Erwan Le Corre is a pioneer in natural movement and the founder of MovNat. He is also a US National Record Holder. Recently, Le Corre, a Breaking Muscle favorite contributor, held his breath for 6 minutes and 46 seconds, beating the previous record for Static Apnoea (STA).

STA is a discipline of freediving and is defined as a pure breath-hold discipline. For the record, Le Corre was face down in a pool in Tampa, Florida, with an official moderating crew to record his record attempt.

Le Corre told his followers on Instagram about the record, thanking everyone who supported him, but also admitting that he was not fully prepared or convinced that he would succeed.

Le Corre has only been training STA for eighteen months and achieved his success a month away from his 50th birthday. He credits his success to the support of his family but also to his three decades of natural movement practice.

The record was verified US Freediving Federation under the rule of the Confederation of Underwater Activities (CMAS).

A post shared by Erwan Le Corre (@erwanlecorre)

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It is, in essence, the antithesis of working out, seeing the gym as almost a nonsensical place for people to reclaim their strength, their mobility, and their health. Le Corre practices what he preaches in his daily life. You can see it in the natural movement articles he has written on Breaking Muscle, as well as in the social profiles of he and his wife.

His book, The Practice of Natural Movement, has been a long time coming. And it is worth it. Firstly, it is a quality print, well laid out, professional in every way. There are a number of popular books on movement methodologies that you can see lying around your average gym, but Le Corre’s book has them beat on a number of levels.

The Instinctual Coach

Firstly, the quality of writing is better than you will see in most exercise tomes. It is vivid and rich, and the explanations are clear enough for the most novice of readers to understand. So, this isn’t a book for the acolytes and disciples, although they will find plenty to enjoy. It should stand as a reference for Le Corre’s teachings for many years to come. It feels like a legacy-defining product.

Erwan and Jessika Le Corre live in the northern New Mexico mountains with their three young children, Feather, Eagle, and Sky

Secondly, because this is not a workout at home or gym equipment tutorial, there’s a lot of application for the ideas that Le Corre espouses. Granted, the origins of Le Corre’s approach in Parkour do come across and may be a little intimidating for some people, but put aside the urge to skim the pages so that you can get a deeper understanding of the core precepts of natural movement.

Finally, and most importantly, what makes natural movement so interesting is that it is very much dependent on the individual and therefore, this manual is a great way for anyone to begin to explore the possibilities for their own capabilities. Natural movement classes and practices don’t make riveting social media posts.

They’re not circus tricks and they’re not things that you would be able to do easily in a gym environment. But, you can’t deny the brilliance of a practice that allows you to freely flow through any landscape, ultimately reaping the fitness benefits in a way that few workouts can replicate.

Revolutionize Your Fitness Thinking

There is no doubt that Le Corre wants to revolutionize the way people think about fitness and their measure of success as a trainee (whatever that means). It’s not an easy battle to win when the vast majority of the fitness industry is focused on short-term goals and gimmicky, overnight success stories. So you have to hand it to people like Le Corre who are steadfast in focusing on lifestyle and longevity in a training modality. It’s pretty zen.

There are no PRs and skill sets to be learned here. It’s kind of sad to think that the focus on this book is to help people realize that they are naturally capable of doing so much more than they do and that we now need instruction on how to run, jump, climb, and fundamentally function with human bodies.

Knowing that your goal is to clear an obstacle or carry a person over a distance is a powerful source of motivation. Are you prepared? Are you physically helpful or helpless?

– Erwan Le Corre in The Practice of Natural Movement, pg. 33

A book on Natural Movement is probably the best location to start your practice in natural movement. Your environment is all the challenge you need, and your body is the only equipment required.

Who knows if someday we will see natural movement applied in a CrossFit gym the same way Romwods are these days. That would be great. But for natural movement to succeed people just have to realize that it is a real thing, not take it for granted.

Le Corre’s book could be something that sits on your shelf as a reference that you can come back to at any age, under any circumstance, and still find benefit in its approach.

There are some cons, to be fair, nothing is perfect. The two-column layout of the text makes the book manageable in size but it is a little unwieldy to read. And, we probably could have used more of the last segment of the book with lifting and throwing manipulations.

Natural movement adherents can become quite creative in developing routines and expanding into more advanced work, but not everyone has the ability to do that, and natural movement could probably use a more advanced, aspirational, and attainable set of practices.

That may be another book and if it is, hopefully, it will come sooner rather than later.

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Injuries suck. There’s no other way around it. You may never become truly bulletproof, but if you understand the injury equation, you can tip the scales in your favor. Here you’ll discover the hidden costs of injury and how to effectively maintain health and body integrity.

The Injury Equation

Injuries often catch us off guard, appearing through seemingly random chance. Some people get injured, and others don’t, right? You could cross your fingers and hope for the best, or you could begin to truly understand the injury equation.

The thing is, injuries aren’t random happenstance. An injury occurs when you overload the stress capacity of a tissue. It’s essentially a junior high math inequality. Injury = Demand > Capacity. But although the equation may be simple, the cost of an injury is anything but.

Integrate crawling into your warm up routine to keep your shoulders strong and mobile.

The Cost of Injury

An injury can throw you for a loop when training. But derailed training in the short term is only one piece of the puzzle. Consider the competitive athlete who may have a scholarship or paycheck on the line. In these cases, the focus may be to return to sport as quickly as possible, but this rush can have unforeseen consequences. Having one injury often sets an athlete up for re-injury, as high as a 50 percent repeat incidence, according to one study in the Journal of Athletic Training.¹

Repeat injuries aren’t the only issue. You can literally learn pain as a pattern if you aren’t careful. If you aren’t careful in handling injuries, you may lock yourself in a cycle of chronically painful movement. And it gets worse. Prospective studies show that having a joint injury in youth sets the stage for increased risk of osteoarthritis later in life.² If your knees aren’t up to snuff now, they’re going to be really cranky in thirty years. These acute injuries you shrug off now can lead to chronic issues down the road.

Those are the purely physical aspects of injury. We can’t neglect the huge psychological burden. Physical injuries are associated with lower self-esteem and higher levels of depression and anxiety^.3,4,5 If you identify with your physical practice (and you do to some extent, or you wouldn’t be here), then an injury can literally take you away from yourself.

When you’re injured, you’re not simply looking at a short-term musculoskeletal problem. You’re looking at potentially long-term dysfunction in the whole human system. So much for “No Pain, No Gain.” If you’re concerned with systems health, you need to take a smarter look at the injury equation.

Prehab, Don’t Rehab

Western medicine has given us a wealth of information and support, but it often takes a reactive role when it comes to injury. We deal with an injury when it occurs, but we do little to prevent injury in the first place.

The common approach for injuries is the old RICE method standby (rest, ice, compression, and elevation). We reduce the demand. We take time off. We idle. And in some circumstances, that’s the right thing to do, but it ignores the whole “capacity” part of the equation, the preventative part. Rather than only reduce our demands, why not intelligently increase capacity?

How to Build Capacity

We may not like to admit it, but we’re pretty soft in our training. Most training occurs on flat surfaces with extra traction. We pick up conveniently shaped objects. It may not be easy, but it’s certainly simple. The typical training environment offers relatively little in terms of movement complexity. And complex movement may be your best bet for increased tissue capacity.

Rather than train solely for ideal scenarios, you also need to train for the situations you don’t want to be in. Sport and life are messy. Rarely will you find yourself in a perfect setting. And if you aren’t adequately prepared, you hurt yourself.

So how do you intelligently build this capacity and tip the scales in your favor? It begins with an upgrade of your current hardware, making sure that your joints and muscles are working properly. After you make sure things work nicely, you can take this living machine for a drive. Get out of the routine. Explore unfamiliar and varied movements like crawling, climbing, rolling, and roughhousing.

If you’re looking for a good place to start, I recommend checking out MovNat founder Erwan Le Corre’s four-week MovNat primer. The program will help you train natural human movements that improve your tissue capacity, slowly but surely tipping the injury equation in your favor.

Here’s an example of a workout in the MovNat primer program:

• Stepping Over x 4: Perform dynamically, avoid counterbalancing with the upper body. Switch sides.
• Stepping Under x 4: Perform dynamically, avoid rounding the back. Switch sides.
• Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse x 4
• Assisted Squat x 8: Hold at the bottom and bounce softly a few times before standing up.
• Split Squat x 4: Keep front knee stable, switch sides.
• Deep Knee Bend x 4: Maintain a tall posture.
• Deep Knee Bend Stances x 4: Hold stance for about 10 seconds each time. Maintain a tall posture and stable ankles and knees.
• Medium Kneeling to Tall Kneeling x 4
• Deep Knee Bend to Tall Half-kneeling x 4: Switch sides.

Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse:

Train for Long-Term Health

When an injury occurs, it goes beyond a short-term musculoskeletal issue. It can become a chronic, whole-human problem. Your best bet is to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place. You can do this by increasing your capacity for stress across the whole body, exploring naturally complex and inherently human movements. You need to reclaim your natural movements if you want to remain a happy, healthy animal.

More Movement Practice:

• From Rehearsal to Reality: How to Train For Chaos
• 3 Reasons the Ground is Your Body’s Best Friend
• Set the Foundations: Include Balance Drills in Your Workout

References

1. Yang J, et al. “Epidemiology of overuse and acute injuries among competitive collegiate athletes,” Journal of Athletic Training, 47(2012):198-204.

2. Gelber AC, et al. “Joint injury in young adults and risk for subsequent knee and hip osteoarthritis,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 133(2000):321-328.

3. Leddy MH, et al. “Psychological consequences of athletic injury among high-level competitors,” Res Q Exerc Sport, 65(1994):347-354.

4. McGowan RW, et al. “Athletic injury and self diminution,” J Sports Med Phys Fitness, 34(1994):299-304.

5. Pearson L, Jones G. “Emotional effects of sports injuries: implications for physiotherapists,” Physiotherapy, 78(1992) :762-770.

Photos courtesy of MovNat.

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Georges Hébert, the great French physical education innovator, developed what was known as “la méthode naturelle,” or The Natural Method. He was convinced that for humans to thrive, they need the physical literacy to be able to move as if they had maintained the hunter-gatherer lifestyle for which their biology was designed. He watched children play, and observed that it prepared their bodies for heroic endeavors like providing for and protecting our communities. Combining his observations with the physical education traditions of the ancient Greeks, he constructed a program based on the concept of “being strong to be useful.”

Hébert used “strength” to mean what most would now call fitness. Fitness is the combination of mobility, strength, endurance, agility, reactions, and general physical skills that allow us to use the full capability of the body. Hébert was far less concerned with one-rep maxes, than a person’s broad capacity for physical mastery over their environment and body. He believed that reaching your physical potential unlocks all other possibilities. The Natural Method combined parkour, gymnastics, calisthenics, swimming, running, and more to create a functional training system that served as an ode to the design and adaptability of the human body, and how it works in concert with its environment.

Is Fitness Dead?

For many, Hébert’s perception of the world and the primacy of physical education are outdated. They would posit that, much like the usefulness of a horse, physical capacity is no longer of much importance in our modern era of technological abundance; that fitness is no longer essential for usefulness. Unfortunately, this is the worldview that has informed our education system for the last 50 years.

It is true that our pursuit of comfort has produced a world in which we can remain almost entirely motionless. You can pull up to the grocery store, and they will load up your groceries for you. If that’s too much work, Amazon will deliver groceries to your front door. If you lay down on the couch and don’t want to reach across and grab the remote, no sweat! “Hey, Google! Play Wall-E.” I’m sure Google drones are about to start getting your chips for you, too. We are told that this is the good life: seated, entertained, and having tech take care of every need.

Of course, this ignores every ounce of research ever done on human fulfillment. In fact, our most fundamental needs are movement and social connection. The foundation of emotional wellbeing and cognitive potential is movement and social play.

Fitness remains not only useful in the 21st century, but of critical importance. It is the last reliable means to promote the movement that increases the length and quality of life, increases cognitive potential, and improves emotional state. The first and best case for fitness in the modern world is simply that without it, every other endeavor suffers. Without fitness, you are quite simply not as useful as you would be with it. It is a primary priority because it magnifies your efforts in every other area of your life.

This should be enough to justify fitness and health as the foundation of our society and our schools, but there is still so much more reason to get strong and fit in the modern world. Just examine what life required of me this past weekend as I prepared for my parents to visit.

The Fittest Time of the Year

It is officially the Christmas season, and at the Trotter household, that means a 24-7 commitment to discovering the upper limits of Christmas cheer and activity that a month can withstand. Fall decorations are boxed and shipped up to the attic, which means I deadlift a dozen heavy bins, balance them as I walk up a creaky ladder, then maneuver them above my head to press them inside of an opening that is almost too small. Next, I must bring down another dozen boxes and bins full of fragile and inexplicably heavy Christmas decorations.

That completed, I turn my attention to the notoriously dangerous task of hanging the Christmas lights. In 2012, there were an estimated 15,000 accidents that landed people in the Emergency Room from hanging Christmas decorations. Just last year, my father-in-law fell off the roof and spent over a week in the hospital. It is a task that requires balance, stability, strength in a variety of odd positions, and the mobility to keep a low center of gravity and thus better footing. Fitness can literally keep you out of the hospital at Christmas.

Legendary strength coach Dan John has spoken about how essential training is for life, particularly for the elderly to stay healthy. Now in his 60s, he now occupies an age group in which over 28,000 Americans die annually from falls and fall-related injuries. Those who still train their bodies and maintain a fitness routine have better balance, are less likely to fall, and are better able to catch themselves if they do. If you consistently get up and down from the ground, you will subconsciously know how to land safely, maintain greater range of motion, and have superior balance. Resistance training will create greater bone density and resilient muscle to protect your vital assets. This is not to say that exercise eliminates risk of death or injury while hanging Christmas lights, but it does reduce the associated risks. Fitness increases the years and extent of your usefulness.

After hanging the Christmas lights, I turned my attention to the blanket of leaves that had obscured any view of our lawn. My front yard produced 10 full bags this year. I listened to a podcast as I raked, and was struck by how pleasant this all was. An overwhelming sense of gratitude hit me as I realized how good it felt to be working in such wonderful fall weather, with a vigor that would be impossible without a foundation of fitness. This had been a heck of a workday already, but rather than overwhelming fatigue, I felt rejuvenated and energized. My level of fitness enabled the consistency and efficiency of my work, and also a positive emotional state that made me better for my family and everyone around.

This day was uncharacteristically full of physical labor, but it highlights how useful it is to be prepared when life requires greater fitness and physical output. It saves you money on tasks others might pay for, while allowing the time working in nature that our bodies and minds need to thrive.

Fitness Still Matters

Even in the modern world, where infinite comfort and convenience dominate, we all face dozens of tasks where the benefit of fitness becomes evident. Whether to reduce injury risks, or simply allow a level of confidence and enjoyment, our physical health and vitality have not diminished in importance. Furthermore, you never know when, as happened to my friends in Houston, a natural disaster might strike, requiring days of physical work and a useful body to contribute to the needs of your community. I know that I’d like to be useful and able to help others in such a circumstance.

Hard days happen, whether from pleasant things like preparing for the holidays, or catastrophes like natural disasters. I am ready to be useful in either circumstance, because I have prioritized the maintenance and improvement of my body through daily activity and challenge. Despite what the modern world tells us, we haven’t escaped the needs that Hébert recognized a century ago.

The post Why Strength Still Matters in the Modern World appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Use Self-Directed Practice

More and more evidence points to self-directed practice as the most effective way to learn and perform new skills, from suturing¹ to punching.² We probably understand this intuitively. When we’re practicing something according to our own schedule and level of enjoyment, we’re more likely to stick with it. There’s something innately gratifying about taking ownership of our training and practice. Play is intrinsically self-directed. You go until it stops being enjoyable, and then you switch to something new.

Introduce Constraints-Based Exploration

When playing with our quality of movement, we need more guidance than simply “do better.” This is the value of introducing constraints. Adding a constraint to a movement (for example, balancing a book on your hand while rolling from back to belly) forces you to bring your attention to an external focus. It gives you a specific task to accomplish, one that gives you instant feedback to whether or not you completed the movement successfully. We also know that an external focus of attention improves performance relative to an internal focus.³

Include Variation

We’ve talked before about the benefits of variation in your movement practice. More so than rote repetition, variation in our movements is critical to the learning process.⁴ No toddler reps out Turkish get ups to learn how to walk. They constantly explore novel variations on how to organize their bodies for the ultimate task: balance in the gravitational field.

So How Do We Play?

This seems like an odd conversation to have, doesn’t it? When did we forget how to play?

I find the simplest way to bring self-direction, constraints, and variation into my practice is to work with time blocks rather than sets and reps. Within a given time block, how many subtle variations can you find in your squat? Can you change up your stance? The bar’s position? How many quality repetitions can you get in a 5 minute window?

How many ways can you find to get up and down from the ground? How many ways can you enter a handstand? The options are limitless. Yes, it takes a little bit of thoughtful creativity, but the benefits to your quality of movement are well worth it.

Figure out your movement:

What You Feel Says More Than What You See In Movement

References:

1. Safir, O, et al. (2013). “Self-directed practice schedule enhances learning of suturing skills“. Canadian Journal of Surgery. doi: 10.1503/cjs.019512.

2. Halperin, I., Chapman, D. W., Martin, D. T., Lewthwaite, R., & Wulf, G. (2016). “Choices enhance punching performance of competitive kickboxers“. Psychological Research, 1-8.

3. Wulf, G & Su, J. (2007): “An External Focus of Attention Enhances Golf Shot Accuracy in Beginners and Experts“. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.

4. Carey JR, et al. “Neuroplasticity promoted by task complexity”. Exercise and Sport Science Reviews, 33(2005):24-31.

The post The Perks of Play to Better Your Movement appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The way you move and the way you look depend entirely on the context you put yourself in, day in and day out. In this episode of Out On A Limb, we’ll talk about what this means for you.

(Spoiler alert: you really need to move more.)

The post In Movement Context Is Everything appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Movement Matters

In “Movement Matters,” Katy takes us on a winding ride, along the way exploring her main question:

What if we can make ourselves, our communities, and our planet healthier—all at the same time—by moving our bodies more?

She lays out a compelling case, and along the way she challenges us to think bigger about our conception of movement. Every page encourages us to rethink our assumptions and perspectives through compelling scientific explanations, relatable anecdotes (like, she’s actually funny), and intensely deliberate language.

“Movement Matters” will help you reframe not only your movement, but the words you use and the life you choose.

Everything Moves

What really shines about this book is how Katy applies a “movement lens” to so many facets of our lives. The underlying theme is that we are a part of nature through and through, and as such we follow the same patterns and rules that the natural world does. Our problems—from myopia to achy joints to disconnected communities—all seem to crop up when we act as if we were somehow separate from nature (and the movement required to exist in it).

However, the title itself may be misleading. Yes, it’s a book about movement, but more importantly it is a book about awareness: awareness about our choices, and awareness of the assumptions we use to make those choices. In Katy’s eyes everything lives in context. Our bodies reflect the context we put them in. Our language reflects what we do and don’t do.

Hell, even our scientific research is influenced by our sedentary culture. As she says herself: she used to write as a bioMECHANIST, concerned with the mechanical loads we do and don’t give our bodies. This book is a distinct shift to Katy as a BIOmechanist; her focus is rooted in the interconnectedness of the natural world (humans included).

A Word Of Caution

As such this can be a harrowing line of inquiry. We’re swimming in the deep end here. The book itself is easily accessible, but it raises challenging questions. It leaves you uncomfortable at times. Katy calls us out on just about every line of BS we’ve settled for in health and fitness and opens our eyes to the imminent solution: move more, and in more ways. She’ll be the first to admit: this runs counter to what’s considered “normal” in our culture. A movement-oriented lifestyle (you know, the kind humans lived for millennia) is distinctly abnormal these days. But we shouldn’t limit discomfort to our training stimuli. Growth happens at the edges, and “Movement Matters” will challenge you to grow.

Katy sets the stage perfectly in the introduction:

“You have a role in the ecosystem, and it’s not a static position at the top of the food chain as you were taught. Your role is a dynamic one, critical to all the other living things on this planet.”

In “Movement Matters” you’ll find radical new clarity on how to fulfill that role in a meaningful way. Do not expect a list of exercises or go-to movements. Expect to shift your perspective. Don’t expect an easy read. Expect an engrossing one, one that will leave you not only a better “mover,” but a better human animal.

A review to help mobilize your muscles:

Myofascial Release: The Right Tool for the Job

The post Movement Matters – Changing Perceptions of Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As others have mentioned before, there’s not really a reason to have a major leg injury, barring traumatic impact. If you hurt your leg doing day-to-day or sport-specific activities, that’s a clear sign that you haven’t spent enough time teaching your legs how to work like legs.

Let’s dig in a bit and learn how to get those legs back on track.

What Are Legs For?

I want to avoid the whole idea of movement patterns entirely. More and more motor control research shows that there is no real “pattern” of movement. There’s no “lunge” program stored in the brain. Every time we move, it’s unique; your own special squat snowflake.

Let’s zoom out a bit from the outdated pattern approach, and ask the more general question: What are legs for? By and large, they’re there to move us (with or without loads) in three dimensions across varied terrain. They have to handle a huge burden of mobility if we want them to be up to speed. Your toes need to be able to flex and extend, spread and squeeze. Your ankles need to flex and extend, turn in and out, and rotate. Knees are made to bend and straighten, as well as manage a bit of torque. And hips are capable of huge ranges of motion.

When you add these variables together, we have a complex adaptive system that thrives on variety (just like the rest of your body). Now before we spin off into overcomplicating things, we can say that most of our movements are there to manage the ever-present force of gravity. 

Get Down (and up) With Your Bad Self

If you’ve been around the block, you’ve likely heard about the infamous test looking at mortality and the ability to sit and stand unassisted.¹ Essentially, the subjects showed a 21% increase in mortality from all causes for each additional point of support they needed.

A word of caution in the name of scientific literacy: this does not mean that being able to get up and down without hands will make you immortal. Or even—counterintuitively—live longer. What it means is that folks who maintain the ability to get up and down unassisted probably do a whole lot of other healthy things as well. Let’s not get carried away here.

However, immortality pipe dreams aside, we can use a variety of get ups to prepare our legs to handle more loads with more ease. Most of us are familiar with the Turkish get up. It covers a lot of bases, but it’s far from the only way to make your way up and down from the floor. In natural movement, we use several progressions to build better legs. These can be included as part of a dynamic warm up or used as a training stimulus all on their own. The following video will give you some food for thought:

More on the benefits of movement variety:

How Split Cleans and Snatches Strengthen Your ACL

Reference:

1. de Brito, Leonardo Barbosa Barreto, Djalma Rabelo Ricardo, Denise Sardinha Mendes Soares de Araújo, Plínio Santos Ramos, Jonathan Myers, and Claudio Gil Soares de Araújo. “Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality.” European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2012): 2047487312471759.

The post Mix Up Your Get Ups for Resilient Legs appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Low-Key Strategies for Skill

Using these tools, I was able to take my first try balance on a waist-high, round bar hand rail from an awkward :20 seconds to a fairly comfortable 3:54 minutes.

Set a Simple Goal

There are six and a half billion goal setting books, blog posts, and videos out there, so I’ll spare you another one. I kept my goal simple and rough. I just wanted to be able to stay on the damn bar without looking stupid for three minutes cold, first try. I wanted to be able to do this with no warm up or practice, so I could just randomly hop onto something and balance for enough time to accomplish a task if I needed to. Since this was a “lazy mission,” I wanted to keep this a fun goal, but still something I could progress with. Success minus the stress. I picked Friday lunch break as my time to practice, because I could devote a good 20 minutes to getting better and there was a perfect practice bar right next to the BJJ school where I work.

Videotape Yourself

I used my phone to record my attempts; unfortunately, I erased most of my footage in a complicated accident. But you aren’t missing much. Just me flailing around for a few weeks, then starting to walk around more comfortably on a metal bar.

There were a few benefits to taping myself. First, I was able to immediately see what I was doing and how it differed from what I thought I was doing. Those two things can be surprisingly different. By comparing what I was actually doing with what I thought I was doing, I was able to instantly make improvements. I got a good sense of what happened when I would lose my balance, what the causes were, how my body reacted to the loss of balance, and how I could design and practice drills to improve on those points.

Also, comparing my videos to videos of more skillful people practicing and performing gave me valuable insight into what I wanted to look like and model myself after on the bar. I was able to make improvements by trying to match certain points of my technique with theirs.

Tools that encourage consistent, positive practice will help you achieve your goal. [Photo credit: Adam Jones|CC BY SA 2.0]

Take Notes

After each try, I wrote down what seemed to work to keep me up there longer. Taking notes helped me observe the technical points I learned in the Movnat courses. I also wrote down what didn’t work very well, and what factors were causing problems. Things like: different types of footwear as opposed to bare feet, different bar/branch heights or widths and if bar was slippery from skateboarders putting wax on it. I came up with a good mental and physical formula that worked well for me.

I found I always did better when I breathed slowly and relaxed my whole body as much as possible. I would lightly press downwards into the bar to feel more connected. I also would try to keep my focus 80% on the task, while keeping some awareness of my surroundings, lest someone try to run off with my bike while I was slinking around the bar. I also found that talking to myself helped a lot. I would murmur under my breath stuff like “Dude, this is so easy. You could balance on here forever.” I don’t know why that helped, but it really did make it easier for me to stay on. I would test out ideas and constantly trim out things which were useless or counterproductive to my improvement.

I made a point to always begin my next session by focusing on the most helpful points I observed from the prior session in my notes.

Passive Competition and Regular Practice

I mentioned earlier that I would seek out experienced people on video to compare myself to. Part of this was modeling and trying to pick up technical points to implement. The other part was competitive. I use a light-hearted and friendly competitiveness to improve my skills in other areas, and it helped here. I would study video of people who were actually good at balancing and challenge myself to get better at it than them. I seldom accomplished that goal, but the friendly competitiveness was enough to motivate me to do an extra five minutes when I wanted to be done, or to go out and practice when I didn’t feel like practicing. I came away with more practice and better skill than I would have, were I only focused on myself.

You run faster trying to catch someone than you do running alone.

A funny side note about this: I notice that I improved even more if I tried to compete with people who I find obnoxious. This is definitely something I picked up from BJJ. People there are mostly awesome, but there are a handful unlikable personalities around who would be hard to swallow a loss from. Some MMA fighters talk about this too, using dislike of an opponent to fuel their training. But this tactic is just a lighthearted thing, not too serious. It’s more, “Haha, that dude gets on my nerves, I want to be better at this than him,” than a super negative or hateful thing. It works the same way if you have a training buddy that talks a little trash to you. You will work harder just to shut him up. It’s a mental trick I use when I’m struggling to find motivation.

Use Whatever Tools Work

Ultimately, these tools boil down to finding ways to chart progress and find motivation to inspire progress and consistency of practice. By taping myself and taking notes of best practices and ineffective practices, I can get a sense of what really works for me. These tools help me get a clear picture of how it works, and avoid the mismatch between what I think is happening and what really happens. By using a lighthearted form of competitiveness, I give myself that kick in the butt I need to go out and practice or keep going for another five minutes when I am really tempted to go back home and watch cat videos on Facebook.

More ways to advance your fitness:

10 Tips to Smash Through a Training Plateau

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The fitness arena is evolving in a refreshing way; the paradigm is shifting, and we’re ushering in the era of movement training. Contrary to popular belief, there’s more to this revolution than handstands and climbing trees. This article will take an in-depth look at the implications of movement training and how we can incorporate its major principles within our existing fitness systems.

As a coach, I already see some confusion swirling around this amorphous word “movement.” How do you define it? How do you program it? How do you measure it? Is it fitness or something else? This is all understandable as we are coming through a time where training has been characterized by compartmentalization. In this sense, programs are highly organized, specific, and linear.

The underlying assumption: follow a set plan to a fixed result. We can see this reflected clearly in bodybuilding and in functional training alike. To parallel, the nature of work has shared a similar story — pick a major, graduate, land the job, climb the ladder. Finding a specialty and walking the well-paved road towards the goal has certainly been a successful strategy for many people to fast track their growth. Therefore, it’s no surprise that we look to understand the movement paradigm in these black and white terms.

Big or small, lessons add up over time and support you in becoming a better person. [Photo credit: Kellan Milad]

Fortunately, health and fitness is undergoing a transition. In the information age, we are being introduced to a much wider breadth of training approaches. The industry is moving away from traditional exercise and is becoming more inclusive to alternative movement modalities.

The influences of gymnastics, dance, martial arts, yoga, and parkour are reshaping the landscape and blurring the once well-defined lines of fitness. Again, similar changes are occurring in the workplace. As more work becomes automated, humans have more time for innovation and creative problem-solving. In essence, we now have more opportunities to explore our skills and interests in unique ways.

In these transitions, there are bound to be growing pains. With a high flow of information, our challenge has become how to integrate and apply. In the fitness community, we are figuring out how to effectively incorporate the relevant practices of specialized movement disciplines.

On a personal level, I dove headlong into this process. As my training methods changed so did my approach to life. Innovation and creativity became central themes. Training and life became more intuitive. As I look back, I see that the journey through it all has been my greatest teacher. With that, this article will share my framework to help you build a personalized approach to better movement and better living . . . no program required. I call it the Practice and Process Model.

The Practice and Process Model

Movement training comes with large implications for the bigger picture of health. The reality for most people is that training is intended to enhance life, not be the focal point. As the pace of our world quickens, people have more to do and less time to do it. Apple, Inc. is a prime example of how we’re integrating technology to support our lifestyles. In the same capacity, training can be integrated to support physical, mental, and emotional thriving.

The Practice and Process model merges movement and mental health into a single cohesive approach that supports the specific needs of the individual. The model offers a “process-oriented” look at fitness training. The exact means are secondary to the quality and consistency of practice.

Therefore, this article will not prescribe specific training protocols. A comprehensive training approach blends mobility, stability, balance, coordination, strength, speed etc, but the specific types of workouts or activities are dictated by changing factors such as time, access to equipment, and personal preference. The broader focus here is on bringing all of the aforementioned fitness qualities into the mix for optimal health in body, mind, and soul.

A traditional training plan acts as a blueprint — follow the steps and stay on the path towards the objective. This is fantastic when there’s work to be done on achieving a pre-defined goal; the progress is direct and specific. However, there are times when we could benefit more from deepening our existing skill set. As a complementary approach, the Practice and Process model fosters movement exploration, creativity, and internal balance.

There are six steps in the model to be applied in each training cycle. Through Practice and Process, physical “gains” are translated to enhance mental and emotional health. The result is growing both fitness and intuition. By not being solely physically focused, the capacity for growth and development is limitless.

3 Steps of Practice

The “practice” piece is comprised of awareness, mindfulness, and exploration. Practice recognizes that while analyzing movement is important, we learn best through our first-hand experiences. There is no substitute for actually moving.

1. Awareness and Intention

Begin by sending your awareness to what is going on inside your body. How are you? . . . No, really? Assess your status in regards to sleep, nutrition, stress levels, etc. Have an honest look at yourself and evaluate your body’s capacity for the day. Next, consider what’s going on in the environment. Look for any features that could be used for training: natural objects, urban landscapes, or unique gym training tools. What kinds of opportunities do you see in the environment? Are there any potential dangers or limitations? What captures your interest?

Based on your physical status and environment, you set an intention for the session. What do you need out of your workout today? Restoration or intensity? Out of all the possible ways you could move, what is “priority one” for practice this day? Running or climbing or lifting? In this process, you are assessing your physical, mental, and emotional health so you can adjust your training to serve you. This isn’t necessarily a long process, but sets the tone for being present.

2. Mindfulness and Movement

Once the intention has been set, we are primed for mindful practice. Mindfulness can be thought of as being intentional about paying attention. You open your senses and immerse yourself in how you are moving. You observe the subtleties in each movement, new or familiar. The mindset is that “everything is a skill.” By treating every movement with this type of craftsmanship, you gain an invaluable education about how your body works in real world terms. When training is based on the activities you love, consistency becomes much easier. Consistency allows you learn the nuances of the movements and what training benefits they offer. Training becomes a lifelong pursuit. Mindfulness is the ultimate performance enhancer and injury-prevention tool.

3. Exploration

I might be going against the grain here, but you don’t need a program. A program is a really nice thing to have, but it is not necessary to making continual progress. There is much to gain from spontaneity and exploration. Having a clearly defined route to your fitness destination is like driving with Google Maps. It may be fast and convenient, but you will never develop your own sound sense of direction, and you will end up regretting not having acquired that skill. Without a program, you will run into dead ends and get lost at times. This may be frustrating or feel like failure. Eventually, though, you’ll learn the boundaries and start mapping out the lay of the land.

Whether it is with a kettlebell, on a yoga mat, or climbing a tree, structured practice of the basics takes time to master. Once the foundation is laid, practice can become more fluid. Exploring basic movements in different ways can add much depth to practice time. A squat can take many different forms but it is still a squat at the end of the day. This is the idea of “same – but different” and it’s a safe and structured way to drive movement exploration.

3 Steps of Process

The “process” piece involves feedback, reflection, and lessons. Practice provides the stimulus but the growth occurs in the time after. Processing is where we look at our performance from an objective standpoint. Here we can draw conclusions and take-home lessons that make training relevant to real life.

1. Feedback

“How is that working out for you?” That’s a solid question to ask in any area of your life, training included. Not to be critical, but is what you’re doing producing the intended result? Answering this question requires feedback from your practice. Feedback comes through internal sensations and external input such as coaching cues or video analysis. These are tools to aid us in seeing our blind spots and making calculated adjustments to improve performance. Interestingly, some people thrive on feedback and others avoid it. For some, it’s empowering to know what went right and what changes to make. For others, feelings of being judged may arise. The difference often lies in our mindset.

Carol Dweck has championed the “growth mindset” where performance is predicated on effort, not innate ability. Feedback becomes less threatening and more useful to us in this mental state. Holding a growth mindset, we receive feedback as a constructive way to align actions with intentions. Being consistently receptive to feedback builds an internal compass that guides us in adapting to situations, also known as intuition.

2. Reflections

How often do we rush through a task and move on without ever looking back? Once feedback has landed, take time to reflect on the practice. The reflection phase is a post-training debriefing. Slow down and observe how you responded to the work. Questions to reflect on might include:

• What was your mood before/after training?
• What inner conversations were going on during the session?
• What was the quality of your focus/presence?
• What challenges came up and how did you view them?
• How did you experience progress?

This process can be as short as 1-2 minutes long or much longer. There is no agenda here, simply a chance to listen to the echoes of the effort you just gave. Reflections build stronger emotional awareness by tapping into how the experience felt – what was working for you and what was not? This is a key concept for choosing new practices and identifying when to place others on the shelf for a time.

3. Lessons and Breakthroughs

The final piece in the model is drawing out your take-home lessons and identifying any breakthroughs. Reflecting is taking time to sit with your feelings. From here you think about what was learned and construct your own lessons. Your training becomes a vehicle for personal growth.

Consider these two post-workout scenarios:

A. “Wow that was a great workout!” Period. You go about the rest of your day feeling an elevated mood or sense of accomplishment.

B. “Wow that was a great workout! I felt my front squat a completely different way. I felt like I wanted to quit during that finisher but instead I got back to my breathing and found my zone. I don’t always give myself enough credit, but I really surprised myself today.”

Both are positive scenarios; however, the level of depth in scenario B builds a direct connection between training and life. The workout was not just a workout; it was an intentional growth opportunity. Big or small, the lessons derived from each session add up over time and support you in becoming a better person. Occasionally there are times of huge breakthroughs and realizations, I think of these like mental PRs. The true value in training lies in these lessons that you create on a daily basis. Growth occurs in the space where concepts click and the dots connect.

Implications for Practice and Process

There is a lot of depth to the movement paradigm shift. It is more than taking the movements and skills of different disciplines and plugging them into the old framework. There will alway be value in optimized programming for higher physical performance, yet I would argue the most compelling aspect of movement training is the liberation of stepping outside of the box. It turns fitness into how we explore ourselves and the world at large. Movement training embraces variety and the natural ebbs and flows in life. It engages our senses and reminds us what it means to be human.

The world of movement is expansive, even overwhelming at times. Keeping the bigger picture in mind is important for progressive, long-term growth. The Practice and Process model offers us a way to explore movement in an organized way, integrate new practices, and support health from physical, mental, and emotional angles. There will always be a place for fitness goals and programs to guide us, but our world is evolving into a connected global community with vast new possibilities beyond what we have ever known. As we embark into new territory, our ability to know ourselves and relate to each other will be paramount. Mindful movement is not only essential to expanding our fitness, but also a vehicle for self-development. This expansion is what allows us to give our best to the world. Movement is truly more than just moving.

Looking for more ways to unlock your performance potential?

Change Your Story to Change Your Performance

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But if that’s all we focus on, we’re selling ourselves short. The SAID principle is always at work one way or another. Why not put it to work for yourself? Through a bit of intentional lifestyle design, we can create a movement-friendly environment that optimizes our mobility without us having to think about it.

Creatures of Habit

To make consistent, sustainable progress we need consistent, sustainable action. Seems like a no-brainer, but common sense isn’t so common. Too often the self-improvement camps derail themselves and spiral off in one of two directions: endlessly punitive, or wishful thinking.

The problem with the former is that eventually something is going to snap. Willpower only takes us so far, and life is too short to wage war on ourselves. The problem with the latter is that it’s all in your head. If we want to affect a change in ourselves, we need to get clear on a couple things:

• Why we want to change
• How we want to change

Maybe you want to improve mobility to hit a new PR in the weight room. Or perhaps you want to finally get rid of nagging aches and pains. Your “why” is unique to you, and with a bit of digging it’s likely pretty clear. The “how” may be a bit trickier.

Movement educator F. Matthias Alexander said “People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures.” So we may have a grand vision of where we’d like to end up and still fail miserably. If our habits, both conscious and unconscious, don’t line up with the change we want to make, we’re screwed.

So how do we shift habits?

Would you ditch some of your furniture in the name of better health? [Photo credit: Chandler Stevens]

The Origin of Behavior

I remember when I first heard about this thing called Lewin’s equation. It rocked the way I think about behavior, and it perfectly explained why I had spun my wheels for so many years. In a nutshell, Lewin’s equation is a formula to explain behavior, proposed by psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1936. It looks like this:

B = f (P, E)

You don’t need any mathematical acumen to sort this bad boy out. The B stands for behavior, the P for person, and the E for environment. Put them together and we see that behavior is a function of a person within an environment.

You don’t live in a vacuum. Your behavior is shaped by your environment. Here’s an example: I was talking with a student recently, and she mentioned that it was a lot easier to fit floor sitting time in once she got rid of her couch. Go figure.

Now this may be an “extreme” example, but within a couple of weeks she found more comfort and mobility in her hips and ankles than she’d had in years. One environmental shift led to a change in behavior throughout the day, which in turn led to a specific adaptation she desperately wanted.

Put It Into Practice

You don’t need to toss the couch out, but you can create a habitat for yourself that encourages more movement to naturally occur throughout the day. It just takes a creative eye and intentional design. I’ve shared a couple of my home tweaks before, but they’re only the tip of the iceberg.

To find more opportunities in your own life, you have to start with awareness. Biomechanist Katy Bowman has highlighted the importance of knowing when and how you’re outsourcing your movement. Once you’re aware of it, you can take steps to change it. Some immediate examples that come to mind (in no particular order):

• Hand grind your morning coffee
• Get rid of your furniture
• Store things you use every day low to the floor or high overhead
• Turn your living room into an obstacle course
• Saw the legs off of a table to lower it
• Keep rings mounted, or a bar installed somewhere you walk beneath

These examples may or not may be applicable to your particular situation. But with a bit of thinking you’ll find new ways to shift your own environment. And when you do, your behavior will naturally change too. And when that happens, the sky’s the limit. Change your space, change your life.

Now take a break and go move:

The Power of 5-Minute Movement Snacks

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• Foam rolling
• Couch stretching, and
• Lounging in pigeon pose

All without making much progress. And that’s a real shame.

The hip joint is one of the most mobile in the body, so why can’t you move yours? Most people I know waste their time with:

• Foam rolling
• Couch stretching, and
• Lounging in pigeon pose

All without making much progress. And that’s a real shame.

Your hips drive the vast majority of your movements, holding the key to everything from walking to squatting. If they lose range of motion, you’re bound to compensate somewhere else – cue low back and knee pain. In this article I’ll share some of the most effective tools for unlocking stiff hips and regaining your mobility.

Mapping the Territory

First things first. Let’s clarify what we mean by “hips.” This is a loaded word for a lot of folks, and too many people go through life with zero clue what and where their hips actually are. Try this. Slide your hand up and down along the outside of your leg. Feel that bony bump? Yeah, that’s not your hip.

But it is a useful landmark. Put your thumb there, and bring your hand flat along the front of your leg with the fingers pointing in. Now lift your leg the tiniest bit. Feel that bulge of muscle under your fingers? That’s where your hip is. Your hip is where the head of the femur meets the acetabulum, the proverbial “socket.” This understanding of the hip is tremendously useful when trying to organize your hip movement.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s figure out how to unlock those bad boys.

Hip Rotations

Remember that “ball and socket” idea? That’s a biggie. Your hips love circular movement. It’s what they’re built for. Hip rotations teach your hips how to navigate that three-dimensional space and regain control over that range of motion. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Start on hands and knees
2. Maintain spinal and pelvic neutrality
3. Bring your knee forward
4. Take it out to the side along an arc
5. Reach it around behind into extension
6. Reverse, moving slowly and with control
7. Revel in your juicy hips

Aim for 5 slow, controlled rotations in each direction on each hip.

90/90 Floss

Now that we’ve created some space within the joint, it’s time to put it to work. I was introduced to this movement by Ben Medder, and it has been a total game changer for me. Find your way into a 90/90 position, with 90 degree angles at the hips and knees. You may want to put a tennis ball under your lead knee for tactile reinforcement. Think of crushing the tennis ball as you pivot on your trail toe to open the hip. Cramping is expected.

More often than not those cramps are rooted in your nervous system, not your electrolyte balance. When you put your body in unfamiliar positions, occasionally the nervous system freaks out and engages every muscle it can in a hunt for stability. It’s a protective mechanism. Breathe, and ride it out. This is a learning opportunity.

Wall Hinge

Hello hammies. Let’s explore hip flexion a bit, using a wall as external feedback. You’ll begin with your back to a wall, about a foot away. Get heavy in your heels, and think about reaching the sit bones back toward the wall. Get tall through the spine to avoid compensatory rounding in the back. If you can reach the wall without falling into the wall, scoot a tiny bit forward and repeat. You’re on a hunt for the end range of your balance. If you fall into the wall, scoot backwards and try again. Aim for 8-12 hinges at your end range.

Chair Smash

I saved the best for last. This is an upgraded version of the couch stretch. Here’s what to do:

• Pick up your favorite chair
• Break it.

Seriously it’s time to get out of the damn chair. A handful of stretches and half an hour of movement won’t make up for 8-14 hours in a chair all day. I wish it was more complex. But if you want to unlock stiff hips, you simply have to get out of the chair more often. I outline a few useful alternatives here.

You’ve worked on your hips, now work on your squat:

The Definitive Guide to Owning Your Flat-Footed Squat

Headline photo courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

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