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 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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›