our brains are plastic. You can change patterns. But the way in is through your senses.
Congratulations on this discovery and this work. I look forward to trying it out myself. I have a number of people that I work with that might get some benefit from this. I’ll order a ball and a program and we’ll see where it goes.
Beautiful. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
You’re very welcome and deserving. Thank you for being with us.
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Trent McEntire has been helping people gain back their mobility for more than two decades. This is a story he knows well as he was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy. Trent experienced pain and stiffness every day from the time he was a child. The methods Trent discovered to repair his own body also became the foundation for what would be his life’s work.
Trent attended Western Michigan University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Dance. This required an in-depth study of Movement Science and Training including Feldenkrais, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Kinesiology and Anatomy. Trent was awarded the Presidential Scholar while attending Western Michigan University. From 2015 through 2016, he was named Distinguished Alumni for his innovations.
Trent’s mission is to deliver his methods and tools out to everyone who needs help with moving past physical and brain-related limitations. The Fire Up Your Brain program was created by Trent as a fun, engaging and affordable way to support this mission. In addition to his professional teaching, Trent spends his time problem-solving and educating the world through his AskTrent Live programming and building a network of BrainSpeed Coaches. Also, facilitating speaking engagements to further educate the public on enhancing brain performance.
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About Trent McEntire
For more than two decades, Trent McEntire has been helping people gain back their mobility – a story he knows well. Born with a mild form of Cerebral Palsy, Trent experienced pain and stiffness every day from the time he was a child. The methods Trent discovered to repair his own body also became the foundation for what would be his life’s work.
Trent attended Western Michigan University where he received a BFA in Dance, requiring in-depth Movement Science and Training including Feldenkrais, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Kinesiology and Anatomy. Trent was awarded the Presidential Scholar while attending Western Michigan University and in 2015-16 was named Distinguished Alumni for his innovations.
Upon graduation, Trent pursued a career as a professional dancer where he performed on stages throughout the country and abroad. Throughout his professional dance career, Trent continued to leverage his methods to repair his own movement limitations and also helping other professionals to overcome their injuries. Helping others is what eventually led Trent to opening his own studio where he focused on teaching movement therapy and rehabilitation.
For more than 20 years, Trent’s transformational methods and tools have changed thousands of lives for movement professionals and clients — children who struggle with focus; seniors who have lost their balance and mobility, individuals experiencing neurological conditions; and athletes who have suffered concussions and injuries. Trent’s transformational methods and tools are now used across the globe.
Today, Trent’s mission is to deliver his methods and tools out to everyone who needs help with moving past physical and brain-related limitations. The Fire Up Your Brain program was created by Trent as a fun, engaging, and affordable way to support this mission. In addition to his professional teaching, Trent spends his time problem-solving and educating the world through his AskTrent Live programming, building a network of BrainSpeed Coaches, and facilitating speaking engagements to further educate the public on enhancing brain performance.
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