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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
At its core, this get together was a homage to Adarian Barr. It was about curious and capable mortals grasping at genius, and that genius laying out his latest findings and figurings in a simple yet thorough process of feeling and… Read more ›
My previous post got into the shame and embarrassment that prevents many of us from addressing issues with parts connected to sex or excrement. This one is more objective, looking at anatomy and physics. When you seek to understand the… Read more ›
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 ›
I define performance for the purpose of this article as, “the peak execution of a skill at a particular point in time.” Though sometimes cooperative, there is most often an element of competition involved. For most athletes and artists, the… Read more ›
Part One looks at identifying each leg and how each prioritizes a different foot arch. Directional Bias: Perpendicular vs. Parallel. Up leg works the foward and back (parallel to ground). Down leg works the up and down (perpendicular… Read more ›
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 ›
When new words are introduced, we tend to react as if they make things more complicated. We already know. We already have an understanding on what the terms we already use mean. Why would we change? We change when we are… Read more ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
My left leg has some problems. I could fill in the whys with any number of stories — the many ankle sprains during my athletic career, the torn and hamstring-repaired ACL, the pigeon toe I gave myself because of a… Read more ›
Adarian Barr does this thing. Well, first he does his thing — take a snapshot of what is going on in a way that only he seems to notice. Then he’ll send it to me without words and see what I… Read more ›
Push down. Seems simple enough. Intuitive. But I got it wrong. I got it wrong because my posture and mechanics favored a front-side dominance. (Quad-dominant folks tend to also fall into this category.) The knee bend, rounded shoulders, and dropped… Read more ›
Photo by Linus Nylund on Unsplash I am very quick to sort information. I try not to bias it from the source. What is interesting becomes useful when you know what to look for and how to apply it… Read more ›
Everything I know about the transverse arch, I owe to Adarian Barr. The following is my attempt to take his words and concepts and relate them to my own body and understanding. It is, in effect, my translation. The layers… Read more ›