The One Concept Central to Them All

Asymmetry.  Up Leg.  Compression.  Push Down.  Space.  Rotational Organization.  These all describe the physics of one half of the body accepting load, and one half of the body avoiding load.  The first time I wrote about this, I referred to Read more ›

When It Becomes Sensory

In my athlete days, which ended about 15 years ago, the goal was to NOT feel and just complete the tasks put to paper.  It was something I was given or sought out — “more” was agreed upon by all Read more ›

A Twisted Trail

The first post in this series asked if a pigeon toe was friend or foe.  It is certainly a strategy, an adaptation that has a purpose.  For me, my half with the pigeon toe also carried my biggest problems, particularly Read more ›

The Pigeon Toe: Friend or Foe?

Oh, the mighty pigeon toe.  Such a strange little insurgent, and yet, it exists peacefully all around us.  Where does it come from and how does it form?  Does it afflict one leg or both?  Is it the tibia or Read more ›

A Different Way to Use, Train, & Treat the Knee (Part 3)

Part 1 of this series explained how knee should not be used as a load-bearing joint. Part 2 showed how pressuring the knee can help build safety, alignment, and desired force at the desired time.  This third and final segment Read more ›

A Different Way to Use, Train, & Treat the Knee (Part 2)

In part 1, I suggested that using the knee as gas instead of brakes could help free up the knee for motion and elicit the hips and ankle-foot as stabilizers.  For folks with chronic pain, however, their nervous system likely Read more ›

A Different Way to Use, Train, & Treat the Knee (Part 1)

There are three hinges on the feature photo door.  It’s a strong front door, solid and meant to take some battering.  The cheaper, lighter, all-have-problems-closing-and-opening doors inside the house have only two hinges.  Weight-load divided by two, or weight-load divided Read more ›

To Twist or Not To Twist

Torsion.  We all have it: a particular line of twist running through our carriage, gripping us in a certain way and keeping us upright.  Each fold and joint tells its story, whether you realize it or not.  It’s how we Read more ›

All the Taboos in One Post

  This feature photo shows an unstaged photo of the top drawer of my filing cabinet in my locker room office.  Note the bounty of certain items (that aren’t snacks).  Shorts, pads, some extra underwear — all tell tale signs Read more ›

Architecture of a Body-Centric PE Lesson (Part 2)

To recap Part One:  Create a sense of intrigue  Provide multiple points of entry  Establish pockets of safety  Ask instead of assume  This sh*t’s hard (which is why so few do it) After the weight shift lesson , three of Read more ›

Why the Bricks Are Genius

While walking through the streets of Europe last Spring, Adarian Barr wondered why his feet felt so good.  He traced it back to the cobblestones.  The lift, the variability, the multiple points of potential folding.  This was the impetus behind Read more ›

Up Leg, Down Leg, and Arches Preference

Pairs.  Roles.  Asymmetry.  The body knows and the body has ways.  Understanding the differences between the halves helps you appreciate them.  One side isn’t ‘good’.  The other isn’t ‘bad’.  They hold a function within the system. Here’s a big picture Read more ›

Coming Together

Flexion and extension.  Compression and Suspension.  There are pairs that govern movement, both globally and locally.  The system and its parts act to pull apart and come together.  Posture, moving fast, and any sort of training or exercise is versed Read more ›

Suspension & Compression

This piece serves as the follow up to How To Push Down.   When we are talking about compression, we are also talking about tension.  It is the interaction of these two push-pulls that creates suspension.  Otherwise everything would collapse.  Read more ›

Relationships, Part 1: Parents

Part One in a four-part series of relational examinations.     The family is your first introduction into relationships.  They are the constant you are surrounded with, the base in which all other units are compared.  The two people that set Read more ›

Calming an Irritation (Fixing a Foot-Hip)

This post serves as a follow up to: A Path Towards Harm.  Otherwise titled: The things I did wrong when I didn’t pay attention or have compassionate patience.   The tag to this blog used to read, “fix yourself.”  But Read more ›

A Path Towards Harm

Some context.  I have been learning to be sensitive to signals of and mitigate pain for about a decade now.  My training revolves around feeling things out, noticing any off-ness, spending some time and attention there, and finishing the session Read more ›

Pain: Solutions Based on Self-Study

This hurts.   The most common reaction is to stop using it or doing that.  It’s even the advice of many medical professionals.  Rest, it is assumed, is a cure all.  But what happens when this magic pill doesn’t work?  When Read more ›

Exploration & Safety (Part Two)

The following is part two of my course notes and findings from Stress, Movement, and Pain.   As practitioners seeking to help bio-psycho-social organisms, we have to be able to read, analyze, and gather information from all three dimensions.  The Read more ›

Rotational Organization

The following is a glimpse into the mind of Nicole Uno (IG @unotraining).   Rotational Organization allows for the simultaneous existence between contract and relax.  Thoroughly simplified, consider two gears.  There is an impetus of force and a corresponding area Read more ›

Knee Findings: Hinges and Rotation

  Joint ‘popping’ is a curious thing.  It alarms without hurting.  Especially when you realize it wasn’t there before.  You notice something is different when you do that particular thing in that particular way.  The different becomes ‘less than’ when Read more ›

The World of Fighting Monkey (part 2)

Engaging with your work demands a certain degree of ownership.  There must be a benefit to the challenge presented, beyond just a hard-to-apply confidence.  A task can serve as a test of will, a test of adaptability, and/or a test Read more ›

The World of Fighting Monkey (part 1)

Doing without knowing.  Playing, creating, learning.  Adjusting and adapting.  Describing Fighting Monkey is an act in organizing verbs.  Everything overlaps and intertwines and is a wonder.  The only certainty you are left with is that you have experienced something good Read more ›

A Purpose and Description of Exploratory Movement

“I’m going to explore the depths of the ocean.” “You’re gonna what?” “I’m going to get into this magical pressure suit, close myself off to the known world, and look for cool stuff.”   “Why would you want to do Read more ›

Learning Acrobatics and Developing Elasticity

Movement overlaps. Brain work = joint work = speed, power, strength, and coordination work.  We have structures and we have capacities.  Our practice establishes the abilities of both.  There is a general consensus that if your parts work better you’ll Read more ›

Dynamic Movement as An Extension of Control

Body control is all the rage.  A popular want is increasing active range of motion.  People want to get there so they can do stuff there.  Functional Range Conditioning uses slow, controlled movement to examine individual joints, build capacity in Read more ›

Self-Testing

As a teacher, I’m big into simplicity.  The ability to apply concepts has always proved more practical than skill at memorizing.  My tests are designed to make students think. Explanation is praised, not “correctness” based on someone else’s set of Read more ›

Measuring Movement

With the recent rise in powerlifting popularity, gyms are flooded with individuals trying to get better at the big three competitive lifts: bench, squat, and deadlift.  Strength is an imperative measurement of fitness, impacting all other levels of performance. It’s Read more ›

The Toes!

The more I work with folks to teach proper foot function, the more I am drawn to the toes.  Arching, gripping, and pushing are toe driven movements.  The toes feel and sense the ground, giving it’s feedback to the feet Read more ›

Sourcing Pain

photo credit: carolinawellnessandrehab.com Finding an ultimate solution to pain is dependent on figuring out its source.  The following checklist of questions is designed to help you to pinpoint causation. 1.  Is there a specific, recent event I can trace this Read more ›

The Price of Instant

People love getting things fast.  From shipping to food to feelings to results, quicker is preferred.  We are a culture that thrives on instant gratification.  Our decisions are largely based on convenience. Perhaps unknowingly, though, we are willingly sacrificing long Read more ›

Butt Strengtheners

As I mentioned in my glutes = core post, having a strong, functional backside is intricately linked to having strong, functional abdominals.  Assuming you’ve got your anterior pelvic tilt in check and are ready to start strengthening that booty, here’s Read more ›

Glutes = Core

“Your core is anything between your shoulders and your hips”.   I think I first heard this from the ingenious Charlie Weingroff.  It makes perfect sense.  There are your limbs and what your limbs connect to.  That interweaving of connections Read more ›

Being Good At

There’s something special in knowing that you’re good at something.  It goes beyond praise or awards or recognition.  Nobody needs to say a word.  You feel it. photo credit: last.fm.com Your feeling is marked by your love of practicing this Read more ›

Knees

The knees are a STABLE joint.  I know what you’re thinking, “the knees move so how can they be stable?”  Well, they are a hinge joint, meaning the simply flex (bend) and extend (straighten) in one plane of motion.  If Read more ›